Overview
Online Mentor Opportunities
Mentors can also provide guidance to CCC student teams through ongoing electronic communication. This dialogue with Connecticut’s workforce provides CCC students with a vision of their future trajectory in a fast-past, innovation-driven world.
An online mentor should have…
• approximately 30 minutes each week (on her or his own schedule) to donate to advising high school students in a CCC course
• access to the Internet
• a willingness to learn how to use the Internet for online instruction (Training and support are provided by staff members.)
Online mentors can facilitate electronic forums and/or provide feedback to students through a weekly reporting system.
Electronic Forums
Every CCC course contains a number of forums, each of which serves a different purpose in support of student learning. Mentors contribute to the online discussions in these forums by “subscribing” to individual forums that generate student questions and remarks in an area of the mentor’s expertise. The frequency of student postings varies by the particular topic, and mentors may restrict the frequency of their responses as their own schedules allow. The mentor responds to these postings with answers to questions, suggestions of resources to consider, and questions for further thought. For example, a scientist with particular knowledge of, and interest in, biotechnology might subscribe to a forum supporting student biotechnology research projects, or a professional with expertise in Web design might subscribe to a forum on Web site design and development.
(screenshot of an electronic forum)
Weekly Student Team Reports
Mentors may also choose to be responsible for weekly electronic communication with one high school team participating in a CCC course. The mentor is assigned to a team based upon his or her statement of preference, course needs, and team availability. Each week, the student team’s project manager will post answers to specific questions. The mentor reviews the answers and offers written responses, such as questions to stimulate further thought, requests for more information, and/or useful resources. Communication with the team takes place within a team forum area of the CCC online course, which is monitored by the team’s teacher and the staff at The Center for 21st Century Skills @ EDUCATION CONNECTION. See the following section for details.
The Online Learning Environment
Online mentors provide support in a course management system called Moodle. Read on for more detailed information regarding this online learning space.
About
All CCC courses are offered in a blended learning environment. Blended learning combines face-to-face classroom instruction with an online component; therefore, the online learning environment is essential to the completion of each course. Research shows that blended learning increases flexibility to allow students to learn how, when, and where they want; supports students in work-based learning; provides quicker feedback for students; promotes dialogue with students; and helps students obtain the core skills required by employers.
Once a mentor is accepted into the CCC program, he or she will be assigned to a specific student/teacher team. Mentors are encouraged to indicate a team preference, if any. Each team consists of one or two teachers and 10 to 20 students. In addition to mentors, teams are supported by experienced Teacher Fellows and the CCC Program Manager, who oversees the progress of all teams in the given curriculum.
Getting Started
Once accepted into the program, a mentor receives a username and password that provide access to Moodle content. All activity within the Moodle environment is recorded in server logs and monitored by the Moodle administrator.
After receiving a username and password, each mentor should go to
http://ctcconline.org to log in. The first time a mentor logs in, she or he will be asked to select a new password that is easy to remember.
After changing the password, the mentor should update his or her Moodle profile with professional information, such as current title and responsibilities, work experience, and other relevant details. This profile is similar to those in business networking sites such as “Linked In,” and provides a professional model for students.
A mentor can also add a photo to the profile. It helps students “get to know” the mentor in the electronic environment. Mentors should not list personal contact information, including home address or telephone number. Students are not allowed to provide this information either.
Each mentor is automatically enrolled in the appropriate course. The course name appears as a link on the left-hand side of the main page (
http://ctcconline.org). Mentors are asked to browse the course to become acquainted with the course content.
Each team has a dedicated area of the course known as the “Team Discussion Forum,” where they can exchange messages with each other about project activities. It is here that mentors communicate with their assigned teams. For mentors who are contributing to the weekly reporting system, more information follows.
The Weekly Reporting Format
Teams are asked to provide weekly progress reports to update the teachers, assigned mentors, and their own teammates. These updates take the form of a Word document that students post to the Team Discussion Forum, where students always answer the same three questions. The following information lists the questions and also the purpose of each question, the type of team answers expected, and suggestions on helpful mentor responses.
1) What have we accomplished since our last report?
This question asks students to account for their time since the last report. What have they done as a team? What has each group or department within the team accomplished toward developing the team’s project? Answers to this question should be statements of fact that detail team activities and explain any products they have created in the intervening time. Successful answers to this question will be clear and provide necessary background and contextual information for the reader.
Useful responses to the team’s answer may include requests for clarification of the team’s answer—what did they mean by what they said? Students will likely not take into account the need to write for an audience who is not intimately familiar with the team’s work. Statements such as “Tell me more about…” and “When you wrote X, what did you mean?” can be useful. The team’s teacher will coach them on writing a good report, but the mentor should expect this process to take time.
