Keynotes and Speakers for ITx Rutherford
Curtin University
Dr Dobrila Lopez is a Principal Lecturer and postgraduate IT programmes coordinator at EIT Auckland Campus. She has over 30 years of tertiary teaching experience in the computing discipline.
Her particular interest is computing education. She is a member of the national review of New Zealand tertiary Computing Qualifications. She has published over 30 peer-reviewed research articles in computing education. She is a member of many international committees and is leading a national SIG for postgraduate study and applied research at CITRENZ.
Her research interest is focused on international education and the role of feedback and teamwork in computing education. She is the lead researcher for the Peer Mentoring Programme for international students at EIT international campus which has run successfully for the last two years. The programme will be rolled out to other polytechnic sites next year.
The article describes the implementation of a peer-mentoring programme in a Postgraduate Diploma Programmes in New Zealand Polytechnic.
The peer-mentoring programme helps pastoral care staff to better support our international students and its support their adoption into New Zealand society and study. The long -term objectives of the programme are to support international students to succeed in their study and to support their transition to their jobs in industry.
This article is reporting on the result of the peer -mentoring program and its impact on pastoral care at our educational institution. The analysis of the interviews of support staff are presented and discussed in the article.