How Can I Use Peer Mentoring to Improve Online Teaching?

PEER MENTORING MODELS FOR ONLINE FACULTY SUCCESS

For many faculty, the prospect of teaching an online course can be bewildering. With only traditional classroom experience to draw upon, they may be confused about how to engage students who live behind a screen and a password.

Often it is not just the students who are remote. These courses can be taught by adjunct faculty or faculty working from remote locations. As such, instructors can find themselves isolated or working alone. Colleges and universities may also lack qualified online teachers who can guide unseasoned colleagues.

Peer mentoring has long been a successful tool for helping teachers in face-to-face classrooms excel.

BENEFITS

This video arms you with different peer mentoring structures and suggestions. Result: you get the tools for setting up an almost customized approach for you, your school, and your online faculty.

Viewers of this presentation will discover how to:

• Boost the quality of online teaching in a timely manner prior to end-of-course evaluations
• Spur collaboration among all faculty, from on-site to remote
• Adapt peer mentoring techniques to be effective in almost any online environment

LEARNING GOALS

In this enlightening presentation, the presenter gives a comprehensive overview of effective mentoring models and approaches specifically designed for online faculty training and development.

She highlights the significance and structure of each model to help you find one that is uniquely suited to your institution’s needs. You explore the features of a holistic approach that aligns the selection, training, support, and evaluation of online-teaching peer mentors. You learn about the considerations of working with adjunct and/or geographically remote faculty and learn how to address their particular concerns.

TOPICS COVERED

Peer mentoring for online teaching fosters development of meaningful relationships for adjunct and/or remote faculty. It ensures instructional consistency. And it maximizes the investment in the educational talent of your school.

After watching this video, viewers will be able to:

• Implement a peer mentoring program to improve the quality of online teaching
• Adapt mentoring strategies to be effective, manageable, and scalable for the online classroom
• Identify training, support, and resources necessary for a sustainable online-faculty mentoring program
• Integrate technology, tools, and support to facilitate ongoing, asynchronous collaboration

How Can I Use Peer Mentoring to Improve Online Teaching? enhances teachers’ awareness of the expectations of their institutions. The presentation provides viewers with a decision-making framework to create a flexible peer mentoring program that fits the structure and needs of their online curricula.

AUDIENCE

Educators and administrators at every level of awareness of peer mentoring will benefit from this presentation.

TAKEAWAYS

Supplemental resources—including sample program overviews, checklists, guidelines, mentoring rubrics, and recommended resources—will provide ongoing assistance for a fully realized, practical understanding of this critical topic.