1. The mentoring process Jane Stubberfield E mentoring
What preparation will you want to do before starting mentoring? We will examine that in this session ‘ preparing for the meeting’.

2. Objectives By the end of this session you will be able to:
Identify the need for e-mentoring
Assess the differences between face-to-face mentoring and e-mentoring
Evaluate the effectiveness of e-mentoring
By the end of this session you will be able to:
Identify the need for e-mentoring
Assess the differences between face-to-face mentoring and e-mentoring
Evaluate the effectiveness of e-mentoring

3. Computer-mediated mentoring
E-mentoring
Names
E-mentoring
Computer-mediated mentoring
Telementoring
mentoring
Internet mentoring
Online mentoring
Virtual mentoring
There are many names given to this type of mentoring, here are the most common ones found by Bierema and Hill. E-mentoring is using computer resources to carry out the mentoring. is largely used.
Based on Bierema, L. L. & Hill, J. R. (2005) Virtual mentoring and HRD, Advances in Developing Human Resources :556

4. E-mentoring
“I am, I have to admit, a converted sceptic about mentoring at a distance. Having invested so much time and research into the virtues of face-to-face developmental dialogue, I could not see how the mentoring relationship could possibly be as meaningful when the primary form of communication was e- mail. Experience as an e-mentor and interviews with participants successful e-mentoring relationships have convinced me that e-mentoring is not an inferior substitute for ‘real’ mentoring. Rather, it is simply a different approach to mentoring and can be as effective – and in some cases, potentially more effective – than traditional approaches”
David Clutterbuck starts his chapter on e-mentoring with this statement. It is an interesting statement that begs the question is e-mentoring a tool to use when traditional mentoring is not possible because of logistical or time constraints or is it a development tool that should be considered equally to traditional mentoring.
Clutterbuck, D. (2004) Everyone needs a mentor, fourth edition. London, CIPD

5. Differences to traditional mentoring
Virtual mentoring
Traditional mentoring
Communicating via computer
Communicating face-to-face
Mentoring is asynchronous
Mentoring is synchronous
Time is not a major issue
Time can be a major issue
Location is not an issue
Location can be an issue
No personal touch
All personal touch
Can be inexpensive
Can be expensive
Is recorded so cannot be confidential
Is not recorded so can be confidential
Here is the summary made by Kirk and Longer in their study of moving from traditional to virtual mentoring.
Based on Kirk, J.J. & Olinger, J. (2003) From traditional to virtual mentoring,

6. Advantages and disadvantages exercise
What are the advantages and disadvantages of e-mentoring?
Based on the previous slide and your own thinking here is an exercise to get you starting to think about the advantages and disadvantages of e-mentoring? Write down your answers

7. Example answers - Advantages
Mentoring can be carried out despite the distance between the mentor and the client
Don’t have to be in the same place at the same time
Greater pool of mentors to match with
More time to consider replies
Can go back over conversations and re-read
People sometimes find it easier to talk about difficult situations or to give feedback in than face-to-face
People who enjoy s, often enjoy mentoring
Easy access to other information via hyperlinks etc
Less time between communications
Here are some answers that you may have thought of. Firstly with e-mentoring, the mentoring can be carried out without the need for travel for either party and despite the distance between the mentor and the client. This also means that they don’t have to be in the same place at the same time, so the client can write an at one time and the mentor reply later when it is convenient for them. It is asynchronous communication.
With e-mentoring there is potentially a much greater pool of mentors to choose from. The mentor and client do not have to be situated near each other. This also means that a client can choose from experts all over the world and very specialised in their own particular field.
s allow both mentor and client to take more time over replies and so allows for more considered thoughts on both sides. Linked to this is the fact that because s are written then it is possible to go over conversations and look back on what has been said in the past.
There are some people who find it easier to have more difficult conversations by because they are distanced from the person
Research has found that the person’s attitude to computers can have a big impact on their acceptance of e-mentoring. So those who enjoy s and social networking are found to enjoy e-mentoring much more.
E-mentoring does mean that each person can access information much more easily, through attachments, hyperlinks etc.
With traditional mentoring meetings, they may take place, say once a month. With e-mentoring the time between communications can be far less.
What other advantages did you find?

8. Example answers - Disadvantages
Depends on computer literacy
Requires access to computers
Can’t see body language or hear changes in tone of voice
Not so easy to help people with emotional and deep seated issues
May be less easy to build rapport
Needs frequent s to maintain relationship
Matching without seeing
is recorded, so can be issues of confidentiality
Training may not be so easy
Some fairly obvious disadvantages are that the mentor and client need to be computer literate and have access to computers. This is increasingly less of a problem in organisations.
The main disadvantage of e-mentoring is that neither party can see or hear each other and so miss on all the valuable information that brings to a relationship. This may lessen the richness of the communication and may make it less easy to build rapport. As we are 40 years plus into s though, people have found some ways of compensating for this using things such as emoticons and the way they use language and matching style of writing and words etc. Some mentoring programs like to start with a face-to-face meeting and then e-mentoring, or having a combination throughout for this reason. It has been found that frequent s are needed to maintain the relationship.
Matching mentor and client may not be so easy, because the matching is usually solely based on written information.
And finally training for clients and mentors may not be as easy because of the distance between them.
is recorded and so can lead to issues of confidentiality, particularly in organisations that track for misuse etc.
What other disadvantages did you think of? What ways of overcoming these disadvantages can you think of?

9.  E-mentoring exercise
E-mentoring is an inferior method of mentoring and should only be used as a last resort. Discuss.
How could face-to-face and e-mentoring be successfully combined?
This exercise is to help you think carefully about the use of e-mentoring

10. References
Bierema, L. L. & Hill, J. R. (2005) Virtual mentoring and HRD, Advances in Developing Human Resources :556
Clutterbuck, D. (2004) Everyone needs a mentor, fourth edition. London, CIPD
Kirk, J.J. & Olinger, J. (2003) From traditional to virtual mentoring, Washington, DC: Eric.
Click to add notes

11. ©University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved
This resource was created by the University of Plymouth, Learning from WOeRk project. This project is funded by HEFCE as part of the HEA/JISC OER release programme.
This resource is licensed under the terms of the Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales license (
The resource, where specified below, contains other 3rd party materials under their own licenses. The licenses and attributions are outlined below:
Slide 3: based on Bierema, L. L. & Hill, J. R. (2005) Virtual mentoring and HRD, Advances in Developing Human Resources :556
Slide 5 : based on Kirk, J.J. & Olinger, J. (2003) From traditional to virtual mentoring, Washington, DC: Eric.
The name of the University of Plymouth and its logos are unregistered trade marks of the University. The University reserves all rights to these items beyond their inclusion in these CC resources.
The JISC logo, the and the logo of the Higher Education Academy are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution -non-commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK England & Wales license. All reproductions must comply with the terms of that license.
Author
Jane Stubberfield
Institute
University of Plymouth
Title
What is mentoring
Description
Defining mentoring
Date Created
06/06/2011
Educational Level 6
Keywords
UKOER, Learning from WOeRK, LFWOERK, UOPCPDLM, Work-Based Learning, WBL, Continuous Professional Development, CPD, Mentoring, learning, development, coaching, training, advising
©University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved
Back page originally developed by the OER phase 1 C-Change project