With online learning finding its way into corporations and universities around
the world, it is inevitable that virtual learning will appear as a viable option
for K through 12 learners. Online instruction offers answers to teacher shortages,
lack of physical space and limited course offerings. Special needs learners,
home-schooled children, high school dropouts and incarcerated students can all
find opportunities in online learning. As more and more school districts across
the country investigate the use of online environments (Russo, 2001), the need
for virtual teachers is increasing. While the research on virtual learning communities
is emerging (Dabbagh, 2005) little is known about the programs designed to educate
teachers in the process of instructing virtual learners. By exploring the impacts
of virtual teaching programs, designers and consumers of virtual learning environments
can better understand the implications of online learning for the advancement
of student learning (Connors, 2005).
Teacher vs. Mentor
There is no question a difference between online learning and traditional
learning exists. However the difference lies not in the legitimacy
of the learning place
but in the mode of delivery of instruction (Maeroff, 2003). Online learning
requires a different set of habits and skills and therefore, different
learner support
structures than those used in traditional classroom settings (Norton, 2004).
The instructor support in a virtual environment is better defined as a mentor.
The pairing of mentors with learners to provide a one-on-one learning experience
is a model found in virtual learning environments (Norton, 2003). Daloz (1999,
p.21) distinguishes mentors from teachers in that “mentors are inevitably
engaged in one-to-one instructions and are consequently more concerned than regular
teachers with the individual learning needs and styles of their students.” Just
as a classroom teacher learns the art of classroom management and instruction
delivery, a virtual mentor needs to learn the art of online mentoring (Norton,
2004). It isn’t enough to be content licensed and furthermore, mentoring
does not transpire naturally from being a good teacher of children (Orland, 2001).
The virtual mentor must have an avenue in which to gain expertise as a mentor
and bringing that role into a different teaching context. Programs tailored to
support online mentors in developing the knowledge and skills that permit them
to mentor learners are needed. Awareness of online mentoring as a process (Zachary,
2000), the nature of that process, and the influences afforded by the process
can inform future designs of programs.
Current Resources for Virtual Educators
An Internet search in April of 2005 of the virtual high schools currently
operating in the United States revealed a variety of methods available
to enculturate
teachers into the world of virtual learning. Some programs simply offer an
instructor
handbook while others provide a combination of face to face classes with
an online component. Other models use facilitators to monitor course
progress
of groups
or individuals. Emerging on the scene are courses that use the expert mentor-learner
model with the objective of, as Norton (2004, p.8) states “teaching teachers
to teach in virtual environments and to assume ever increasingly complex educational
roles.” Research indicates that teachers need to learn in the same technology
environment that they are expected to offer their students (Crichton & La
Bonte, 2003). Therefore learning to teach virtual learners requires an online
learning program.
New Teaching Opportunities
Online mentoring offers professional opportunities for teachers where
none previously existed. While literature exists on mentoring, little
is known
about the successes
and challenges of online mentoring (Ensher, Heun, & Blanchard, 2003). With
an understanding of the impacts of mentoring students in a virtual environment,
interest could be generated among teachers already knowledgeable in content taught
online and therefore fulfill the need for online instructors.
With the lack of research available and the continued growth of virtual
learning communities, it is important to gain a sense of how online learning
is impacting
our educational system both virtual and traditional. Programs that offer
online learning can be informed through research to improve the quality
of online
courses and delivery. Various organizations in the business of offering
virtual learning
experiences fine tune virtual teacher training through the experiences
of faculty (Maeroff, 2003), but fail to do so using educational research
methods.
Exploring
the online mentoring process from the point of view of a teacher immersed
in both worlds of face to face classrooms and virtual learning environments
can
give insight into this relatively untapped phenomenon. The purpose of
this study is to understand the impact of an online program designed
to educate
online mentors
on a teacher’s perceptions of mentoring a virtual high school student and
the implications for the participant’s classroom practice. To gain insight
into what influences a teacher’s perceptions of online teaching and traditional
teaching, this study asked four questions. What does the participant believe
about the process of mentoring? What does the participant believe about the course
content? What influences the participant’s notion of online learning? What
influences the participant’s notion of teaching?
Procedures
In the summer of 2004, a graduate certificate program was designed
based on the mentor-learner model (Norton, 2003) in which the learners
or mentees
work
one-on-one
with an expert mentor. As an expert mentor in the mentoring program
since its inception in the fall of 2004, I came to realize that
much of the
written communication
between me and my mentees focused more on the mentee’s own classroom practice
in relation to the course rather than the mentee’s completion of course
activities. I chose an instrumental case study to more fully understand the implications
of online mentoring programs on a mentee’s traditional and
virtual practice. Because online learning is in its infancy (Dabbagh,
2005), models and variables
are not available and therefore supports the use of a qualitative
approach that will shed light on a relatively unstudied phenomenon.
