An online instructor who is empathic with student needs and attuned to the nuances of the online environment is pivotal to student success. The best way to develop these qualities is through instructor training and mentoring by a master online teacher. The process provides opportunities for new online instructors to monitor online classes in progress, demonstrate skills in developing and delivering online materials, and internalize online instruction concepts. Drawing upon their experiences with the instructor development programs at OnlineLearning.net, UCLA Extension and Illinois Online Network/University of Illinois Online, the authors will present alternative structures for the mentoring process and guidelines to maximize the learning and professional development of new online instructors.

Introduction

An online instructor who is empathic with student needs, skilled in online pedagogies, and attuned to the nuances of the online learning environment is pivotal to student success. The best way to develop such an instructor is through comprehensive training followed by mentorship with an accomplished online instructor [1]. Recent studies [2, 3] affirm the importance of an effective mentoring program to successful online faculty development and retention, leading to higher levels of quality and instructor/student satisfaction. Mentoring can help ensure that new online faculty and their future students enjoy successful online learning experiences.

In its March 2000 study, Quality on the Line, the Institute for Higher Education Policy cited "instructor training and assistance, including peer mentoring, [which] continues throughout the progression of the online course" as one of the 24 benchmarks "essential to ensure quality in Internet-based distance education" [4]. In the same month, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that a support and mentoring program at Mesa Community College reduced attrition among online faculty to 10% [5].

Mentoring new online instructors can range from informal peer-mentoring relationships between colleagues in the same institution to formal practicum programs that are part of an online training certification curriculum. In our research and experience teaching and learning in online faculty development programs at UCLA Extension, OnlineLearning.net, and the University of Illinois, we found that after one has learned the skills and strategies needed to teach online, receiving guidance from a seasoned and respected online mentor is a crucial component in becoming a successful online instructor. Benefits of this process can spread throughout an entire institution and beyond as the individual matures into a master online teacher and then a mentor. The results can be exceptionally rewarding for both mentor/mentee and greatly enhance the professional development process [6, 7, 8]. In this paper we describe the online mentoring programs offered by our institutions, and drawing upon our experiences as both learners and mentors in these programs, we share advice on how effective mentoring relationships can be structured and how mentors and mentees can realize maximum benefits.

Online Mentorship Programs

We found that online mentoring programs are most commonly used to support on-ground teaching. Online programs exist where master teachers mentor novice on-ground teachers; mentors of novice on-ground teachers conduct peer consultations among themselves; teachers and academic support professionals guide at-risk elementary and secondary students; and faculty, counselors, or subject-matter experts mentor adult distance learners [9, 10, 11, 12, 13]. Although formal programs in which a master online instructor mentors an apprentice online instructor are rare, UCLA Extension, OnlineLearning.net, and the Illinois Online Network do offer mentoring opportunities as part of their online faculty development programs:

UCLA Extension's Online Teaching Program
UCLA Extension's Practicum in Online Teaching has been the capstone of their Online Teaching Program (OTP), providing an opportunity for instructors to hone their skills in preparing online lessons and develop a portfolio of work samples that demonstrate their mastery of online teaching/learning concepts. It has been conceived as the culmination of UCLA Extension's Online Teaching Program and builds on the skills and knowledge participants have learned in earlier courses in the program.

This program is unique in that it is conducted within the framework of an online course environment consisting of participants from institutions from all over the United States and abroad, yet a major part of the course is devoted to individual projects, usually involving development and teaching of one's own online course. Through this process, the participants benefit both from peer-mentoring from their classmates as they get feedback on their course design, syllabus, and activity plans, and from formal mentoring from the course instructor who gives feedback and advice as each student-instructor teaches their own online course for the first time. A further benefit of participating with a group of peers is that participants discuss relevant considerations, including web design, copyright and fair-use issues, and institutional support services.

OnlineLearning.nets Online Instructor Training Program:
OnlineLearning.net (OLn) offers an Instructor Development Training Program, conducted entirely online. Successful completion of this program is mandatory for all instructors who teach online for programs supported by OLn, but customized instructor-training programs are also offered to other interested institutions.

The program provides new online instructors with a comprehensive online learning experience combining software training with lessons in the methods, approaches, and practical techniques for teaching online. The training course is taught by facilitators/mentors possessing significant experience in curriculum development and teaching in higher education and a rich background in adult education and distance learning. This gives novice online faculty confidence in their instructor and facilitates the mentor relationships that develop. This program is designed to teach skills and strategies necessary for effective online teaching through discussion, modeling and mentorship, and provides new online instructors first-hand experience within the actual software environment they will use to teach their own online course. The training classroom simulates the online learning experience, giving the participants an opportunity to experience the classroom environment from a student's perspective, which proves valuable to them as they design their own online course. The training instructor models the teaching strategies that are required in the online classroom and later mentors new online instructors as they set up and teach their first online course. This supervised course start-up and continued evaluation helps ensure a quality online learning experience for the students and greater satisfaction levels for the new instructor.

