Unit information: Mentoring in Higher Education in 2014/15

Unit name	Mentoring in Higher Education
Unit code	EDUCM5706
Credit points	10
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Mr. Richard Brawn
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Education
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

Becoming established in academic life involves development in a number of areas that often compete for an academic's time. Institutional expectations, development and support frameworks and performance evaluation criteria may not be transparent to newcomers. The support of a mentor can be crucial to managing expectations and achieving full effectiveness quickly, yet an effective mentor - mentee relationship requires key skills from both parties. This unit is intended for staff who are (or are likely to be) acting as mentors for colleagues or research students, and for participants on the Teaching and Learning Programme who wish to extend their own skills in this area. The aim is to address important issues concerned with effective mentoring, including roles, responsibilities, skills, strategies and organisational demands. The unit targets new and experienced staff.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Successful course participants will be able to:

• demonstrate a critical awareness of models of mentoring;
• use these models and their underpinning conceptual frameworks to explain and critique practice and evaluate outcomes;
• demonstrate knowledge of a range of mentoring strategies, including e-mentoring;
• show readiness to apply practical mentoring skills in their workplace;
• employ the key skills required for an effective working professional relationship;
• use their knowledge of the particular requirements of the mentor role in the UoB teaching and learning context.

Teaching Information

Teaching will be via a mixture of formal tutor input, workshop, tutorial, and supported independent study approaches.

The unit will employ a range of small group interactive teaching methods and will seek to demonstrate active learning techniques.

It will employ participant presentations, department-based tasks that stem from participants’ normal practice, mentor tutoring and support, and personal tutoring support from programme tutors, both face to face and via a VLE.

Assessment Information

Assessment will be via an extended (2000 words) reflective account incorporating: reflections on participant experiences as a mentor/mentee; analyses of differing mentor approaches and their relative merits using the conceptual frameworks developed in the unit; and mentor, mentee and subject perspectives on the process.

The assignment will be expected to show a good knowledge and understanding of important models of mentor support and a good knowledge of the key determinants of effective working relationships.

Reading and References

• Bligh, J. (1999) ‘Mentoring: an invisible support network’, Medical Education, 33, 2-3.

• Bierema, L. & Merriam, S. (2002) ‘E-mentoring: Using computer mediated communication to enhance the mentoring process’, Innovative Higher Education, 26, 3, 211-227.

• Boyle, P. & Boice, B. (1998) ‘Systematic mentoring for new faculty teachers and graduate teaching assistants’, Innovative Higher Education, 22, 3, 157-179.

• Kealy, W. & Mullen, C. (2003) ‘Epilogue: unresolved questions about mentoring and technology’, Mentoring & Tutoring, 11, 1, 119-120.

• Ragins, B. & Cotton, J. (1999) ‘Mentor Functions and Outcomes: A comparison of men and women in formal and informal mentoring relationships’, Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 4, 529-550.

• Roberts, A. (2000) ‘Mentoring Revisited: a phenomenological reading of the literature’, Mentoring & Tutoring, 8, 2, 145-170.