Implementing a Vygotsky-inspired peer mentoring scaffold for repeating database students: A feasibility and acceptability study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55573/JISED.118753Keywords:
Database, DBMS, Peer MentoringAbstract
Database Management System (DBMS) courses present unique cognitive challenges, combining relational modelling logic with declarative query syntax. Although peer mentoring is an established pedagogical practice in introductory programming courses, targeted peer mentoring for students repeating DBMS courses remains under-explored. This study set out to implement and assess the feasibility, mentee acceptability, and contextual variation of a four-week Structured Peer Mentoring Program (SPMP) for undergraduates repeating the course. The program was implemented with 17 repeating students at a public university in Malaysia using Vygotsky-inspired paper-based scaffolding over four sessions across four weeks with approximately two hours per session and eight hours in total. The intervention incorporated past-year examination question modules. Feasibility and acceptability were evaluated using self-reported process metrics and a post-program survey data, with a 100% response rate. Feasibility metrics suggested relatively high participation, with 76.5% of mentees attending all four sessions and all 17 mentees reporting full topic coverage. Acceptability was also high, with the overall satisfaction item rated highest at a mean score of 4.94 on a five-point scale and mentees reporting high psychological comfort and module relevance. Descriptively, all 17 mentees passed the repeat examination, with the cohort mean increasing from 43.47 to 63.24, representing a mean increase of 19.77 marks. The main limitation of this study is the small sample size. Given the single-group design and the absence of a control group, the score changes are reported descriptively and cannot be interpreted as causal effects of the program. Rather than claiming causal superiority over existing models, this practitioner study contributes a practical implementation blueprint and evidence of mentee acceptability. The novelty of this work lies in adapting a Vygotsky-aligned scaffolding sequence for DBMS repeaters through a low-resource, mentor-intensive model that foregrounds structured human scaffolding over automated tutoring alternatives, within a public university in Malaysia.
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