Facilitating a Mentoring Programme for Doctoral Students: Insights from Evidence-Based Practice (original) (raw)
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Peer and Faculty Mentoring in Doctoral Education: Definitions, Experiences, and Expectations
International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2007
Mentoring has long been recognized as an effective strategy for retaining and supporting doctoral students in their programs of study. In this qualitative investigation, we conducted three focus groups of protégés, peer mentors, and faculty mentors to explore definitions, experiences, and expectations of mentoring. Results indicated that the three groups had meaningful differences in all three areas of interest. These differences were consistent with emerging conceptual frameworks explaining adult learning processes and perceived needs. The frameworks involved "stages" of mentoring and classifying the student's preferred mentoring style along dimensions of pedagogy and andragogy. These frameworks suggest the need for clarifying protégé and mentor roles/expectations early and throughout the doctoral program.
Mentoring as Seen through the Lens of Doctoral Students
Research in Higher Education Journal, 2020
This paper will describe the reflections of doctoral students as they complete their first experience of formal mentoring and examine what they discovered about the process and rigors of mentoring adults. Goals and objectives were negotiated and a formal written agreement describing trust, communication, time expectations and constraints, confidentiality of information, plan developing, success criteria and measurement, delineation of mutual responsibilities and target dates for learning goals was executed. Although the students all indicated a successful experience, the process of how each achieved that experience varied.
The challenges of designing and implementing a doctoral student mentoring program
The relationship between doctoral students and faculty members has been identified as a key component of a successful graduate school experience. In this article, we consider the challenges inherent in designing and implementing a formal doctoral student mentoring program. By bringing together students, peer mentors, and faculty mentors, the program sought to introduce a team-based platform to facilitate student success. We specifically consider how program components might be scaled up across the institution, providing both a personal and supportive relationship for participants as well as an information resource for the broader student population.
Faculty Perspectives on Doctoral Student Mentoring: The Mentor‘s Odyssey
2010
for their assistance and valuable contributions to this study. I also need to convey my deep respect and admiration for the faculty-mentors who volunteered to participate in this study and who embody the ideals of effective mentoring, as evidenced by both their nomination by graduate students and by their self-aware reflections on the nature of the mentoring experience.
2010
In recent years, mentoring has emerged as a research domain, however, the preponderance of mentoring research has been situated first, in the business or organizational settings and second, in the K-12 educational setting, focusing on protégé experiences, using quantitative survey instruments to collect data. Thus, mentoring research literature includes a paucity of formal studies in the arena of graduate education. Situated in the higher education setting, this study investigated the perspectives of faculty-mentors who provided mentoring to doctoral students who completed the doctoral degree, employing the qualitative research methodology known as phenomenology, as an orthogonal but complimentary epistemology to previous quantitative studies. Located specifically in the College of Education of a large research university, the study asked 262 College of Education doctoral graduates to nominate College of Education faculty who provided mentoring to them during their degree pursuit. A total of 59 faculty were nominated as mentors. Six of the most frequently nominated mentors participated in two semi-structured interviews (Berg, 2004). The interviews addressed the mentor's experience of the mentoring endeavor, seeking to gather a description of their lived experience (Creswell, 1998) of mentoring and the meanings (Cohen & Omery, 1994) they garnered from it. The interviews yielded x several shared perspectives on mentoring, including: a Gratifying Perspective, an Intentional Perspective, an Idiographic Perspective, a Teleological Perspective, and a Dynamic Perspective. Other noteworthy concepts that emerged from the mentors' data were: values, motivations, symbiotic relationship, and contextual negotiation. Implications for mentoring theory and practice as well as mentor development were described. The study contributed to development of a fuller phenomenological understanding of the perspectives of faculty-mentors in a mentoring relationship with doctoral students.
