Definition

Characteristics of Mentorship

Responsibilities

Tips and Tools

A mentor creates a rapport and shares knowledge and experience

One of the keys to the mentoring process is being able to build a rapport and share information with your students. Transitioning your skills from a face to face classroom to an on-line environment takes a small twist in thinking. The more a student knows about an instructor the more comfortable the student may become with that instructor. In turn, this rapport creates a better learning environment. Below are just a few examples that will help you begin to:

Letting Students Get to Know You:

• Activate your course in ANGEL and create a syllabus and welcome page about your course. Complete directions for activating a course and adding content can be found through the "Help" link on the ANGEL home page.

• Activate your personal Penn State Web space and create a Web page about yourself for your students.

• Download your class list from eLion and send out an e-mail "welcome letter" to your students. This could include some personal details about yourself, your research interests, a link to your personal Penn State Web page, a picture of yourself (i.e. anything to personalize your connection to the student). Also let students know that they can access the syllabus and welcome page for your course in ANGEL.

• Complete your profile information in ANGEL. This is an additional resource for letting students know a little bit about you.

Getting to Know Your Student

• Ask students to complete their profile information in ANGEL so you and their classmates can get to know them better.

• Create a message board in your ANGEL course where students can introduce themselves and get to know each other. Give students specific information to include in their introduction message like:
  • their name
  • the name they prefer to be called
  • major
  • hometown
  • high school
  • favorite city
  • favorite book
  • favorite movie
  • favorite artist
  • if they have a job, where they work
  • anything else they want to share with you and the class about themselves

• For more privacy, instead of a message board, create a dropbox in ANGEL so students can privately submit their personal information along with a photo. You can set the viewing rights to allow only you and anyone to whom you have given "Editor" status in your course view the information.

• Simple e-mail can keep a line of communication open - let your students know when you will be on-line to receive and answer e-mail. Establish rules for how quickly they should expect a reply to e-mail questions. On your syllabus, as a first assignment, have your students e-mail you to establish a communication link.

• On the first day of class, send out an e-mail inquiring if anyone is interested in one regular extra weekly "meeting" via the communication tools in ANGEL. This meeting could be for the students who want additional opportunities to learn, ask questions, and give feedback on how the class is going.

• Conduct virtual office hours by creating a chat room in your ANGEL course and post the times when you will be on-line to answer live questions. Establish rules for live chat so that the conversation flows smoothly. Greet students as they enter the chat room. Have students signal whether they have a question or a comment after you greet them, then call on the students one at a time.

• For more privacy, conduct virtual office hours via e-mail. Let students know when you will be on-line for them to receive an immediate response to their e-mail comments and questions.