Finding balance: the positives and negatives of moving peer mentor training online

Abstract

The Student Academic Mentor (SAM) programme at the London School of Economics has only been in place for five years, and in that time it has rapidly grown in scope and numbers. With the pandemic, training of the largely international cohort of undergraduates moved online and in-person training was removed. This continued in 2020/21. The result is a trained cohort, but a disconnection between the student volunteer and the programme co-ordinator. In a Learning Development context, with the new landscape of HE emphasising hybridity, where do we find the balance between practical necessity and losing our personal touch with students?