PLUS – An Academic Mentorship Guide applying Overall Feedback Theories

Abstract

As undergraduates embark on their university journey, navigating academic courses is accompanied by a comprehensive pursuit of becoming well-rounded graduates. Despite this, feedback from courses often remains independent of academic mentorship. This paper introduces PLUS, an innovative academic mentorship paradigm designed to enhance students’ academic prowess through personalised guidance. Building upon preliminary works, PLUS serves as a personalised feedback guide supported by feedback models and theories. This reflection focuses on the impact of mentors’ feedback using the PLUS technique, addressing how academic mentors provide personalised guidance and whether students perceive the usefulness of this feedback. This reflection utilises survey methodology involving 20 software engineering students to analyse the impact of PLUS as a feedback guide. The survey results reveal unanimous agreement on its helpfulness and the benefits of mentors’ feedback. The survey highlights the importance of regular check-ins between students and mentors, emphasising the effectiveness of the mentor-student relationship. Respondents noted the motivational aspects of PLUS, appreciating its structured approach to feedback. While pressure to perform well was identified as a weakness, respondents suggested focusing on outcomes rather than grades for improvement. In conclusion, the PLUS approach emerges as a powerful guide to effective feedback in academic mentorship in higher learning, fostering a collaborative and enriching academic environment in line with the empirical model for feedback.