Mentoring

Mentoring usually pairs a more experienced person with person that can benefit from that shared experience (Savage, Karp, & Logue, 2004). Mentoring can be as useful as it is challenging, but when committed to the process the majority of participants find value in their involvement (Lane, 2013). The use of simple systems based approach to mentoring that includes needs analysis, setting goals, implementation, and reflection or review can increase the effectiveness of mentoring (Howland & Wedman, 2004; Kopcha, 2008). This type of collaboration can have many benefits for both faculty members involved.

Any faculty collaboration on projects may provide similar benefits to mentoring including opportunities to work with other disciplines, to share knowledge of teaching best practices, and participation in scholarship (Durksen, Klassen, & Daniels, 2017). Communication technologies provides more opportunities and options for collaboration, and collaboration among diverse backgrounds can contribute to effective problem solving (Office of Educational Technology, 2010). There is also positive impact of collaboration and diversity on published manuscripts (Freeman & Huang, 2015).

Mentoring and collaboration opportunities can lead to professional growth through interdisciplinary groups for research, participate in teaching and learning projects, and broadening perspectives through shared experiences. The Initiative has conducted some initial programming for current mentoring efforts at the University. Please watch for communication about upcoming mentoring events, you can also refer to the resources below to get started.

Resources

Peer Review of Teaching
https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/peer-review-of-teaching/

Two Minute teaching tips
https://cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/Two-Minute-Teaching-Tips/Active-Learning.html

References

Durksen, T. L., Klassen, R. M., & Daniels, L. M. (2017). Motivation and collaboration. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 53–66. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.05.011

Freeman, R. B., & Huang, W. (2015). Collaborating with people like me. Journal of Labor Economics, 33(S1), S289–S318. http://doi.org/10.1086/678973

Howland, J., & Wedman, J. (2004). A process model for faculty development: Individualizing technology learning. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education.

Kopcha, T. J. (2008). A systems-based approach to technology integration using mentoring and communities of practice. Educational Technology Research and Development, 58(2), 175–190. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-008-9095-4

Lane, L. M. (2013). An open, online class to prepare faculty to teach online. Journal of Educators Online, 10(1), 1–32. Retrieved from http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=fulltext&aId=1314647

National Educational Technology Plan Technical Working Group. (2010). Transforming American education. U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology.

Savage, H. E., Karp, R. S., & Logue, R. (2004). Faculty mentorship at colleges and universities. College Teaching, 52(1), 21–24. http://doi.org/10.3200/CTCH.52.1.21-24