Effectiveness Of Mentoring Program Research Articles

Promoting Success: Mentoring Students with Disabilities Using New Technologies in Higher Education

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to investigate the traditional mentoring practices of mentors and protégés.Design/methodology/approachAs a matter of fact students with disabilities, as a group, have the lowest participation in postsecondary education programs and the highest unemployment rates. Effective mentoring programs can change these outcomes. These students need knowledgeable mentors who are familiar with technology and disabilities to help them in their fields of education. Access to technology and emphasis on using the technologies for mentors will be discussed.FindingsTraditional in‐person mentoring is problematic because of transportation problems with appointment or location. In addition, mentors can help their protégés explore career options, set academic and career goals develop social and professional contacts, identify resources, and strengthen interpersonal skills. Using technology between mentors and protégés makes it easy to exchange information at anytime from anywhere.Practical implicationsThe paper discusses in detail two widely used e‐mentoring programs. The first program is DO‐IT, a program which is sponsored by the University of Washington and the second program is MentorNet, which deals with mentoring and increasing diversity in the engineering and science fields.Originality/valueAs one writer stated: “mentoring is a win‐win situation”. This article describes the need for intervention, mentoring and retention of students with disabilities in Higher Education.

A Mentoring Model for Enhancing Success in Graduate Education

Mentoring has served as an effective mechanism to reduce the attrition rates of individuals who are entering graduate programs in the health science disciplines; however, both minorities and males continue to be underrepresented, particularly in the discipline of human communication sciences and disorders. In response to this rapidly growing shortage, several institutions have addressed the need for mentoring; few, however, have provided effective mentoring programs to reverse the shortage of these underrepresented popula- tions. Even fewer have focused on mentoring in graduate education. Given these facts, the purpose of this article is to present 2 models for use in graduate education: a Multiple Mentor Model and a Five-Tier Mentoring Program. Both are designed to reduce attrition rates and enhance student success in acquiring the skills necessary to transition into a professional career. The former is based on the premise that students can benefit from having multiple mentors with varied skills to facilitate their academic, professional, and personal development. The latter consists of 5 components that are essential for a successful mentoring program. The authors also provide recommendations regarding new directions in the field to improve mentoring efforts that will enhance the recruit- ment, retention, graduation, certification, and employ- ment of graduate students.

Essentials of Neophyte Mentorship in Relation to the Faculty Shortage

Given the nursing faculty shortage, innovative strategies are needed to attract and retain talented individuals in the academic setting. Mentoring programs have a positive effect on nursing clinicians turned educators. A successful mentoring relationship guides the neophyte educator into a successful teaching career through better adjustment and professional academic advancement. Ten essential ingredients of effective mentoring programs are presented based on the lived experience of a protégé and mentor and a review of mentoring literature. Positive outcomes of successful mentoring programs for the neophyte educator include a collegial relationship with the mentor, improved job satisfaction in a faculty role, improved quality of nursing education, and retention in the nursing education profession.

The Role of a Special Friend in Assisting Underachieving Children of Academic Promise

This paper describes an adolescent mentorship program in Singapore to help underachieving, elementary-age children with academic potential develop positive attitudes towards learning. The paper provides an overview of the three phases of the mentoring program, namely training, mentoring and evaluation, examines the interactions between positive adolescent role models and underachieving, elementary-age children with academic promise, and makes recommendations for the establishment of effective mentoring programs in schools.

Twelve tips for developing effective mentors

Mentoring is often identified as a crucial step in achieving career success. However, not all medical trainees or educators recognize the value of a mentoring relationship. Since medical educators rarely receive training on the mentoring process, they are often ill equipped to face challenges when taking on major mentoring responsibilities. This article is based on half-day workshops presented at the 11th Ottawa International Conference on Medical Education in Barcelona on 5 July 2004 and the annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges in Boston on 10 November 2004 as well as a review of literature. Thirteen medical faculty participated in the former and 30 in the latter. Most participants held leadership positions at their institutions and mentored trainees as well as supervised mentoring programs. The workshops reviewed skills of mentoring and strategies for designing effective mentoring programs. Participants engaged in brainstorming and interactive discussions to: (a) review different types of mentoring programs; (b) discuss measures of success and failure of mentoring relationships and programs; and (c) examine the influence of gender and cultural differences on mentoring. Participants were also asked to develop an implementation plan for a mentoring program for medical students and faculty. They had to identify student and faculty mentoring needs, and describe methods to recruit mentors as well as institutional reward systems to encourage and support mentoring.

