Despite the presentation of a report, the project continues until December - there will be much more to add as eMentors start to become a feature of team life.

Promoting eMentoring

In developing eMentoring, the Institute recognised the potential impact this approach would have across the organisation, and the possible ultimate requirement to make this support ongoing.

As a result , it is proposed that the group involved will provide a presentation at the Institute's Annual Staff Development Conference (23rd August 2004) where all Institute staff will be in attendance.

The presentation, in a workshop-style "show and tell" format, will cover:

•  The model used

•  Successes and disappointment

•  The outcomes for the end users of the service provided - ie the teachers and administrative staff who have benefited from the program

•  The future integration (if appropriate) of this model into the Institute's ICT Support Team structures (including the eLearning team).

During the workshop, we will be actively seeking participant feedback to identify any gaps in the project/product . This feedback will be used to enhance the model, if it continues beyond 2004.

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Putting it right!

There were a number of small issues that need to be addressed should we continue an eMentoring programme.

1. There was a small issue with the title of the project, in that it was felt by some that tying in "eLearning" suggests that the aim of the program is geared solely towards teachers.

   Solution: Re-badging as "eMentors" may make the project more inclusive.

2. The mentors were selected by approaches to team leaders. Whilst this allowed team leaders to be a part of the process - an important issue, as there would be budgetary issues involved - there were anomalies in that one team leader failed to offer the ementoring role to the obvious candidate in the mistaken belief that they may not be interested.
   
   Solution: Re-design of the application procedure. Should be advertised to all staff, who will then approach team leader for support.
   
   
3. Given that a major reason for mentoring is to provide a local source of support and assistance, for Institutes with multi-campus, a team based eMentor may not be appropriate. In one instance, we have two eMentors on the same small campus, which leads to under-servicing in other campus.
   
   Solution: Perhaps assign eMentors on a campus basis rather than team. Experience has shown that staff require support on a local basis rather than based upon subject area.
   
   
4. It was initially conceived to skill a core of people who will specialize in an area of interest/expertise and then mentor other staff, allowing skills developed to cascade down and across the whole Institute staff. In practice, support has tended to me more generic.
   
   Solution: Future eMentors should be chosen on a number of skills - solid generic IT skills being a pre-requisite, whilst patience, ability to think around an issue and, very importantly, sufficient flexibility in their own workload to provide ad hoc support in a timely manner.

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