Page 8 - Demo

8 Introduction
Why Mentoring for Online Faculty?
When faculty are new or relatively new to online teaching, and in particu- lar, if they are charged with creating a new online or hybrid course as well, development is gradual and skill grows with experience of teaching on- line, as lessons learned about technology and pedagogical approaches are finally implemented. An established rhythm for both the instructor and students emerges, and faculty become more aware of the issues and their own responses as these unfold in real time. No matter how comprehen- sive the initial training or orientation, faculty emerging from the training and preparation stages, or the additional course design and build out of a course site, into the actual tasks of online teaching, typically feel at least slightly overwhelmed by the many simultaneous responsibilities and roles they have to assume in teaching online or hybrid classes.
We often caution faculty not to try out too many new technology tools that they haven’t completely mastered when they teach online for the first time but instead to stick to the essential functions or focus on particular features of their software that best facilitate their goals, and to instead pri- oritize cultivating a presence in their online class and making themselves visible on a regular basis to students, and on interacting and providing timely feedback to students.
Because of this gap between the sometimes heady and exciting intro- duction to online teaching, conducted under the guidance of faculty de- velopers or instructional designers and technologists who engage with them during the training period, and the subsequent very demanding ex- igencies of the daily tending to an online class (in which there appear to be so many moving parts), a mentoring program can provide the necessary bridge to ensure the successful transformation to becoming a competent and self-assured online instructor.
Whether it is a peer mentor assigned to a faculty member for the entire semester, or a series of group mentoring sessions, or an on-demand service wherein the faculty member can call upon a responsive mentor that they know and come to trust and lean on, the faculty mentor can constitute a lifeline for the instructor. Faculty feel particularly comfortable asking questions of a mentor who is not a supervisor, who is not perceived to be sitting in judgment of their competence, who can answer their questions and provide additional direction, and who is also willing to do a little hand holding when the situation seems to call for it. In a group mentor- ing session, the faculty member may also benefit from having others who may be facing a similar set of challenges and asking their own questions, and with whom they can commune and empathize over shared concerns, insecurities, or small triumphs.
An on-demand, one-to-many mentor service, perhaps organized by discipline or areas of expertise, can also prove equally valuable to faculty who may no longer be new to online teaching but who have not tried or