Virtual relationships and real benefits: using e‐mentoring to connect business students with practicing managers

This article reports the results of our study of electronic mentoring (e‐mentoring) in a population of business students. As career paths have become more fluid and less predictable, a growing number of educational and business organizations have implemented traditional and, more recently, e‐mentoring programs. But practice is ahead of evaluation when it comes to e‐mentoring. We attempted to fill this gap by looking more closely at strengths and weaknesses associated with this type of mentoring. Building on research in traditional mentoring and integrating literature in computer‐mediated communication, education and management, we developed a model of e‐mentoring’s antecedents and outcomes. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of business students (protégés) who were mentored by practicing managers. It was found that perceived similarity in terms of attitudes and values is positively related to effective e‐mentoring, while demographic similarity (gender, race) is not. Moreover, effective e‐mentoring may lead to protégés’ enhanced academic performance, professional network and job opportunities. We conclude with implications of our findings and a discussion of opportunities for future research.     

How Assigned Faculty Mentors View their Mentoring Relationships: An Interview Study of Mentors in Medical Education

This qualitative study of 29 physician mentors reports their perspectives on mentoring medical students in a well‐respected medical school’s formal, assigned, longitudinal mentoring program that has a curricular component in the second year. Using a phenomenologic inductive approach, common themes identified centered on mentors’ relationships with their students and the characteristics of the relationships. Most mentors said their relationships solidified in the second year, where curricular responsibilities included teaching and evaluation. Mentors saw their roles change, yet relationships continued to develop as mentees advanced through medical school. They were surprised when students sought contact, support, and advice in years three and four of their programs. Mentors worried whether they “did enough” for their students, yet described their experiences and relationships as rewarding. Mentors subsequently found satisfaction in the continuing relationship during the clinical training years. The researchers note the importance of the curricular component for providing a purpose and structure for relationship development and in facilitating relationship development in this assigned mentoring program.     

E‐mentoring for social equity: review of research to inform program development

The advent of user‐friendly email programs and web browsers created possibilities for widespread use of e‐mentoring programs. In this review of the research, we presented the history of e‐mentoring programs and defined e‐mentoring and structured e‐mentoring programs, focusing on large‐scale e‐mentoring programs that addressed issues of social equity and educational advancement. The literature reviewed spanned from the mid‐1990s to the present and included journal articles, reports, and book chapters on implemented e‐mentoring programs. The literature indicates that e‐mentoring is not a panacea, neither is it an inexpensive alternative to face‐to‐face mentoring. E‐mentoring is an alternative mode that facilitates the expansion of mentoring opportunities. The research we reviewed supported that the benefits associated with e‐mentoring mirrored the benefits associated with mentoring: informational, psychosocial, and instrumental. In addition, research supports two additional benefits of e‐mentoring: the value of impartiality and inter‐organizational connections, which were facilitated by the use of electronic communications. Research conducted on the programmatic features associated with e‐mentoring programs identified training, coaching, and group e‐mentoring as features that enhanced participant involvement. Our goal in providing a review of the research at this stage in the development of e‐mentoring was to facilitate increased understanding of the current research to enhance future research and programs and to advance e‐mentoring as a field.     

Multiple mentor model: A conceptual framework

Conclusion This article focused on developing a conceptual framework for the mentoring process. The model is based on the premise that mentoring is not a single event in the life of a worker but rather several events with different levels of mentoring. Each level of mentoring requires a different type of mentor with different types of skills and knowledge, similar to Len Nadler's HRD training model. Therefore, people may need special training to assume the different mentor levels (i.e., Training, Education, and Development Mentors), and workers may need to be trained to recognize that such experiences and people exist to help in their career progression. Counselors can be in the forefront as far as accepting and advocating the use of the Multiple Mentor Model for this training     

If management can be learned,can learning be managed? Reflections on HEI‐based management training in smaller firms

This article explores the characteristics involved when higher education institutions (HEIs) engage in management training in smaller firms. Building on previous research on how smaller firms and small firm managers learn and how these learning characteristics relate to the dominating culture in HEIs, the article suggests a tentative framework within which HEI‐based training of SME managers better could be understood and more effectively implemented. Founded on this framework, the article advocates dialogue as a main pedagogical strategy for designing HEI‐based management training programmes; programmes that should also benefit from including consultants as a lubricating interface between the academic world and the smaller firms’ world of practice. The implications drawn from this framework are illustrated by experiences from a pilot management‐training programme for small business managers in northern Sweden.     