University of Illinois' Making the Virtual Classroom a Reality (MVCR) Mentorship Program
The Making the Virtual Classroom a Reality (MVCR) Online Mentorship Program is offered through the University of Illinois to selected participants in the Illinois Online Network chosen to teach in the MVCR program. Mentees go through an extensive shadowing process, auditing the course they will later teach as they learn from the MVCR faculty member. Participants then receive individual feedback as they teach one of the courses in the MVCR curriculum. This experience provides the opportunity for new online instructors to teach online instructional materials and demonstrate their understanding of online concepts (lesson plans, assessment tools, web design principles, technology selection criteria, copyright issues, etc).

Structuring Online Mentoring Relationships for Effectiveness

Effective online mentor relationships can exist whether the novice instructor is teaching their own online course or one developed by someone else. For the latter, we recommend a three-stage process in which the individual first experiences online learning as a student in the course in question, then shadows a master teacher as the course is taught, and finally facilitates the course under the mentoring of the master teacher. The realities of budget and both individual and institutional schedules may mitigate against such a fully articulated process, but we believe the prime determinant in how much is implemented should be the instructor-candidate's teaching experience. Where the candidate is a novice not merely in online teaching, but in teaching of any sort, the full three-stage sequence is indicated. Where the candidate is an experienced classroom teacher and new only to the online venue, a more abbreviated sequence is possible.

Within this broad framework, the mentor and mentee should mutually articulate their understandings of several aspects of the process:

The boundaries and expectations of the relationship
To reduce the potential for conflict and disappointment, roles and responsibilities should be defined from the beginning. Is the relationship one of colleague or peer, with each one sharing personal expertise with the other, or teacher and student? Mentees should know the limits of what they can ask of the mentor. For example, if the mentor cannot provide technical support, the mentee should be referred to other resources for help. What is the duration of the mentoring period and what is the mentee to accomplish? How will it be determined when the mentee is ready to solo?

What to communicate
How elaborated will the conversations be? Will this be a dialogue of questions and answers? Will either mentor or mentee or both write a weekly log of what has been achieved? Will the mentee write a formal practicum essay? When the process involves shadowing, will the students in the online course know there is an observer? How will this be communicated?
How to communicate
Through email and computer conferencing, mentoring can occur at virtually any time and any place, and both mentor and mentee can ask/answer questions or make comments at the time when ideas and issues are most relevant to them. Asynchronous online communications allow for greater flexibility, better reflection and more productive responses, thus enhancing communications compared to real-time meetings.
When to communicate
Each should know the other's customary login times so that there will be a framework upon which to base expectations of response times. Communications should occur a minimum of 2-3 times per week, but preferably daily.
When each will be proactive or reactive
In the early stages of the relationship, particularly if the mentee is shadowing the mentor, the mentor should be proactive, explaining course design elements and procedures, often before the mentee asks. As the mentor observes the mentee facilitate a course, the mentor can be more reactive, providing information in response to inquiries from the mentee.

Effective Mentor Strategies

The following are suggestions of what a mentor can do to increase receptivity to the mentee's needs, as well as facilitate personal and professional growth:

Budget time to dedicate to the process
A good mentor must be accessible to the mentee, but should not be expected to be available at all times. Be clear about how much time and energy you are able to put into the relationship.

Establish goals
Create a timeline for completion of specific tasks during the mentoring period; use your time productively, avoid having just pen pal projects with no other concrete purpose. Identify specific problems that need to be addressed; maintain a checklist or diary.
Set standards
Share resources and specific examples of excellence in your field; explain why those resources and or examples constitute "excellence."
Realize that being a mentor is not the same as being an expert
A mentor guides the mentee to discover answers for him/herself. Don't just give answers - get the mentee to suggest alternative interpretations. Ask questions, discuss realistic, hypothetical situations -- ask your mentee, "how would you do this?" Don't expect the mentee to do everything like you would -- realize there are alternatives that may be just as good. Be open to those alternatives.
Provide feedback
Answer questions promptly -- try to respond to email questions within 24 hours. Provide formal, written feedback on a regular basis through weekly progress reports or summaries. Feedback can also be informal - when you observe a behavior that you feel is productive or problematic, share your observations with your mentee. Give constructive feedback. Your role is to guide, not to chastise.
Help mentee find sources of professional support
Identify mailing lists, availability of technical/instructional support at their institution, etc. that will continue after the mentorship period.
Profile student types
Help your mentee recognize patterns or behavior-types and how to deal with them. This objectifies and reduces the emotional charge of the specific situation, creating a set of touchstones for the mentee to use in the future.
Celebrate successes
Recognize and praise accomplishments, and make it an opportunity to work with the mentee to set new goals.
Learn from your mentee
Mentoring can be a two-way learning opportunity. Reflect and write about your experience.

Effective Mentee Strategies

The mentee's role is far more active than passive, and the following suggestions will facilitate a creative and constructive exchange:

Respect the Mentor's Time and Energy
Keep inquires focused on what you need to know in order to become a better teacher. You may become close friends with your mentor, but save small-talk for after hours.

