Awareness of Mentors in the Peer-Mentoring Conferences

Abstract

This study examines the awareness of mentors before and after supervisory experience of mentees’ teaching portfolios in the peer-mentoring conferences. Data arising from discussions with and reports from 11 mentors during six peer-mentoring conferences were recorded and analyzed using a qualitative data analysis method known as the Steps for Coding and Theorization method. Successive trials of this method revealed the following five points: (1) mentors used effective communication techniques in a timely fashion to help their mentees solve their own problems; (2) novice mentors were anxious and hesitated to ask questions or give advice to older mentees due to the imbalance in the relationship between the mentee and mentor; (3) mentors directly experienced various teaching methods, alternative modalities of learning, and styles of teaching and learning that affected students’ achievements; (4) mentors shared experiences with their mentees and felt empathy with them as a result of their experience mentoring; and (5) novice mentors benefited from other mentors’ actual expertise and management style in peer-mentoring conferences, which offer on-the-job-training for new mentors.