美国导师指导与大学生学业成功研究述评

在美国,自上世纪70年代中期以来关于导师指导在教育、管理和心理学领域日益受到关注,近些年关于导师指导促进大学生,尤其是促进本科生学业成功的研究不断增多。同时为了适应国家对高等教育中导师指导和相应改革措施,对美国导师指导的文献进行梳理,力图重构并更新导师指导的概念和特征,综合并批判性地分析美国近20年发表的有关导师指导大学生的文献,并提出相应建议来改进导师指导的研究。     

Mentoring the gifted: a conceptual analysis

Mentoring is considered among the most effective pedagogical measures, yet it is rarely used in gifted education. One of the main reasons for this neglect seems to be the lack of a thorough analysis of its conceptual foundations from the point of view of giftedness research. This contribution starts with a discussion of conceptual and definitional issues pertinent to mentoring gifted individuals. An ideal definition is proposed, followed by a review of the effectiveness of mentoring programs. Existing mentoring programs rarely take full advantage of the educational potential inherent in mentoring. Next, the conditions and characteristics of effective mentoring are analyzed. From a general pedagogical point of view, mentoring should allow full use of the “Learning Triad” of modeling, instruction, and provision of learning opportunities and satisfy the “Big Four” effective learning processes (improvement‐oriented learning, individualization, feedback, practice). Mentoring can promote excellent development of the whole actiotope of a gifted individual.     

Applying IRSS Theory: The Clark Atlanta University Exemplar

The percentage of underrepresented minorities (African‐American, Hispanic, Native Americans) that have obtained graduate level degrees within computing disciplines (computer science, computer information systems, computer engineering, and information technology) is dismal at best. Despite the fact that academia, the computing workforce, professional associations, and scientific societies have identified procedures, models, and best practices in an attempt to increase the number of individuals within these underrepresented communities, the number of minorities receiving MS and PhDs in these fields have only increased marginally. In this article, we discuss how Boice's four‐part IRSS model (i.e., Involvement, Regimen, Self‐Management, and Social Networks) combined with effective mentoring models as introduced in Payton et al., is a promising framework for addressing the longstanding issue of underrepresented minorities in management education, which tends to mirror findings in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. The focus of this article is to illustrate the application of these theories at the undergraduate level by discussing two precollege/early college/scholarship programs implemented at Clark Atlanta University (CAU). These CAU programs provide the field with an exemplar which can serve as a foundational example for institutions seeking to foster, retain and graduate underrepresented minorities in higher education management disciplines, in general, and offer lessons learned from historically black colleges and universities, in particular. Using a “360‐degree mentoring” model to supplement the IRSS framework, our study concludes with implications for future research regarding how academic institutions can create, foster and sustain programs for effective recruitment, retention, and training of underrepresented minorities.     

Community engagement: mentor beliefs across training and experience

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this quantitative study was to understand how training and the development of the mentoring relationship impacts mentor beliefs across time within a therapeutic mentoring program called Campus Connections, a community engagement program that pairs university undergraduate and graduate students with youth from the local community in a mentoring relationship for an academic semester. Specifically, we studied how mentor beliefs are constructed at the start of the mentoring program, how these beliefs shift after four weeks of training, and how mentor beliefs change after participating in the mentoring process during an academic semester. Results indicated mentors held unhelpful mentoring beliefs prior to training and that training combined with the mentoring relationship created a positive impact on mentoring beliefs. Implications for the mentoring relationship and community engagement programs are discussed based on the trajectory of mentor beliefs within the study.     

