Page 6 - Demo

6 Introduction
While the technology support might be in place, providing information and contacts for additional support on a website and this information might also be communicated via an online student orientation, handbook, or training, online students who rely heavily on connecting with campus resources virtually might still overlook those resources for help when they actually need them. Just-in-time support and proactive communications from a collegiate mentor directly to students could make a substantial dif- ference in a student accessing these resources and in the resulting online learning experience.
In addition to technology issues, online students might face other chal- lenges pertaining to scheduling, time management, or academic skills. Kristen Wilke noted how online course mentors intentionally reach out to students to offer such support:
Online Course Mentors consult about time management, specifically around the first exam and offer tips for study skills – keeping their messages connected to the course timeline.
Mentors also will reach out to students who are inactive or seem to be struggling, who maybe don’t have a great grade in the course, or they’ve missed assignments, or they haven’t logged in for a while. Mentors reach out to those students proactively to see what’s going on as a reminder to let them know they are here to support them, asking if mentors can help in any way.
We have fully online degrees in the nursing program, and we do a lot of work with the Doctor of Nursing Program (DNP) courses, particularly in the entry courses. There we have a lot of students who are coming back to school for the first time, who are adjusting to that school environment, online learning is a whole new way of learning for them. This program is very high stakes so in those beginning courses, especially that adjustment period, can be difficult, so we have a lot of those instructors asking for Online Course Mentoring (OCM) support.
As seen in the above example, a mentoring program could be particularly beneficial to those learners who might not be familiar with the online set- ting, or who have been out of school for a while, or those who might not have the technical skills to navigate the online learning environment and could use the extra support online mentoring can provide.
While a mentoring program might be intended to primarily support those learning in the online modality, when it comes to mentor — mentee interactions, depending on the program, and physical proximity of ment- ees and/or mentors, these interactions are not necessarily limited to a vir- tual setting only. Stephanie Cziczo, while serving as an Assistant Director at the Wasserman Center for Career Development, School of Professional