March 18, 2005 - Mentoring at a Distance
This posting is going to be related to the previous posting. I think you can mentor at a distance. I think all the elements can be there, just in a different way. Icebreakers are possible as we are learning via our group mentor project, emotions can be shown via emoticons, etiquette can be taught using guidelines and modeling, visuals can be used via webcams, voice can be shared via audio recordings and podcasts. Interaction can occur via discussion boards, but I think the real key for distance mentoring will be the addtional of weblogs and podcasting. This is a really great way to share thoughts, and really get a "feel" for each other. Discusssion groups don't really have that "intimate" feel to them, but a blog....yes, a blog could be a wonderful way to connect with a mentee. The reflective nature of the blog is a plus for both the mentor and the mentee. Both participates get practice in reflecting to write and reflecting when reading. I'm really excited about this and I now realize that I have been doing something close to this (not two-way) with my CoP group. I've been sending out TGIF messages each week...these are statements related to education and ideas about technology. It's a way that I've been using to let my group get to know me and what I believe is important to me in education and where we should be heading. Now that I've been thinking about this podcast/blog idea, I might at some point try this method with my group. In fact, I think I will. I think I will get better responses and interaction via distance with this method than with Tapped In. I'm EXCITED to try this! Wow!