Purposeful sampling allowed me to select a typical mentee in the
online mentoring certificate program at George Mason University.
A typical
mentee in the program
is a veteran secondary teacher and a practicing teacher in a traditional
classroom. I chose to focus on the perspectives of only one mentee
for this study because
the mentee not only met the criteria of a typical online mentoring
program learner, but is concurrently mentoring a home-schooled
high school student
in a virtual
high school program, sponsored by the university and several cooperating
area school districts. This mentee has also been particularly articulate
in our
online conversations with respect to analyzing her practices and
notions about teaching.
By focusing on both the participant’s traditional and virtual practices,
an in-depth understanding of the impacts of online mentoring programs could be
researched.
Rhonda, whose name has been changed for ethical reasons, is in
her mid 50’s.
She is a veteran teacher, who has been teaching English in the secondary education
environment for 28 years. She has earned National Board Certification in English
Language Arts. She is currently enrolled in a doctorate program and is also a
member of a design team for a virtual high school program. She has been mentoring
a home-schooled high school student through the online English courses offered
in the program.
In order to gain an understanding of the impact the online mentoring
program has on the Rhonda’s respective practices, data will be collected through
an interview, conducted in a synchronous online environment. Both the virtual
high school program and the mentoring program use synchronous chat software as
an instructional tool throughout the courses and Rhonda is experienced with the
technology. The protocol for the interview process is found in Appendix A. On-going
discussion between mentor and mentee about activities in the course occurs on
a consistent basis throughout the mentoring program. This email correspondence
typically consists of rich reflective thought and analyses of meanings and therefore
will be included as a data source.
I will download the transcript of the online interviews to
my computer for analysis and all care will be taken to insure
that
both transcripts
and email
correspondence
will be kept confidential.
A preliminary exploratory analysis will consist of exploring
the synchronous chat transcripts and mentor-mentee email
discussions to obtain a general
sense, making notes. The coding process will consist of dividing
the text data, both
interview transcripts and email correspondence into text
segments, labeling the segments with codes, finding redundancy
and overlap,
and collapsing
the codes
into broad themes (Creswell, 2005).
I will triangulate among the interview data and the email
data to find evidence themes are supported. In addition,
I will
present the
findings
to Rhonda
to check the accuracy of the themes and the conclusions.
This ensures that my
interpretations
represent her perspectives.
Anticipated Findings
Themes emerging from this study are expected to focus on
the many benefits online mentoring programs afford
to teachers and online
learners alike.
This can be
supported by some of the literature available with
respect to mentoring (David, 2000). One expectation is that as
a result
of learning
the process of mentoring
an online student, the online mentor perceives themselves
as a better classroom teacher. Other articles in the
literature
also
imply that
online mentoring
can lead to changes in classroom practice (Norton,
2004). This
study may result in
findings that indicate how this perception develops
through work
as an online mentor and coursework in how to be an
online mentor.
Limitations
The limitations of this study inform future studies
on the topic of online mentoring programs. While
a sole participant
was chosen
for
this particular
study, the
literature would benefit from more perspectives
of other online mentors. As virtual learning expands,
more participants
may
be available to
study. In addition,
other
programs that offer online mentoring coursework
should be
examined because various models may yield different findings.
Importance
Virtual learning is well on its way into the heart of today’s educational
system. Technology advancements have enabled virtual learning to be far-reaching
at an accelerated pace. As Maeroff (2003, p.2) predicts, “e-learning
will be an embedded feature of education, widely available and no longer an
object of controversy”. In light of this prediction for the end of this
century’s decade, an understanding of how online learning and online
teaching fits into the modern educational system is of great importance.
References
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environment: A study. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society
for Information Technology and Teacher Education, Albuquerque, NM.
Crichton, S. & LaBonte, R. (2003). Innovative practices for innovators:
Walking the talk online training for online teaching. Educational Technology & Society,
6(1), 70-73.
Dabbagh, N. & Bannan-Ritland, B. (2005). Online learning: Concepts,
strategies, and application. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.
Daloz, L. A. (1999). Mentor: Guiding the journey of adult learners. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
David, T. (2000). Programs in practice: Teacher mentoring benefits all
around. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 36(3), 134-136.
Ensher, E.A., Heun, C., & Blanchard, A. (2003). Online mentoring
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Maeroff, G. (2003). A classroom of one. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Norton, P. (2003, March). COPLS: An alternative to traditional online
course management tools. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society
for Information Technology and Teacher Education, Albuquerque, NM.
Norton, P. (2005, March). The art of mentoring. Paper presented at the
meeting of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education,
Phoenix, AZ.
Orland, L. (2001). Reading a mentoring situation: One aspect of learning
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