E-Mentors Explained:
Oaklands College has appointed almost a hundred eMentors to assist staff with everything from laptops to interactive whiteboards. Oaklands Director of eLearning and mastermind of the scheme, Richard Everett, said:
"Oaklands' eMentoring works on the principle that the person in the household who knows how to use the DVD player is, more often than not, the child. And the same is true with ICT. Because young people have the attitude that takes technology for granted, they see it as just another tool and are not frightened of finding out how to use it when they do not know – they just try."
Oaklands’ eMentors students can be called on to help with everything from assisting lecturers with equipment such as laptops, projectors and electronic whiteboards, to encouraging fellow students to make use of the college’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and reporting IT faults to the Helpdesk.
The scheme works on the premise that digital-savvy students are more technically adept and it has helped lecturers overcome their insecurities towards information and communication technology (ICT) while empowering and engaging students.
Richard Everett comments:
“We wanted to improve the usage of technology and the quality of provision. Using students to teach the teachers in something at which they (the students) are very adept at seemed a logical – if controversial – approach. We wanted to improve retention, achievement and success using the technology recently installed into every classroom and workshop.”
The aim is to enable staff and students at Oaklands College to make the best use of its investment in new technology by using the students to support teachers in utilising ICT resources appropriately in the classroom or workplace. The eMentors are on hand during classes to assist teachers with any issues which may arise with the introduction of a brand new ICT system, including wireless networking, electronic white boards and ICT projection facilities. They also attend Staff Development sessions and have one-to-one training with members of the eLTS team to help them develop their technical and communication skills.
Although it was thought that staff would initially be resistant they have embraced the eMentor scheme and individual tutors have included their eMentor in the planning and preparation of their lessons as well as the preparation of class notes to be uploaded onto the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). By the end of the 2007-08 academic year, there were 42 eMentors and 75% of the courses in which they were present increased their success rates by an average of 6%. In 2008, 48% of courses have eMentors and 93% of staff and students who took part in a survey said that having an eMentor was good, very good or excellent. Retention rates for 2007/8 also show a marked increase in courses where eMentors are present (90-95% of those courses had an increase in retention – an average of 8% increase was achieved
To quote from one tutor “Yes I think it is an excellent idea as you have extra support if things go wrong. You can also learn from your eMentor.”
The scheme has impacted in unexpected ways as eMentors now sit on the Student Council and are invited to Board of Governors’ meetings. They now directly inform policy by highlighting procedures that could be managed in a more digitally-efficient way. For example, it is now College policy that all course assignments should be delivered and collected electronically using the Assignment resource of the College’s VLE. – a policy initially started in Health and Social Care at the suggestion of an eMentor Natalie Renshaw. Oaklands eMentors also support eMentors in other schools and Colleges and are regularly involved in working with VIPs visiting the College or attending national conferences to talk about the scheme.
The scheme is also featured as a case-study by the Institute for Learning
The success of the eMentors scheme attracted MoLeNET funding to the College to further develop this concept using mobile technology in the classrooms. The MoLeMentors project hoped to join the pedagogical viewpoint of the teacher with the pragmatic approach and technical ability of the student. It called for tutors to volunteer themselves and their eMentor to participate in a pilot to explore the use of mobile devices in and out of the classroom setting. The tutors and their MoLeMentors were given Smartphones and the MoLeMentors would help to develop staff skills in the use of mobile technology by mentoring them with methods and techniques that the students themselves take for granted. The phones were used in a variety of ways: to record class discussions as sound or video files; photograph events; to send files via Shozu to file sharing sites such as Dashwire and Buzznet; and to regularly log on to the MoleMentor forum to share ideas and discuss problems.
This article appeared in The Times Education supplement "The Role of an eMentor"