Mentoring123

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This article is a literature review of mentoring and higher education academic literature from 2008-2018. The review analyzed what makes an effective mentor and what are the implications of practice for those strategies. This article is for higher education leaders, mentoring programs, and mentors who want to improve their traditional and online mentoring programs and mentoring practices. After narrowing the search terms, the researcher searched EBSCO and ERIC databases and this search produced a combined total of 256 results. These articles were further narrowed to 34 articles that met the keyword search and exclusion criteria. The remaining articles are the focus of the literature review analysis for mentoring and higher education literature.

The review produced three major themes of impact of mentoring, role of mentor, and mentoring programs, as well as implications for practice for each theme. The researcher further examined the themes in detail and provided information about retention, persistence, long-term benefits of mentoring, student interaction, student support, role models, types of mentoring programs, platforms for mentoring, and mentor training. The review concludes with suggestions for further research, including recommendations for mentor training and online mentoring.

Online mentoring is “a computer mediated, mutually beneficial relationship between a mentor and a protege which provides learning, advising, encouraging, promoting, and modeling that is often boundaryless, egalitarian, and qualitatively different than traditional face-to-face mentoring” (Bierema & Merriam, 2002, p. 219). While online mentoring has been available since the advent of internet access, it is evolving to become a transformative educational and professional development strategy. By creating collaborative learning experiences between mentees and mentors, online mentoring advances a learning vision where mentorship transcends cultural, geographical, and physical barriers, enhances inclusivity, and fosters holistic development within an increasingly interconnected global community. The democratization of mentorship also encourages belonging and engagement and provides new opportunities for self-directed learning (DeWaard & Chavhan, 2020; Olivier & Trivedi, 2021).

Andersen, C. L. & Thomas, S. K. (2023). Online Mentoring. EdTechnica: The Open Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. https://dx.doi.org/10.59668/371.13307

Beginning graduate studies represents a pivotal moment in your academic journey. It entails enrolling in a new program of study or expanding on prior academic pursuits. Given the heightened expectations and demands of advanced scholarship, you brace yourself for more intensive and rigorous academic training than undergraduate studies. Additionally, you may move to a different academic institution, leaving behind the familiar and embracing the uncharted. While aspiring to gain knowledge and skills that will enable you to achieve your career goals, you may grapple with uncertainty about the trajectory of your academic endeavors. For those who are returning to academic life after a hiatus or work experience, readaptation to scholarly pursuits may present an added challenge. To navigate these unknowns successfully, you face a critical opportunity at the onset of your program—how to foster a positive and productive relationship with your graduate advisor.

Andersen, C. L. & Andrews, C. (2023). Principles of Effective Advisor Mentoring: A Guide from New Student to New Mentor. In R.E. West & H. Leary (Eds.), Becoming an LIDT Professional. EdTech Books. 

This article examined ongoing mentoring training. This qualitative study analyzed interview responses from 20 mentors from 13 international locations in a global higher education initiative to determine how ongoing training affects mentors' abilities to assist higher education students in achieving their educational goals. The study results showed the benefits from ongoing mentoring training, including mentors better understanding their roles and responsibilities, mentors gaining knowledge, and mentors receiving ongoing support. Results also showed the importance in ongoing mentoring training of volunteer mentoring needs and mentoring training creativity. Furthermore, the study showed that ongoing training positively impacted mentors, that it identified contributing mentor volunteers, and that ongoing training advanced effective mentoring practices. The study also contributed findings to the literature including that mentors themselves contribute to best training practices, volunteers may need more mentoring training, and ongoing mentoring training showed global transferability.

Andersen, C. L. & West, R. E., "'We are Teaching and Learning with Each Other': Improving Mentoring in Higher Education." Progress in Education, Vol. 74, Ch. 1, Nova. · April 2023

This survey research study analyzed responses from 143 mentors from around the world participating in a global higher education initiative. Results confirmed the effectiveness of four mentoring domains identified in the literature, reporting the most success from providing emotional and psychological support for students. This article provides mentoring strategies including student goal setting, identifies characteristics of an online role model, and shows the importance of online mentors’ confidence in students gaining technology skills. The study has additionally contributed to the literature supporting (a) benefits of online mentoring for nontraditional students, (b) influence of technology on mentoring challenges, and (c) role assumption in online mentoring. Additionally, the study provided a literature review of the background of online mentoring and mentoring practices, the benefits and challenges of online mentoring, and lessons learned from research. This work presents a comprehensive understanding of online mentoring, providing support for mentors seeking to improve their performance as well as recommendations for creating mentoring programs to improve organizations. 

As educators, we can help our students lift their sights to see beyond graduation. We can identify ways to be more effective mentors with our students, but this will require patience and persistence. Mentoring students calls for our best innovation and intentional efforts.

Many college students face personal challenges that can make their higher education experience difficult, including mental health concerns, belonging fears, loneliness, and the impact of social media. While instructors face a changing university culture that may be quite different from what they experienced as students, most teachers can recall a mentor who made a positive difference in their life.

We can help shape the future as we share our knowledge and experience with students and improve the trajectory of their lives. We offer some suggestions for possibly improving student mentoring.

The Teaching Professor, March 2023

As universities and institutions of higher education seek to improve retention, persistence, well-being, and overall college experience satisfaction for their students, there is an increased emphasis on mentoring in higher education. Improving mentoring in higher education--the specific tools, training, and practices that develop effective mentors--remains an often-elusive goal for college administrators and university mentoring programs and in research. This research examined effective mentoring and provided recommendations for how to create successful mentors and mentoring programs in higher education.

The first article is a literature review of mentoring and higher education literature analyzing what makes an effective mentor and implications for practice. 

The second article investigated mentoring in online learning environments. The survey research study analyzed responses from 143 online mentors from around the world in a global higher education initiative. Online mentors reported they were most effective at providing emotional and psychological support for students. Study results showed mentor support for individual students outside the virtual classroom, strategies for student goal setting, characteristics of online role modeling, and mentor confidence in technology skills. The study also contributed findings to the literature about online mentoring benefits for nontraditional students, technology challenges, and online mentoring role adoption. 

The third article examined ongoing mentoring training. The qualitative study analyzed interview responses from 20 international in-person mentors in a global higher education initiative to discover how ongoing training affects mentors' abilities to assist higher education students in achieving their educational goals. Study results showed the benefits from ongoing mentoring training, the importance of volunteer mentoring needs in ongoing mentoring training, and the effects of mentoring training creativity.