online mentoringfor black & Asian students & graduates

Mark Kent, Senior Careers Adviser

Manchester Metropolitan University, Crewe+Alsager Faculty

Information

MERITS is funded by the Department for Education and Skills and administered by the HEFCE Innovations Team (for fifteen months ending March 2002)

Pilot Web site:– www.mentor.mmu.ac.uk

Dissemination materials– www.mentor.mmu.ac.uk/dissemination

This presentation

Why mentoring? Why online? Pilot aims & objectives Recruiting mentors & mentees Profiles of mentors and mentees The administrative system The mentoring process Evaluation Recommendations for development

Why mentoring?

  Percentage unemployed, MMU

  1999 2000 2001

White 4.0 5.2 4.7

Ethnic minority 8.0 8.3 5.6

Mentoring will bring together employers and graduates in purposeful relationships to address this issue.

Why online?

Overcomes barriers:– Time pressures– Geographical location– Disability

Allows asynchronous communication Provides common meeting ground for the

mentoring process Enables scaleability

Aims

Development of high-quality and sustained relationships between mentors and mentees, mediated online

To provide a structure and purpose to the mentoring process through the implementation of a lifelong learning model

To measure the success of online mentoring as a technique and make recommendations for further development

Objectives

Minimum of 30 (ideally 100) mentors matched with 100 UK black & Asian graduates and students

Web-based system to support links between mentors and mentees, which uses an online portfolio of self-analysis, goals, action plan and reflective log

Supporting documentation, online support Newsletter and e-mail list Evaluation tool

Recruiting mentors

Looked for mentors nationally:– Mail shot to MMU black & Asian graduates 1995 –

1998 (1350)– Mail shot to MMU Careers Service database of

employers (3000)– Mail shot to professional bodies (46)– E-mail to 192 MMU alumni from longitudinal

destination surveys– Local community groups

Mentors

92 mentors registered, many of whom were willing to mentor 2-3 individuals

52% of mentors were MMU alumni 39% black or Asian Significant proportion were employed in small

and medium-sized enterprises. Mentors were located as far afield as

Aberdeen, County Armagh and London

Recruiting mentees

Looking for 100 mentees nationally:– Mail shot of MMU alumni 1999, 2000, 2001– E-mail all black and Asian MMU final year students– Publicity via AGCAS services

Mentees

97 mentees registered 72% were MMU alumni and final year students Bangladeshi 6

Black African 8Black Caribbean 4Black other 5Chinese 4Indian 38Pakistani 29Other 4

Registration, matching, notification

A mentor registers via the Website Approval of their application triggers confirmatory e-mail

and publication of their details anonymously on the Web A mentee registers and matches mentors’ skills,

experience and background to their needs; they make 3 choices of mentor for their ‘hotlist’

A match is approved and this triggers e-mail notification to both parties, with contact details and instructions on how to proceed

Subsequent tasks are generated within the system

Strengths of the admin system

All data are entered by the participants and this generates various tasks and reports

Mentees have control over matching Allows decentralised management

through a Web-based system

19.2% of mentees disagreed that they had a good match

Only 8% disagreed that there was a good choice of mentor

Evaluation of registration, matching & notification

“Registration is easy, and being able to choose the type of mentor is useful in getting the best type of advice for the career I want to progress in”

“The initial registration and selection was very efficient. I was given my preferred choice of mentor”

“I was surprised at how quickly someone was assigned to me”.

The mentoring process

Mentors and mentees paired electronically and given private access to the online mentoring area

Mentoring pairs log in and share a private online environment

Mentors help the mentees through a learning model – lifelong learning

The Lifelong Learning model

The managed online mentoring environment

Portfolio areas:– ‘About me’:

Strengths & weaknesses– Education– Work experience– Personal interests– Life experience– Qualities & capabilities– Identifying working style– Reviewing strengths & weaknesses

The managed online mentoring environment…contd.

Portfolio areas…contd.:

– Setting goals & targets– Developing an action plan– Reflecting on your learning

Communication tools– Discussion– Online chat

Monitoring and support

Accesses to the system are logged (dates, time, hits)

Discussion entries, chat room exchanges are monitored

Online portfolios are visible to project staff Regular e-mails to mentors and mentees from

the programme manager

Evaluation

Preliminary evaluation 25 October 2001 (3 months into project)

Main evaluation January 2002– 15 out of 97 mentees responded (15.5%)– 20 out of 92 mentors responded (21.7%)

9 mentees and 8 mentors could be said to have engaged in significant activity.

42% of mentors and 23% of mentees felt that their partners were not fully committed.

Partners, their relationship and the mentoring process

Mentors who engaged significantly were communicating once per week or more frequently.

These participants agreed that they had formed positive working relationships.

Most interaction was by e-mail, although some meetings and telephone conversations had taken place.

Partners, their relationship and the mentoring process

“The service has been great because I am able to communicate with someone that I wouldn't normally meet let alone know about their day to day work or them know about the problems I may have in getting into a career I want”

“Excellent. I am receiving all the help and guidance that I was looking for”.

“The relationship has been very effective and we have developed a good understanding”.

Partners, their relationship and the mentoring process…contd.

“The principle behind the scheme is great. I am able to communicate with a mentor in a field I may not have been able to get an insight to”.

It’s an excellent way to get very useful guidance for study and job hunting”.

“I have found the process to be very thought provoking, useful and supportive”.

The best thing(s) about this project......

“...is that it is very well organised, well structured, excellent level of support, instruction documents and contact. Offering support through an automated system makes it easy to do and not time consuming”.

"...is that it is an excellent source of practical help and advice".

"...is getting to discuss my career choices and how I might get there”.

“...were the choices of mentor and how the one allocated to me has been very supportive. I have seen my confidence improve at work and am making active choices to progress my career”.

The best thing(s) about this project......contd.

"...is the stimulation of helping someone outside my working environment.".

"...is the feeling that you are able to guide and advise a student and that your help is eagerly sought".

“...is being able to share my knowledge with someone else”.

Summary

What was successful?– Recruitment and registration– Matching, and the choice of mentors– Quality of relationships– The perception of the support offered

What was not so successful?– The online mentoring area– The level of perceived commitment to the relationships

Recommendations for development

Explicit ‘contracting’ for participants before registration – self-selection

Use a career management skills programme rather than lifelong learning: focus on career objectives, an action plan & progress against the plan

Add careers guidance online to the mentoring provision