2) What are we working on now and in the near future?
Here students should be writing about their current activities and what they are likely to be doing soon. This should help the mentor to gain a sense of what is happening now and the timeliness of the team’s development. Again, these statements should be clear, factual, and as complete as possible.
Useful responses to these statements can include suggestions on where to look for resources—more information about a topic, instructions on how to accomplish a task, references to Web sites, and so forth.
3) What challenges are we encountering?
Students should identify areas where they are running into “road blocks.” There may be skills or knowledge that they do not feel they possess that are necessary to fulfill their vision, tools that they do not have (such as software), or other more general obstacles—unsure of next steps, wondering about the strength of a particular concept or aspect of their project, etc.
The mentor should not feel compelled to provide categorical answers in each case. Empathetic statements that convey understanding are often most helpful. Students may feel isolated in their attempts to solve a problem and not realize that the problem is shared widely by others. Simply pointing this out can help to lend perspective and encourage more thought. However, if a mentor, as a professional, can offer realistic suggestions or solutions to challenges, she or he should feel free to do so.
The Weekly Reporting Process
The team–mentor relationship is expected to develop and grow over the course of the academic year. Initially, student teams will be undifferentiated in terms of responsibilities and interests. Until students learn more about the specific course challenge and the team’s need for roles and responsibilities, every student will be working on roughly the same type of activity. This means that weekly reports will be a collection of updates that are not separated by area or role in the beginning. It is useful to distinguish “Phase 1” from the later development of the team structure in order to understand the initial reports being generated as opposed to “Phase 2” reports. The following diagrams illustrate the expected structures, and differences between, Phase 1 and 2 reporting.
[graphic of phase 1]
Phase 1
In Phase 1, all students are on one level. The teacher assigns one student to act as the Project Manager, who will receive updates from all team members and file one report. This one student may change if the team holds “tryouts” or interviews for the position of Project Manager, evaluating the weekly report as evidence of the qualifications of the student applying for the position. The mentor should not expect to receive the weekly report from the same student until that role has been permanently assigned.
[graphic of phase 2]
Phase 2
By Phase 2, the team has separated into “departments.” For example the team may now be comprised of Marketing, Web Site, R&D, Finance, and Programming departments, each with its own lead. Once the team forms this structure, both the mentor and teacher can expect a more orderly weekly report that accounts for updates by individual departments. These reports should be more individual, more specific, and better designed for feedback and input from the mentor. While there is no definite time frame, mentors may expect the shift from Phase 1 to Phase 2 to occur within the first semester.
Online Communication Tips
Community members are reminded that all communication should occur within an environment of mutual respect for all parties.
Student
• Be specific. Quantify and qualify whenever possible.
• Indicate how far along you are in your thinking, your development, percentage complete.
• Don’t be afraid to ask a question of the mentor. Questions/uncertainty should be aired earlier rather than later. Admit what your challenges are so that you can get feedback.
• Be honest in your reporting. What are your concerns?
• Be realistic with expectations. Think big toward the beginning. Be willing to “come down to earth” as time passes and you adjust your thinking to meet your timeline.
• Don’t be discouraged by the feedback you receive. The mentor is there to provide a sounding board for your work. If he or she offers constructive criticism, pay attention to what you can learn from that. If you need clarification, just ask.
• Be concise in your reporting; don’t ramble.
• Use appropriate terminology. Remember your audience.
Teacher
• Monitor the electronic discussion forums and weekly reports.
• Facilitate participation of all students to share equally in the process. Validate individual interests and talents.
• Facilitate communication and awareness among group members. Use team meetings to keep students “on the same page.”
• Review each report before it’s filed, giving special attention to the early reports.
Mentor
• Encourage your team.
• Point out strengths and weaknesses.
• Direct students to other resources, Web sites, and so on.
• Offer a visit to your company, if appropriate. (Please contact Cynthia Kearney to make those arrangements:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 203-798-6750.)
• Share advice and anecdotal experience.
• Be clear on your advice, but don’t do the work for them.
• Remember your audience. Use terminology more appropriate for problem-solving teenagers than experienced employees.
• Pose questions to help students dig deeper into their ideas.
• Do not send personal e-mails to students. Do not arrange to have phone calls with individual students. On some occasions it may be appropriate to arrange a conference call; this should be done through the classroom teacher.
This is something that will actually help you in life. Nobody has had this opportunity, and for us to have it, it’s just something like—it’s like a blessing. 