Friday, April 2
10:00 AM-12:00 PM
EDT
Workshop B

Designing Virtual Mentoring to Support Students’ Individual Learning

Workshop (Live Presentation) ID: 58841
  1. aaa
    Peggy Semingson
    The University of Texas at Arlington

Abstract: Do you want to know ways to structure virtual mentoring at the individual, small group, and whole-class level so that students continue to learn in personalized ways? What are ways to conduct engaging and meaningful virtual mentoring outreach to learners through research-based approaches to synchronous learning? This workshop provides modeling and description of ways to thoughtfully design reflective and practical virtual mentoring sessions in ways that align with your course and that create meaningful and dialogic learning experiences for students. The key to virtual mentoring is structuring sessions that foster reflection, trust-building, incorporation of practical suggestions and resources, alignment with course outcomes, and preparation and orientation for the technology used to maximize the learning experience. Virtual mentoring is especially important during the pandemic when face-to-face meetings are limited or not possible. Additionally, participants will learn how the following tools can be integrated into virtual mentoring: group blogging; cross-course blogging; and webinar experiences with near peers and experienced practitioners as role models. Beyond the pandemic, virtual mentoring can support both face-to-face and online or hybrid course formats when coming to campus is not possible. Caveats for protecting student privacy will also be shared. This workshop will also provide time to brainstorm applications to participants’ teaching and learning contexts.

Objectives

1. Participants will receive a comprehensive overview of key ways that virtual mentoring can be used in versatile ways by educators and students (e.g., email, blogging, synchronous platforms, and mobile devices). 2. Participants will explore and consider each of the listed virtual mentoring platforms through their own devices (laptop, tablet, and/or phone). 3. Participants will examine, analyze, and discuss exemplar lesson ideas for using each of the virtual mentoring platforms and will consider ways that multiple platforms might be used in teaching and student learning. 4. Participants will design their own lesson using ideas from the session and ideas found online. 5. Participants will examine issues related to security and privacy as it relates to the topic. 6. Participants will receive resources to continue integration of virtual mentoring and individualized learning into their courses.

Topical Outline

I. Introduction to using virtual mentoring for teaching and learning a. Basic ideas about the topic and rationale for use and connections to facilitating learning for graduate students and working professional in particular b. Demonstration of examples of my own and others’ high-interest, high impact projects and methods based on research and evidence about synchronous learning and digital mentoring in particular c. Key resources on evidence/research relating to virtual mentoring, coaching, and facilitation II. Getting Started with Virtual Mentoring a. Getting started: hardware and software tools needed; ways to automate appointments; ways to use mobile tools to foster flexible mentoring sessions’ making virtual mentoring an integral part of the course design, learning management system, and syllabus b. Designing sessions: examples of reflection prompts, PowerPoint slides to guide mentoring, instruction and student preparation needed through handouts and checklists. c. Post-mentoring sessions ideas: post-reflection templates and accountability tools; soliciting feedback on the session and the technology used III. Demonstration of Mentoring a. How to foster good student and instructor preparation for virtual mentoring sessions b. Examples from transcripts of supportive dialogue and language in sessions c. Leveraging resources for “just-in-time” learning during a virtual mentoring session d. Structuring the sessions e. Assessment of learning: reflections, participation, and clear expectations f. Integration into the learning management system

Prerequisites

This workshop is aimed at beginners, however, those with intermediate skills with synchronous learning and virtual mentoring use in teaching will also benefit from sharing ideas and considering new ways to use these approaches to remote mentoring. Participants should be open to the idea of individualized student learning.

Experience Level

Beginner

Qualifications

The instructor has engaged in virtual mentoring with learners since 2012 and has been teaching online since 2008; she has extensive experience incorporating various virtual mentoring design and platforms into teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Additionally, she has done research on the topic and published in this area in national publication venues such as Journal of Faculty Development. She has an in-depth background in digitally-focused lesson design. The instructor is an associate professor in the Department of Linguistics and TESOL at The University of Texas at Arlington where she teaches courses in TESOL. Her Ph.D. is in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Language and Literacy Studies from The University of Texas at Austin in 2008. Research interests include digital pedagogies, media-based learning, online learning, and remote/virtual ESL teaching and learning. Current research studies examine the ways that we can use digital and innovative pedagogies to engage teachers to most effectively help them to teach in their current and future classroom contexts. Within this area, she is more specifically interested in socially distributed knowledge sharing that takes place online, distributed cognition, and video-mediated (e.g., YouTube) discussion and dialogue. Her longstanding education-focused YouTube channel has over 2 million views of original video content and over 5,000 subscribers.

Topics

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