E-mentoring
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ementoring is a means of providing a guided mentoring relationship using online software or email. It stemmed from mentoring programs with the invention of the internet, and began to gain popularity around 1993. First used for programs connecting schoolchildren with businesspeople, ementoring is now popular throughout the US, the UK, and some parts of Europe.
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[edit] Early ementoring
Many early ementoring programs used email communication to link mentors and mentees. Telephone communication was also occaionally used, known as telementoring. One of the first ementoring programs was developed in Canada in 1990, where teachers from schools in British Columbia were given online support and training by experienced peers. The teachers and peers never met in a face-to-face context.[1]
[edit] Web-based ementoring
Modern ementoring projects tend to rely on web-based solutions[2], particularly if children are involved. Online software allows both mentors and mentees to log into a secure online environment where they can converse under supervision of moderators and coordinators.
[edit] Controversy and debate
Online mentoring is occasionally compared unfavourably with face to face mentoring. The medium limits the ability to pick up on visual or social clues, makes immediate feedback difficult and can often be seen as impersonal.
However, ementoring can make participants more willing to offer honest feedback.[3] It is also being embraced more readily by those in business who want to become mentors, as ementoring is less time-consuming than face-to-face mentoring.[4]
[edit] Impact
It has been suggested that the quality of the mentoring relationship is heavily influenced by the amount of common interest that the mentor and mentee have in common. As such, most charities and businesses that offer eMentoring programmes require some shared interest between the mentor and mentee.[5] It is also generally accepted that any mentoring relationship is most effective during a transitional period in the mentee's life, such as applying to university or making decisions about future careers.[6]
Ementoring programs also impact beneficially on the motivation of the youth pursuing post highschool studies. The impression, that is driven from the exchanges with an ementor working in the field of interests of the youth, of "how important the studies are" if he wants to get the job he dreams of is tangible. [7]
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Mentoring: students and young people" Andrew Miller, 2002
- ^ http://www.aimhighersw.ac.uk/cases/casestudy31.htm
- ^ "Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated interaction: a relational perspective" JB Walther 1992
- ^ http://healthcare.advancementoring.com/index.php?FindPage=Advantages+of+our+hybrid+e+mentoring,+telementorin&LayoutSet=short
- ^ http://www.thebrightsidetrust.org/viewabout.php?aid=23
- ^ http://www.scottishmentoringnetwork.co.uk/uploads/documents/Hunt1.doc
- ^ http://academos.luka.ca/?BD9E0E81-3080-4AEA-A22F-B01DB6E2924E&lang=EN
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Mentoring and Befriending Foundation: emntoring Resources
- The Brightside Trust - examples of emntoring projects and technologies in the UK
- California Governor's Mentoring Partnership - extensive list of mentoring sites
- Achievement Advocate Online Mentoring Community - Advisors include professors, a former CEO and a Nobel Prize winner
- MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership: emntoring Resources
- Scibermentor - Canadian mentoring programme for girls aged 11-18 with women in the science and engineering fields
- Academos - Bilingual eentoring program dedicated into helping youths of Quebec aged from 14 to 30 to contact experienced workers from diverse trades and professions
- PA ementoring An online mentoring program that connects working adults with students to help them plan and prepare for college and career success
