Community Engagment and Volunteerism Resources for K-12 Schools
E-mentoring/Online Mentoring/Telementoring Resources

 
Online mentoring or online tutoring takes MANY forms, everything from one youth matched with one mentor, to a group of students in one classroom matched with a group of mentors from one company for a specific curriculum-based activity. It can be a program of just a few weeks or one that lasts an entire school year. It may mean an online volunteer sending one or two e-mails a week, or spending several hours a week reviewing a student's project for class. It can be school-based and curriculum-focused, or conducted through a nonprofit organization that serves young people.

Below is an index of SELECTED organizations and online mentoring/teletutoring projects and materials, as well as general mentoring resources, that we feel could be helpful to an organization exploring the idea of online mentoring or teletutoring. Thanks to the Virtual Volunteering Project for compiling this information originally and allowing it to be reprinted here:

 

• Online Mentoring and Online Safety Resources
  By the Virtual Volunteering Project
  http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/direct/
  Provides an extensive, ever-growing web site of resources and links to help those managing or starting an online mentoring or tutoring program, including:

  • suggestions for initial first steps.

  • suggested activities for online mentors and mentees.

  • suggestions for and examples of online safety systems, screening suggestions and codes of conduct.

  • a grid of key administrative tasks for program setup

  • the role of site managers in the success of online mentoring programs

  • index of selected resources for online mentoring/teletutoring programs, with links to example materials from other organizations.

  • the most comprehensive online listing available of online mentoring and teletutoring programs involving volunteers.

   
  

• It's a Simple Idea, But It's Not Easy to Do:
  Practical Lessons in Telementoring
  http://www.lights.com/sace/harris.htm
  by Judi Harris of the University of Texas at Austin and the Electronic Emissary Project (see below), with Ellen O'Bryan and Lena Rotenberg. This is an excellent introductory resource for teachers or administrators who are considering setting up a telementoring program. This document details the critical importance of an online facilitator and teacher buy-in and support to ensure a successful, curriculum-focused telementoring program.

   
  

• Electronic Emissary Project
  http://www.tapr.org/emissary/
  A very successful and well-documented national telementoring program, online since February 1993, based at the University of Texas at Austin. The Emissary helps teachers with access to electronic mail locate experts in different disciplines, for purposes of setting up curriculum-based, electronic exchanges among teachers, their students and the volunteer experts. This site includes sample project descriptions, summaries of past Emissary activities, and numerous research papers on the Emissary Project.

   
  

• HP E-Mail Mentor program
  http://www.telementor.org/hp/
  Creates one-to-one mentor relationships between Hewlett-Packard employees (worldwide) and 5-12th grade students and teachers throughout the United States, to help motivate students to excel in math and science and improve communication and problem solving skills. Web site includes:

  • Mentor Relationship Example - Elementary Level
    
  • FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions...and Answers
    
  • Pilot Program Feedback - What Have We Learned?
    
  • Great K-12 WWW Starting Places
    
  • Policy for Ending a Mentor Relationship

  • Resources for Schools (Principals, Teachers, Students)
    • Participation Steps for Principals
      
    • Student Training for the HP E-mail Mentor Program
      
    • Telementoring Project Examples

  • Resources for HP Mentors
    • Mentoring Tips for Starting a Successful Mentoring Relationship
      
    • Mentoring Tips II - General Tips from HP Mentor Mary Jones
      
    • The Handbook for HP Mentors by HP employee / mentor Bill Wear

   
  
• Engaging Science Practice Through Science Practitioners:
  Design Experiments in K-12 Telementoring
  http://csile.oise.utoronto.ca/oneill/Pages/abstract.html
  A dissertation by D. Kevin O'Neill, a postdoctoral fellow at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Also available is his paper Sustaining Mentoring Relationships On-line, co-written with Dr. Louis Gomez, at http://csile.oise.utoronto.ca/oneill/oneill.html
  This paper was presented at CSCW 98: ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, Seattle, WA, Nov. 14-18, 1998.

   
  

• Mentor Program and PEPHE-Talk by the
  University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA)
  Health Education Training Centers Alliance of Texas (HETCAT)
  http://hetcat.uthscsa.edu/Tele000.html
  A pilot project that worked to improve health career awareness among ninth grade students, through telementoring. Goals with mentees: to improve students' English, math and science proficiency, and to ensure that students have sufficient information to consider careers in health. Mentors were students from UTHSCSA, who submitted an online mentor application to program staff and went through an interview and training session. Mentors were responsible for communicating with the student at least 2-3 times per week throughout the spring 1999 academic period. Mentors agreed to be a positive role model; encourage their students to excel in math and science; use appropriate grammar and effective communication skills; encourage their students to use the Internet as a resource; and correspond with the student's teacher and program staff. The HETCAT Mentor Program staff matched students and mentors based on a set of specific needs, common career interests, academic studies, and hobbies. Students and mentors worked on projects that were integrated into the classroom curriculum. The web site includes information on this program, guidelines used for teachers, mentors and mentees, as well as background information on the importance and roles of mentors.

