Mentoring Future Biologists via the Internet

Wildemuth, Barbara and Sonnenwald, Diane H. and Bollenbacher, Walter and Byrd, Goldie and Harmon, Gary Mentoring Future Biologists via the Internet., 2001 [Technical report]

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English abstract

Mentoring has a long tradition, reaching as far back as 1000 B.C. It continues to be practiced today in both educational and corporate settings. The process is typically established to help a protégé grow and develop new skills and attitudes. But science students in lower socioeconomic areas rarely have the opportunity to interact with mentors face-to-face. This is particularly true if the students are located in a rural setting, since most corporate scientists and their research facilities are concentrated in a few urban areas of the country. Few college students can travel to these sites as part of their college study, and few scientists have the leisure to travel to colleges and universities to interact with students there. If such contact were possible, students would be exposed to a much wider range of perspectives on scientific and professional issues. The E-Mentoring program was designed to overcome some of these difficulties. Electronic mentoring, or telementoring, involves the use of computer-mediated communications (like e-mail or computer conferencing systems) to support a mentoring relationship when a face to-face relationship would be impractical.The E-Mentoring program provided biology students from two historically minority universities in North Carolina with opportunities to interact and develop relationships with corporate scientists, to expand their learning horizons, and to use technology in a meaningful way. To provide a meaningful context for electronic mentoring for students, the project was integrated within appropriate biology courses, one undergraduate and one graduate. For most students and mentors, e-mentoring was a pleasant experience, but there was no immediate important impact. It is possible that the impact of the relationship may be more fully appreciated upon later reflection. For a few students, the program was unsuccessful They never developed a relationship with their mentors, and so the only benefit they received was the introduction and use of a new technological communication tool. Recommendations for future e-mentoring programs are provided.

Item type:	Technical report
Keywords:	e-mentoring
Subjects:	A. Theoretical and general aspects of libraries and information. C. Users, literacy and reading. H. Information sources, supports, channels. > HT. Web 2.0, Social networks
Depositing user:	Prof Diane H. Sonnenwald
Date deposited:	17 Feb 2020 16:03
Last modified:	17 Feb 2020 16:03
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/10760/39167

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