Mentoring Roles

One-on-One Mentors
One-on-One Mentoring relationships are at the heart of the Telementoring project. Individual students are matched with individual mentors who have varying amounts of experience in technical and/or scientific fields, including practicing professionals as well as college students in fields ranging from neural computational science to geology and bioengineering. One-on-One Mentors are responsible for developing an on-line relationship with a young woman who is enrolled in technical courses and for ongoing on-line communication.

Discussion Forum Facilitator
Discussion Forums provide young women with a broader perspective on the difficulties encountered and the strategies used by women in technical work environments. All participating students and mentors are enrolled in a separate mailing list allowing for group discussions. Mentors are recruited to facilitate dialogue around topics identified as important to students and based on mentor articulated interests and talents. A mentor who plays the role of Discussion Forum Facilitator prepares and moderates the on-line group discussion. She acts as host, facilitating a "talk" on her designated topic. Each talk is a mini seminar that all students can participate in. Discussion Forum Topics in the past have included: What is College Really Like: An Insider's Look, A Day in the Life of a Visiting Scientist, Affirmative Action and You, and Blending Science and the Arts

Telementor Trainer
Telementor Training, the on-line training experience called the Mentor Prep Exchange, is facilitated by Telementor Trainers, who are former project mentors. These experienced Telementors help prepare new Telementors for establishing One-on-One Mentoring relationships. All mentors are subscribed to a private mailing list referred to as the "mentor lounge." They engage in a series of on-line discussions over the course of two weeks before "meeting" students on line. To ensure that the training will be relevant and help all participants feel more prepared to deal with some of the conflicts that students might raise, a series of scenarios have been developed that capture some of the issues that young women have identified as important to them. The scenarios span a range of topics from conflicts about math to issues of self-esteem. Telementor Trainers encourage mentor participants to respond to situations as if they are re sponding to a student.

Peer Mentor
Peer Mentoring in the Lounges provides opportunities to learn from colleagues and share different strategies for approaching difficult issues. Students, mentors, and Project Liaisons alike each have their own private on-line space to communicate with and support each other. These spaces are three separate electronic mailing lists referred to as Lounges, one for students --the Student Lounge, one for mentors -- the Mentor Lounge and one for Project Liaisons -- the Teacher Lounge.

These Lounges have been critical components of the project.

The Student Lounge is commonly used to talk about relationships, discuss homework and class projects and to deal with classroom issues that arise. Students reported that their lounge allows them to form stronger bonds with each other and develop a support system in their classes.
The Mentor Lounge is a list in which mentor training, project updates, and ongoing contact with peers take place. By sharing personal experiences in the Mentor Lounge, mentors participate in group discussions and create a diverse pool of strategies and approaches to mentoring.
In the Teacher Lounge, teachers who are serving as Project Liaisons, in their own provate space, can discuss their programs with other Project Liaisons and CCT project staff, raise issues and concerns, and exchange strategies for implementing and sustaining their programs.