Mentor evaluation of a year-long mentorship program: A quality improvement initiative

This paper presents 23 mentors' perceptions of their role in a year-long mentorship program during the period 1999- 2002. The majority of mentors were clinical specialists, had bachelor degrees and over five years clinical experience. The mentorship program was informed by the Deming Cycle of Plan, Do, Check and Act. This quality improvement framework was used to evaluate the mentorship program from the mentors' perspective. Information was gathered through surveys and focus group discussions. Responses were analysed to identify three themes of 'Enhancing student learning outcomes', 'Time and resources' and 'Personal and professional growth'. Mentors perceived their role as valuable in students' education and development. Despite concerns regarding adequate time and resources for an effective mentoring program, mentors acknowledged benefits to themselves in terms of personal and professional growth. Their vision and commitment to nursing was also evident in the perceived benefits of the program for the profession.

PROTOCOL: Mentoring Interventions to Affect Juvenile Delinquency and Associated Problems

PROTOCOL: Mentoring Interventions to Affect Juvenile Delinquency and Associated Problems

Developmental Mentoring Match Characteristics: Correspondence between Mentors’ and Mentees’ Assessments of Relationship Quality

Understanding the factors that contribute to high-quality mentoring relationships is critical to developing and sustaining effective mentoring programs. In study 1, sixty-three adolescent mentors, from two high schools, were surveyed four to six weeks after being matched with elementary-age mentees. Hierarchical regression models revealed that mentees' academic and behavioral risk status, parental involvement, and program quality all explained variance in mentor-perceived relationship quality, but none remained significant predictors after mentors' self-efficacy, motivations for self-enhancement, and assessments of their mentees' support seeking behaviors were accounted for. Study 2 cross-validates the regression model in study 1 and examines the concurrent validity and predictive validity of a measure of mentoring match characteristics using mid-year and end-of-year assessments from mentees and mentors. Editors' Strategic Implications: The focus on mentors' initial impressions of their mentees and the relationship represents a novel contribution to the study of relationship formation and persistence. The authors provide a promising strategy - and descriptions of specific measures - to help programs study relationships that endure or terminate. Coordinators will benefit from the knowledge that if mentors feel efficacious and if the mentoring relationship is strong, mentors are more likely to persist.

Build an effective mentoring program

Good mentors do more than pass on their wisdom. They help people see the roads they can follow to reach their goals. They do this in a way that enables people to take more control of their personal and professional lives. The article suggests five steps to creating an effective mentoring program.

Empowering Untenured Faculty Through Mosaic Mentoring

Mentoring programs have consistently demonstrated their value in assisting new and early faculty members to make successful adjustments and productive contributions to the academy. Yet, mentoring programs have failed to be consistently implemented despite their efficacy and increasing levels of job dissatisfaction reported by new and early faculty members. To extend the understanding of this issue at a research-based university in western Canada, a survey was sent to deans, department heads, and new faculty. Based on the results of this survey, a focus group of new faculty members was conducted and semi-structured interviews were held with department heads who had implemented effective mentoring programs. The results of this investigation indicate that mosaic mentoring programs, which have no agendas to preserve hierarchies and power imbalances, and which view all faculty members as continuing learners, could reduce feelings of dissatisfaction among new and early faculty members and support conditions for identity transformation.

Effectiveness of mentoring programs for youth: a meta-analytic review.

We used meta-analysis to review 55 evaluations of the effects of mentoring programs on youth. Overall, findings provide evidence of only a modest or small benefit of program participation for the average youth. Program effects are enhanced significantly, however, when greater numbers of both theory-based and empirically based "best practices" are utilized and when strong relationships are formed between mentors and youth. Youth from backgrounds of environmental risk and disadvantage appear most likely to benefit from participation in mentoring programs. Outcomes for youth at-risk due to personal vulnerabilities have varied substantially in relation to program characteristics, with a noteworthy potential evident for poorly implemented programs to actually have an adverse effect on such youth. Recommendations include greater adherence to guidelines for the design and implementation of effective mentoring programs as well as more in-depth assessment of relationship and contextual factors in the evaluation of programs.

Formal mentoring: is there a strategic fit?

Many organizations have implemented formal mentoring programs within the last few years. Some organizations have realized success with their formal mentoring programs, while others have not fared so well. A missing link with many formal mentoring programs is a corporate level mentoring strategy. The lack of a corporate level mentoring strategy inhibits the mentoring process from becoming an integral part of an organization’s culture, therefore not allowing for the maximization of benefits that can be gained from effective formal mentoring processes and programs. Thus, this paper offers a framework for creating a corporate level mentoring strategy; a standardized mentoring process; and customized mentoring programs, all of which should align with the organization’s strategic positioning to facilitate the achievement of maximum effectiveness from the implementation of formal mentoring programs.