Blended problem‐based learning for teacher education: lessons learnt

This paper explores case study research of the group process for teachers as learners in an Online Learning Module delivered in a blended problem‐based learning (PBL) environment. Blended learning, as the name suggests, consists of a blend of at least two pedagogical approaches: within the context of this research, blended learning is the integration of the PBL face‐to‐face learning in a classroom with an e‐learning environment. The 10‐week module was part of an accredited Postgraduate Diploma in Third Level Learning and Teaching for academic staff (lecturers, librarians, learning technology support staff) from a range of higher education institutions in the Republic of Ireland. This Postgraduate Diploma attracts academic staff keen to experience and implement a variety of pedagogical approaches within their own teaching. Over the four years of the module’s existence, there have been a wide variety of subject disciplines in higher education represented. This paper shares experiences and lessons learnt from the case study, and provides a set of recommendations for other teachers pursuing this form of blended PBL with students.     

An analysis of the role of the mentor in professional education: a comparative study

This article explores the process of mentoring in the context of the professional education of teachers and youth and community workers. Mentors and mentees from each professional group were interviewed in depth about their perceptions of the role of mentoring in work‐base learning. Analysis of the data indicates that effective mentoring should involve negotiation between mentors and mentees rather than the imposition of a ‘top‐down’ model of knowledge transfer.     

Focusing new teachers on diversity and equity: Toward a knowledge base for mentors

New teachers in the US often are unprepared to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Preparing teachers for diversity has generated widespread interest in mentoring, yet little research has explored a knowledge base for equity-focused mentoring. Drawing on expertise of leading mentor practitioners and a case study, this article builds a framework for what mentors need to know and be able to do to focus new teachers on equity. Mentors need a bi-level and multi-domain knowledge base, targeting both students and teachers. Using a bifocal perspective, mentors view the new teacher up close, but also focus on the larger picture of students. Analyses delineate challenges and tensions in tapping this knowledge base in the action of mentoring.     

Learning by mentoring: prospective teachers as mentors to children at‐risk 1

This survey‐based study examined the benefits of mentoring for 299 pre‐service teachers who voluntarily worked with children at‐risk in a nationwide Israeli mentoring project. Results revealed that mentoring taught prospective teachers about the world of children, increased their sensitivity to children at‐risk and to children as individuals, and improved their ability to cope with difficult situations. Mentoring was particularly beneficial for mentors majoring in special education, when viewed as a professional development opportunity, and when guidance was provided that aimed at connecting between academic studies and mentoring experiences. Unlike other field experiences in teacher training programs which emphasize classroom teaching, mentoring offers pre‐service teachers an opportunity to learn about the individual child and the social factors influencing his/her success in school.     

Alternative Models for Doctoral Mentor Organisation and Research Supervision

The design and delivery of a professionally-oriented, management, doctoral programme introduces new criteria for the selection and training of mentors and supervisors. An internationally dispersed student body of mobile, senior business and academic professionals compounds the problems. This article considers alternative models for delivery and exemplifies course design issues through a development in a major management college. Issues of semi-remote and remote mentoring and supervision are illustrated with examples from a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) programme, showing the need for disaggregation and reconstitution of the mentoring and supervisory roles and their sensitive application, given the international mobility of most of the students.     

Knowledge,Skills, and Abilities for Entry‐Level Business Analytics Positions: A Multi‐Method Study

It is impossible to deny the significant impact from the emergence of big data and business analytics” on the fields of Information Technology, Quantitative Methods, and the Decision Sciences. Both industry and academia seek to hire talent in these areas with the hope of developing organizational competencies. This article describes a multi‐method research agenda that was executed to ascertain insights regarding which knowledge, skills, and abilities, (KSAs) are valued by employers seeking to hire entry‐level analytics professionals from schools of business. Current undergraduate business analytics programs are first examined to define the research scope. A triangulated mixed‐method research approach is then used to determine the knowledge, skills, and abilities that are in demand for entry‐level jobs in this area. Finally, the multi‐method triangulation of data is combined with experiences in building academic programs in business analytics at two nationally‐ranked state universities to offer insights for those seeking to develop academic programs in this area.     