   
  

• Guidelines for School Officials,
  Volunteers and Mentors Participating in
  Public School Community Partnerships
  http://www.ed.gov/inits/religionandschools/v-guide.html
  Includes an excellent document offering guidelines for partnerships involving public schools and faith-based communities

   
  

• Resources for Online Tutoring
  Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owls/tutoring/introduction.html
  Helpful hints and links to other resources for those involved in this e-mail-based tutoring project at Purdue University. Includes comparisons of e-mail vs. face-to-face tutoring, "boilerplate messages," and links to other helpful resources.

   
  

• Guidelines for School Officials,
  Volunteers and Mentors Participating in
  Public School Community Partnerships
  http://www.ed.gov/inits/religionandschools/v-guide.html
  Includes an excellent document offering guidelines for partnerships involving public schools and faith-based communities.

   
  

• Peer Centered
  http://www.slcc.edu/wc/peercentered/
  An ongoing online forum for and about writing tutoring, produced by Salt Lake City Community College. Primarily conducted in real time "chat" programs. Includes transcripts of previous online gatherings, links to Web resources and online discussion groups (such as WRITINGC) about writing tutoring and writing centers in general, and links to other means to contact writing center people and tutors.

   
  

• Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Connections
  http://www.iecc.org/
  At last count, more than 7650 teachers in 82 countries were participating in one or more of the IECC e-mail discussion groups. These online groups are for specific audiences and topics, such as for teachers and "50+ volunteers" seeking intergenerational exchanges, and teachers in different grade levels seeking partner classrooms for international and cross-cultural electronic mail exchanges. Includes an archive of selected posts, that serve as a kind of FAQ (frequently asked questions and their answers) file. Sponsored by St. Olaf College in Minnesota.

   
  

• "YES, YOU CAN: A Guide for Establishing Mentoring Programs
  to Prepare Youth for College"
  http://www.ed.gov/pubs/YesYouCan/
  Offers practical information that employers, college students, senior citizens, community-based organizations, & others can use to create & run mentoring programs. The guide supports 3 Department initiatives: "America Counts,", which aims to help all students master the fundamentals of algebra & geometry by the 8th grade; "GEAR UP," which is designed to encourage more young people to have high expectations, stay in school, study hard, & go to college; and "Think College," which provides information on educational opportunities beyond high school for learners of all ages. Includes tips & suggestions on:
  • program planning,
  • assessing needs & potential resources,
  • developing program goals & objectives,
  • recruiting & selecting mentors,
  • training mentors & matching them with students,
  • working with parents,
  • keeping mentors in the program
  • evaluating the program
  • profiles of 11 mentoring programs
  • a checklist for mentoring programs
  • a list of national organizations involved in mentoring.

   
  

• National Mentoring Partnership
  http://www.mentoring.org
  An advocate for the expansion of mentoring, and an outstanding resource for mentors and mentoring initiatives nationwide. Its Web site includes an online diagnostic to help organizations identify areas for improvement in mentor programs, a list of products and technical experts to help with mentoring programs, a list of mentoring programs across the U.S., and links to a variety of evaluation studies and mentoring advice.

   
  

• Resources for Mentors
  http://www.mentoring.org/fformentors.html
  From the National Mentoring Partnership. Reviews "Why be A mentor", a mentor's role (what they are and what they aren't), 52 ideas for a year's worth of mentoring (an idea a week), what you have to offer, common worries, how to get started mentoring.

   
  

• Quality Assurance Standards for Mentoring Organizations
  These standards by the Texas Governor's Mentoring Initiative are what the Texas mentoring field considers the essential elements of any high-quality mentoring program.

   
  

• Mentoring Myths and Tips
  http://www.etr.org/nsrc/rcv2n1/mentoring.html
  By Nancy Henry, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, for the National Service Resource Center (NSRC), a training and technical assistance provider to programs funded by the Corporation for National Service.

   
  

• Telementoring Young Women in Science, Engineering, and Computing
  http://www.edc.org/CCT/telementoring/docs/mentors.html
  This was a three-year project of EDC/Center for Children & Technology and was funded by the National Science Foundation, Directorate of Education and Human Resources. This project has been discontinued, but the Web site is still up and includes extensive online resources for both mentors and teachers.

   
  

• Information Access
  (formerly the Science, Engineering, and Math (SEM) Program)
  This University of Delaware-based effort sponsors numerous ongoing telementoring projects, including Scientopia http://www.asel.udel.edu/sem/Scientopia/, an online community consisting of students, mentors, and advocates who are interested in actively discussing issues in education, research, careers, and news developments with a special emphasis on the sciences and disability; the Math Mania Contest; Science Serendipity Contest; and Student Cyberfairs.

   
  

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Last updated 24 July 2000