Mentoring Beginning Special Education Teachers and the Relationship to Attrition

This article examines the components of an effective mentoring program for beginning special education teachers and the impact mentoring has on attrition. The participants for the study were 156 first-year special education teachers in South Carolina who responded to a questionnaire that examined the frequency and perceived effectiveness of the form and content of the mentoring the characteristics of the mentors, and the teachers' plans to remain in special education. Two factors emerged in the mentoring: a general factor and a factor specific to special education. The perceived effectiveness of the mentoring was significantly correlated with the teachers' plans to remain in special education. The article examines critical components of mentoring and concludes by discussing the implications for practice.

Untenured Faculty: Issues of transition, adjustment and mentorship

A needs assessment for mentoring between faculty in higher education could highlight the personal and professional needs of junior professors not being met by existing academic structures. Assessments that include the responses of untenured faculty can identify critical issues of socialisation in the effort to develop effective mentoring programmes. This study is based on the personal reflections of 60 untenured faculty working in the United States, Canada, and Australia who revealed salient aspects of their cultural adjustment. The original questionnaire probed issues of faculty socialisation in several key areas. The data are organised into themes involving criteria for gaining tenure, collegiality as collaboration and competition, and politics and the academic power structure. The data also suggest that the pre-tenure years can be analysed as early and advanced phases of adjustment.

Use of electronic communication to develop Mentor-Protégé relationships between adolescent and adult AAC users: Pilot study

Times of transition are often difficult for individuals with communication disabilities who rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. Mentoring by more experienced partners has been embraced by both business and education as an effective means of easing transitions. Mentoring by experienced adults who use AAC seems to offer many potential benefits for adolescents and young adults who require AAC. The purpose of this exploratory study was to develop, implement, and conduct a preliminary evaluation of a small-scale mentor program for adolescents and young adults who use AAC in order to identify issues for further consideration and research. In this study, four successful adult augmentative communicators were recruited to serve as mentors for four individuals using AAC. All of the interactions that took place between the mentors and protégés occurred using electronic mail (e-mail). The e-mail messages for each dyad were analyzed to investigate the frequency and length of messages, the goals set and attained by protégés, and the topics discussed. Consumer satisfaction data and suggestions for future mentoring programs were collected at the end of the program. The results of this preliminary study suggest that mentoring by successful users of AAC may be effective in easing the transition of younger users of AAC. The results also suggest that training of mentors and carefully matching protégés and mentors may be important steps in developing effective mentoring programs. E-mail may serve as an effective medium for establishing a mentoring program for individuals who use AAC, provided that the participants have guidelines for expectations of frequency of message exchanges, reliable Internet service, and opportunities for additional methods of contact.

Book Reviews : Margo Murray with Marna A. Owen (1991) Beyond the Myths and Magic of Mentoring: How to facllitate an effective mentoring program San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. 210 pp, $54.95

Book Reviews : Margo Murray with Marna A. Owen (1991) Beyond the Myths and Magic of Mentoring: How to facllitate an effective mentoring program San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. 210 pp, $54.95

Book Reviews: Beyond the Myths and Magic of Mentoring: How to Facilitate an Effective Mentoring Program

Book Reviews: Beyond the Myths and Magic of Mentoring: How to Facilitate an Effective Mentoring Program

Designing Effective Mentoring Programs: Historical Perspectives and Current Issues

This article explores the historical development of mentoring and several current critical issues in mentoring: purpose and process, characteristics of mentors, the establishment and duration of mentoring relationships, and mentoring for women and minorities. Personnel in academic settings need to consider these issues when implementing a mentoring program.

Review of Beyond the myths and magic of mentoring: How to facilitate an effective mentoring program.

Review of Beyond the myths and magic of mentoring: How to facilitate an effective mentoring program.

Toward a Conceptualization of Mentoring

Anderson and Shannon argue that effec tive mentoring programs must be grounded on a clear and strong concep tual foundation. Such a foundation in cludes a carefully articulated approach to mentoring which would include de lineation of: a definition of the mentor ing relationship, the essential functions of the mentor role, the activities through which selected mentoring functions will be expressed, and the dispositions that mentors must exhibit if they are to carry out requisite mentoring functions and activities.