Using Blackboard and Skype for Mentoring Beginning Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the nature of the Blackboard and Skype-based electronic mentoring system for beginning teachers. The Quality Teachers for Quality Students project developed an electronic mentoring system between beginning teachers and experienced teachers to support beginning teachers' instructional and classroom management skills with regard to the unique needs of English language learners (ELLs) in Southern California. The data analysis indicated that the combination of using Blackboard and Skype tools was beneficial to beginning teachers' effective teaching of ELLs.