Mentoring circles in higher education

Traditionally, mentoring in higher education institutions has either occurred informally or as a planned program where junior staff members are matched with experienced staff members in a formal one‐to‐one program. While such programs have reported benefits to participants, many miss out on the opportunity. Further, mentoring dyads do little to enhance a more collaborative atmosphere in higher education settings. Alternative mentoring methods do exist and can provide advantages to the traditional approach. Mentoring circles are an innovative example of these alternative methods. The mentoring activity and subsequent evaluation described in this paper sought to explore the perceived benefits of a group mentoring model for academic staff.     

Integrating Technology in Physical Education Teacher Education: A Socialization Perspective

ABSTRACT

Physical education teacher education (PETE) programs are encouraged to develop teachers capable of delivering technology integrated learning experiences. Technological pedagogical content knowledge provides a framework for integrating technology into teacher education programs. Occupational socialization theory describes an educator’s recruitment, training, and socialization in the teaching profession. The purpose of this article is to propose a conceptual framework for helping preservice physical educators develop technological pedagogical content knowledge that is grounded in occupational socialization theory. We specifically recommend a four-phase approach to help preservice teachers (a) build their knowledge and learn to value technology in physical education, (b) observe and explore through instructor modeling and integration, (c) experiment and collaborate with mentoring and scaffolding, and (d) discover through innovation and utilization. These suggestions acknowledge the sociopolitical aspects of learning to teach with technology and implications are discussed along with the need to help preservice teachers transfer technology integration into their professional careers.     

Strategies for mentoring pedagogical knowledge

Fundamental for mentoring a preservice teacher is the mentor’s articulation of pedagogical knowledge, which in this research draws upon specific practices, viz.: planning, timetabling lessons, preparation, teaching strategies, content knowledge, problem solving, questioning, classroom management, implementation, assessment and viewpoints for teaching. Mentoring is haphazard; consequently, mentors need a pedagogical knowledge framework and a repertoire of pedagogical knowledge strategies to guide a preservice teacher’s development. Yet, what are strategies for mentoring pedagogical knowledge practices? This qualitative research investigates mentoring strategies assigned to pedagogical knowledge from 27 experienced mentor teachers. Findings showed that there were multiple strategies that can be linked to specific pedagogical knowledge practices. For example, mentoring strategies associated with planning for teaching can include co-planning, verbally reflecting on planning with the mentee and showing examples of the mentor teacher’s planning (e.g. teacher’s plans, school plans, district and state plans). This article provides a bank of practical strategies for mentoring pedagogical knowledge practices to assist a preservice teacher’s development.     

Supervision as mentoring: the role of power and boundary crossing

There is a current consensus in the literature and policy documents on postgraduate supervision that positions mentoring as the most effective supervision strategy. Authors suggest that this approach to supervision overcomes some of the problematic, hierarchical aspects embedded in supervision as a pedagogical practice. They portray supervision as an innocent and collegial pedagogy between autonomous, rational supervisors and students. However, mentoring is a powerful form of normalization and a site of governmentality. Therefore, I argue that rather than removing issues of power from the supervision relationship, describing effective supervision as mentoring only serves to mask the significant role played by power in supervision pedagogy. I have applied Devos’ investigation of mentoring to postgraduate supervision to highlight the work that mentoring does as a form of academic and disciplinary self-reproduction that can have paternalistic impulses located within it. In particular, I argue that supervisors need to be conscious of the operations of power in postgraduate supervision despite their best intentions. I have also begun to explore what implications this more nuanced understanding of supervision might have for people such as me, who are charged with the responsibility of providing academic development programs on supervision.