Online Innovation in Education: A Case Study of Faculty-Graduate Assistant Mentoring in the Online Context

• In Event: Mentoring and Context

Abstract

Faculty-graduate assistant (GA) mentoring in the online context reflects innovations in education policy and practice. A triangulated case study using (a) in-depth interviews of a faculty mentor and 15 present or former GAs, (b) a historical-critical view of the model, and (c) an auto-ethnography, reveals root structures and relational characteristics for enacting a faculty-GA mentoring relationship in the online context. Some structures and characteristics that emerged from the study are important to all faculty-GA relationships, whether face-to-face or online. Others, such as detailed written explanation of roles, multiple modes of communication, and quick response, are particular to the e-mentoring context. The study inspired a new model for faculty-GA mentoring: the “Reciprocal Model of Faculty-GA E-Mentoring.”

Author

• Annette J. Ford, University of Toronto - OISE