Self-reflective mentoring: Perspectives of peer mentors in an education doctoral program
International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 2019
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discover peer mentors’ perspectives of an education doctoral (Doctorate of Education) peer mentoring program implemented in a mid-sized public institution. Design/methodology/approach – Data from one focus group and an interview collected from peer mentors as part of a larger case study of mentors and mentees in a peer mentoring program for education doctoral students are presented. Four (n¼4) peer mentors participated in a focus group (n¼3) and an interview (n¼1). Participants were asked about their perceptions of the program and their experiences as mentors. Findings – Four themes were discovered within the data: mentors relate to social, emotional and academic life balances of mentees, mentors provide support and reassurance to mentees, mentors guide mentees to focus on the future, and mentors gain personal and professional growth from the peer mentoring program. Results indicated that mentors believed that the program was helpful for their mentees and beneficial to their own personal and professional development. Research limitations/implications – Limitations of this study include the small sample size (n¼4) and the short period of time in which participants were asked to be a part of the mentoring program and reflect in focus groups and interview (one academic year). Implications of this study include the benefits of peer mentoring for both mentors and mentees alike. Originality/value – In contrast to many other studies of peer mentoring programs, this peer mentoring program targeted scholar-practitioner students who were balancing full-time careers with their coursework and family lives. Thus, peer mentors focused more on career and work-life balance with mentees than mentors may in other programs, as well as finding benefit to their own professional development. Keywords - Professional development, EdD, Doctoral peer mentoring program, Education doctorate, Mentoring relationships, Peer mentor Paper type- Case study
Higher Learning Research Communications, 2020
Supporting the proficiencies scholar-practitioners need to be successful in Doctor of Education (EdD) programs typically differ from the needs of traditional doctoral students in other types of programs; however, EdD students may benefit from participating in a mentoring program during the progression of their academic career. Several theoretical and conceptual frameworks that influence mentoring programs exist at the doctoral level despite the lack of research conducted that is specific to EdD degrees. In this article, we review several frameworks that influenced the creation and redesign of the Mentoring Pathways Program, developed explicitly to address the needs of scholar-practitioners attending a midwestern university. Through this process, we developed a Mentoring Pathways Program Model, by exploring the domains of sustainability, networking, and expected outcomes, with each domain enhanced through the foundational disciplines of readiness, self-efficacy, and progress. The development and implementation of the MPP model guides the mentoring approach for our EdD students while allowing for the flexibility to accommodate changing needs and requests. In this article, we present a reflective and responsive practice towards EdD mentor and mentee relationships, which are assessed yearly through surveys, interviews, and focus groups.
Doctoral Advising or Mentoring? Effects on Student Outcomes
Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 2012
This study investigated the extent to which doctoral advisors provided mentoring to their students and if mentor support influenced doctoral student outcomes. Survey results from 477 respondents, across disciplines at two universities, indicated that most students believed mentoring was important and over half of them received mentoring support from their advisor.
Experience of academic staff in mentoring programs
International Journal of Management and Economics
Mentoring programs developed at universities are an effective method of supporting student development. The participation in these programs brings them many benefits. These benefits include increased prestige in the community, gaining new experiences and achieving defined goals in the case of universities. It is essential to improve the mentoring programs implemented at universities. This article presents the results of research carried out within the framework of the BEGIN project implemented and funded under the Erasmusplus program. The aim of the research was to identify academic staff's experiences of participating in formal and informal mentoring programs. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted with respondents from Italy, Poland and Germany. A purposive selection method was used. The research provided clues with a practical dimension on how to implement mentoring programs, usefulness from the student's point of view, effectiveness and efficiency, and how to measure the...
Designing a peer mentoring program for education doctorate (EdD) students: A literature review
Higher Learning Research Communications, 2018
Objectives: In preparation for creating a peer-mentoring program for education doctorate (EdD) students, we conducted a literature review to learn about the characteristics of peer-mentoring programs for graduate students and EdD students specifically. Method: Our search criteria included articles about peer mentoring for graduate students only; published in peer-reviewed journals since the year 2000; and about programs that involved more experienced students, students farther along in the program, or recent graduates. These criteria resulted in 15 articles. Results: We applied what we learned about program design and characteristics in the creation of a voluntary peer-mentoring program for first year students, including purposeful selection and assignment of mentors and mentees along with stated expectations for the type and frequency of mentor/mentee conversations. Conclusions: More research is needed that addresses a consistent definition of peer mentoring, methodological concerns about research, challenges of these programs, and how certain aspects of peer-mentoring programs relate to program completion rates. Implications for Theory and/or Practice: Continued investigation into the benefits and challenges of mentoring programs will inform our service to students. Investigation into multiple programs and peer mentoring in the later stages of the doctoral journey will strengthen the extant literature about peer mentoring for doctoral students.