When applying for a place on PGCAP, each participant will be provided with (through their Head of Academic Unit) an agreed academic unit-based mentor who will support the participant during their studies.
In the context of PGCAP, mentoring serves two specific purposes.
1) PGCAP mentors act as a
“critical friend”
to:
help them through the process of thinking about what they are learning.
relate what the PGCAP participant learns to what actually happens in the learning/teaching environment.
raise questions in relation to what PGCAP participants are learning during the face-to-face sessions.
2) PGCAP mentors act as a
“disciplinary colleague”
who can:
talk about how learning and teaching happens in their academic field & academic unit.
provide discipline-specific examples of the application of generic learning and teaching concepts learned in PGCAP (the learning achieved through the PGCAP face-to-face sessions is predominantly generic, that is, applicable to any academic discipline).
Further details about PGCAP mentors can be found in the PGCAP mentor document (See link at the bottom of this page).
Briefing lunches
PGCAP mentors are invited to attend a briefing lunch. The session will provide information on:
the role of a mentor.
the requirements of PGCAP participants and how mentors can support them.
common points of failure in PGCAP assignments and how to encourage participants to avoid them.
reasons extensions are granted for assignments (and reasons they are not).