Strive for Independence
Recognize what you are capable of doing by yourself and take responsibility for doing it. Be eager to increase your autonomy. After all, your goal is to solo.
Pursue the Answers You Need
Ask questions you need answered. If the answers aren't clear, or what you need, re-phrase and ask again. Your mentor is far more likely to appreciate than resent your persistence.
Learn to Generate and Test Alternative Explanations
When a student engages in a behavior which you find problematic, don't jump to conclusions about their motives. Work with your mentor to brainstorm and validate possible explanations. And when your mentor does something you find puzzling, don't just ask, "Why did you do that?" Instead, brainstorm possibilities and mutually discuss them.
Validate Your Mentor's Good Practices
Mentoring isn't a one-way street. When your mentor does something in facilitating their own course which strikes you as adept, positive, effective, creative, constructive, or professional, say so, and often.
Affirm Your Mentor's Generosity
You are being given incredible gifts of time, energy, wisdom, support, and kindness. Affirm those gifts - frequently - and you will energize the process and sustain the relationship.

Conclusion

Training and mentoring by seasoned online instructors help equip new online faculty with needed technical skills, familiarity with the online learning environment, and most importantly, a true awareness of effective online pedagogies and teaching strategies. The mentoring period offers an extraordinary opportunity for reflective practice, for both mentor and mentee to consciously articulate and integrate what they do best. These practices are fundamental to student success and lead to greater instructor/student satisfaction with their online teaching/learning experience. Improved instruction, high student and instructor retention rates, and positive effects of the word-of-mouth make the time and energy invested in mentorship experiences a crucial component of professional development for new online instructors.

Notes

[1] Bedore, Bedore, & Bedore. (1997). Online education: The future is now. Phoenix: Academic Research and Technologies Press. [return]

[2] In a study of 270 distance faculty, researchers at the University of Nebraska found that, "Those faculty with less than 10 years teaching experience ranked 'mentoring partner' higher in importance than did the faculty with more than 20 years teaching experience" (paragraph 36).
Rockwell, K., Schauer, J., Fritz, S., & Marx, D. (2000). Faculty Education, Assistance and Support Needed to Deliver Education via Distance [41 paragraphs]. Journal of Distance Learning Administration [On-line serial], 3 (2). Available at: <http://westga.edu/~distance/rockwell32.html> [2000, Sept. 27]. [return]

[3] A report from Simon Fraser University points to the importance of the peer-mentor relationships between new online faculty and veteran online instructors in which the new online instructors were provided with concrete examples of uses of the technology to which they could relate.
TL-NCE - Telelearning Network of Centres of Excellence, Simon Fraser University Report to the Office of Learning Technologies. (1998). Evaluation of Training and Mentoring of Instructors and Course Authors for Telelearning Using Virtual-U [6 paragraphs]. [Executive Summary]. Available at:
<http://olt-bta.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/publicat/59002exesum_e.html> [2000, Sept. 27]. [return]

[4] Institute for Higher education Policy. (2000, March). Quality On the Line: Benchmarks for Success in Internet-Based Distance Education [16 paragraphs]. [report commissioned by the National Education Association]. Available at: <http://www.ihep.com/quality.pdf >
[2000, Sept. 27]. [return]

[5] Carr, S. (2000, Mar. 28). After Half a Course, a Professor Concedes Distance Learning is Not for Him [14 paragraphs]. Chronicle of Higher Education [On-line serial]. Available at:<http://www.chronicle.com/free/2000/03/2000032801u.htm> [2000, Sept. 27]. [return]

[6] Zeeb, P. To Improve Distance Students' Performance and Learning, Provide Distance Mentoring.<http://coe.sdsu.edu/et640/popsamples/pzeeb/pzeeb.htm> [2000, Sept 27]. [return]

[7] Wighton, D. (1993). USWEST Fellow and Telementoring / Telementoring: An Examination of the Potential for an Educational Network.
<http://mentor.creighton.edu/htm/telement.htm> [2000, Sept. 28]. [return]

[8] The Joys of Mentoring. <http://apollo.gse.uci.edu/MentorTeacher/Chapter7.html> [2000, Sept. 28]. [return]

[9] The Electronic Emissary Project. <http://emissary.ots.utexas.edu/emissary/index.html> [2000, Sept. 28]. [return]

[10] The Four Directions Electronic Mentoring Project <http://www.tapr.org/4d/>
[2000, Sept. 28]. [return]

[11] National Mentoring Partnership. <http://www.mentoring.org> [2000, Sept. 29]. [return]

[12] University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peer Mentoring Program
<http://www.uwm.edu/letsci/edison/pm.html> [2000, Sept. 29]. [return]

[13] Telementoring Web. <http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/mentor> [2000, Sept. 29]. [return]

MENTORING NEW ONLINE FACULTY: STRATEGIES THAT WORK

Abstract