E-mentoring is a means of providing a guided mentoring relationship using online software or

email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

. It allows participants to communicate at their own convenience and beyond time zones since it eliminates the need for them to be in the same physical location. Its programs are often developed to enhance morale, increase productivity, and promote career development.

Background

The body of literature describes the main component of e-mentoring as the mentor and mentee. The first serves as the counselor, adviser, tutor, trainer and facilitator while the mentee, which is referred to as the learner, trainee, student, and tyro, among others, is the learner with less experience. He can be a student or a teacher or anyone who wants to be more sophisticated in terms of personal or professional growth. This type of mentoring relationship is said to be most successful when conducted during a transitional period on the life of the mentee (e.g. during an application to a university for admission, career decision-making).

Early e-mentoring

E-mentoring stemmed from

mentoring Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

programs with the invention of the Internet, and began to gain popularity around 1993. First used for programs connecting schoolchildren with business people, e-mentoring is now popular throughout the US, the UK, and some parts of Europe. Many early e-mentoring programs used

communication to link mentors and mentees. Telephone communication was also occasionally used, known as tele-mentoring. One of the first e-mentoring programs was developed in Canada in 1990, where teachers from schools in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

were given online support and training by experienced peers. The teachers and peers never met in a face-to-face context.

Web-based e-mentoring

Modern e-mentoring projects tend to rely on

web-based A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...

solutions, particularly if children are involved. Online

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

allows both mentors and mentees to log into a secure online environment where they can converse under supervision of moderators and coordinators.

E-mentoring technologies

E-mentoring can retain the face to face interaction by utilizing video chat services, such as

FaceTime FaceTime is a Proprietary software, proprietary videotelephony product developed by Apple Inc. FaceTime is available on supported iOS mobile devices running iOS 4 and later and Mac computers that run and later. FaceTime supports any iOS devic ...

Google Hangouts Google Hangouts is a discontinued cross-platform instant messaging service developed by Google. It originally was a feature of Google+, becoming a standalone product in 2013, when Google also began integrating features from Google+ Messenger an ...

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

, video chat through

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

, etc. Web-based videoconferencing platforms can also be developed and customized according to the needs being catered by the e-mentoring system. It can be deployed as a one-on-one platform or a system that can be used by multiple users at the same. These are usually classified into three: Desktop/personal system; small group/midlevel; and,

telepresence Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance or effect of being present via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location. Telepresence requires that the user ...

Controversy and debate

Online mentoring is occasionally compared unfavorably with face to face mentoring. The medium limits the ability to pick up on visual or social clues, makes immediate feedback difficult, and can often be seen as impersonal.

Notes

External links

*{{dmoz, /Science/Educational_Resources/Mentoring_Programs/, Mentoring Distance education