Session Information
02 SES 08 A, Learning VI: Coaching
Paper Session
Contribution
Internationally, vocational mentoring has increasingly become a feature of undergraduate engineering courses. Mentoring has been used for research training (Balster, Pfund et al. 2010), service learning (Hui, Mickleborough, and Chan 2014) and building skills for culturally-diverse workplaces (Berry and Walter 2013). Research has explored the benefits for young women of mentoring them into STEM subjects (Pisimisi and Loannides 2005), the role of mentors in raising young women’s persistence (Jackson 2013) and their retention at a higher levels of non-traditional disciplines (Poor and Brown 2013). A positive impact of mentoring on career planning in STEM disciplines has been found for students with disabilities (Sowers, Powers et al. 2017). Undergraduate students benefit from mentoring school students making tertiary choices (Gray and Albert 2013) and undergraduate peers (Simpson, van Rensburg, and Benecke 2017), indicating retention benefits for both mentees and mentors (Monte, Sleeman, and Hein 2007). A systematic approach to the development of undergraduate mentoring programmes is recommended (Gannon and Maher 2012), one that is attentive to both mentor and mentee benefits (Koehler, Matney et al. 2007; Crisp & Cruz 2009). Research offers the opportunity to enhance awareness of how mentoring can beneficially contribute to VET, particularly as young people transition to employment in the context of less linear career paths.
This presentation reports on a mentoring trial that was implemented by the University of Canterbury’s College of Engineering and School of Educational Studies and Leadership (EDSL) in partnership with the local branch of the Institute of Professional Engineers of New Zealand (IPENZ). Drawing in the expertise of leadership lecturers from EDSL, the mentoring trial trained practising engineers in aspects of effective mentoring. IPENZ publicised the project and seventeen engineers (including three women) volunteered to be involved in trial; students studying civil and natural resources engineering in years three and four were emailed and invited to express their interest in being mentored. Twenty expressions of interest were received within twelve hours, at which time a waiting list was established.
In designing the mentoring trial, we used a five-factor mentoring framework, drawing on the education literature (Tolhurst 2007). This focused on building rapport, active listening, effective questioning, clear expectations and a framework of goal setting. The framework for goal setting drew on the 4C mentoring framework of challenge, choice, creative solution, conclusion established by Engineers Ireland (Harney 2010). While Engineers Ireland had used an adult learning framework for their mentoring initiatives we choose to focus on skills of listening and questioning. Our goal in introducing mentoring to the educational experience was to foster the ability of the student to imagine himself or herself as an contributing and reflective member of an international industry even before making the transition to that industry,
Method
Local professional engineers were contacted by IPENZ and a list of 17 volunteers (3 women) was developed. The ages of the mentors varied greatly with 4 from 20-30, and 3 over 60 years, with an average age of roughly 42 years. Students were emailed and asked to submit an expression of interest in the trial. Within 12 hours, 20 expressions of interest had been returned, and another email was sent requesting no further applications. 9 third-year students were selected (5 female), and 8 fourth-year students (3 female). Roughly 25% of the overall student cohort for the combined years was female, so the female representation in the mentoring trial was relatively high. We ran an eight week trial towards the end of the academic year. Students were paired with mentors having professional background matching their professional interest, where possible, though more students expressed an interest in structural engineering than we had mentors from that specialization. Mentors were trained at an early-evening session in an inviting room on the campus. An information pack on mentoring was prepared for participants. This included advice an introduction to aspects of effective mentoring, along with record sheets that could be used to clarify goals and record meetings using the 4C mentoring framework of challenge, choice, creative solution, conclusion (Harney 2010). The information pack also provided a mentoring agreement template. A second meet-and-greet session for mentors and mentees included lecture content and exercises in building rapport, active listening and effective questioning. Each of the three exercises was preceded by some background discussion to the group as a whole. The breakout sessions developed great energy in the rooms used. Participants were provided with on-line resources and an on-line chat forum. Mentors and mentees were asked to complete pre-trial and post-trial on-line surveys. The pre and post-trial surveys examined the expectations and reservations of participants in order to develop guidance on how best to communicate about a mentoring relationship with both students and practicing engineers. In addition, the 9 third year students were surveyed late in their fourth year to reassess their longer-term views on the mentoring experience.
Expected Outcomes
Of the various components of the trial, both the mentors and mentees found the meet-and-greet session worthwhile. Of the three skills taught and practiced at the meet-and-greet session, the mentors found the skill of “effective questioning” to be the most difficult to master. The surveys showed an average of five meetings of 30-60 minutes between the mentors and mentees during the trial. In relation to the forms provided using the 4C format, 31% used them, while 44% did not, and the remainder tried to use them, but found the format ineffective. The on-line resources, messaging, and chat room were not used. The workbook was seen by mentors as a useful resource to call on when needed, but was little used by the mentees. Reservations about the trial were assessed by pre-trial survey. Most reservations could be countered by careful design of the mentoring program. The results confirm prior research on the importance of a structured approach to mentoring, including the provision of training for both mentors and mentees. Both mentors and mentees found that the experience was rewarding. For mentors, the top benefit (rated by all respondents) was a sense of satisfaction in assisting incoming engineers to gain a sense of inclusion in the industry. Other highly rated benefits were enhanced listening and questioning skills and how they could use these enhanced skills not only as professional skills but also in other contexts of their lives. For mentees, the item that was of long-standing value after the trial was an enhanced appreciation of how mentoring proceeds and the development of enhanced questioning skills. Significantly for the university the mentoring program was that it fostered an environment where students felt motivated to continue in their studies because they could now envisage their inclusion in an engineering future.
References
Balster, N. J., C. Pfund, R. Rediske, and J.L. Branchaw. 2010. "Entering Research: A course that creates community and structure for beginning undergraduate researchers in the STEM disciplines." Life Sciences Education 9 (2):108-18. doi: doi:10.1187/cbe.09-10-0073 Berry, C., and D. Walter. 2013. "ROSE-BUD (Rose Building Undergraduate Diversity) MAPS (Mentoring and Professional Skills)." 12th ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. Crisp, G., and I. Cruz. 2009. "Mentoring college students: a critical review of the literature between 1990 and 2007." Research in Higher Education 50 (6):525-45. Gannon, J. M., and A. Maher. 2012. "Developing tomorrow's talent: The case of an undergraduate mentoring programme." Education & Training 54 (6):440-55. doi: doi:10.1108/00400911211254244. Gray, W., and W. Albert. 2013. "Create a STEM pipeline for students who become engineering majors who become engineers." Leadership and Management in Engineering 13 (1):42-46. Harney, A. 2010. Essential Aspects of Mentoring Training. Dublin: Engineers Ireland. Hui, L., N. Mickleborough, and B. Chan. 2014. "Service Leadership Community: A seedbed for nurturing a service leadership mindset in engineering student learning." Engineering Leaders Conference. Jackson, D. 2013. "Making the Connection: the Impact of Support Systems on Female Transfer Students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)." Community College Enterprise 19 (1):19-33. Koehler, B., S. Matney, J. Lavelle, and M. Robbins. 2007. "Mentor: Motivating engineers through organized relationships." 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition. Monte, A. E., K. A. Sleeman, and G. L. Hein. 2007. "Does peer mentoring increase retention of the mentor? ." Frontiers In Education Conference - Global Engineering: Knowledge Without Borders, Opportunities Without Passports., Milwaukee, USA, oCT 10-13. Pisimisi, S. S., and M. G. Loannides. 2005. "Developing mentoring relationships to support the careers of women in electrical engineering and computer technologies. An analysis on mentors’ competencies." European Journal of Engineering Education 30 (4):477-486. doi: doi:10.1080/03043790500213193. Poor, C., and S. Brown. 2013. " Increasing retention of women in engineering at WSU: A model for a women's mentoring program." College Student Journal, 47 (3):421-8. Simpson, Z., N. J. van Rensburg, and D. R. Benecke. 2017. "Engineering students' visual metaphors for mentorship: Implications for the candidacy period." IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference. Sowers, J., L. Powers, J. Schmidt, T. Keller, A. Turner, A. Salazar, and P. Swank. 2017. "A randomized trial of a science, technology, engineering and mathematics mentoring program." Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 40 (4):196-204. Tolhurst, J. 2007. Coaching for Schools. A Practiced Guide to Building Leadership Capacity. New York: Pearson.
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