Using Mentoring to Improve
Online Discussions
By Bill Brescia, Ph.D. First published in the November 2003 "Mentoring
Connection"
IMA's online newsletter
ARTICLE INDEX:
A. Understanding a "Threaded" Discussion
B. Characteristics of Online Threaded Discussions
C. Possible Online Mentoring Strategies
D. The Three Most Frequently Used Mentor Strategies
E. Responses to Unacceptable Messages
F. Adjusting the Use of the Strategies to Fit the Context
G. Summary
The use of threaded discussions on the World Wide Web make it possible to reach students
and proteges who are separated from their instructors and mentors by time or space.
However, practice has revealed that the transfer of traditional classroom instructional
techniques to the Web is not an effective methodology.
This finding has significant implications for mentoring as well. To improve their
Web-based discussions with proteges and their proteges' learning, instructors and
mentors should use strategies derived from traditional mentoring when they work online.
A. Understanding a "Threaded" Discussion
When we send messages to an unsophisticated online message ìboardî or discussion
group, all the messages, regardless of content, flow in and are posted together in
a jumble. That can be confusing, since messages may be a reply to just one or another
part of a message, and their chronological arrangement on the ìBoardî can make it
hard to follow ideas and see related discussion items.
Enter the ìthreadedî discussion in which the software clusters responses to the same
idea, usually by subject, and then arranges them by date. Hereís an example:
- ìNeed help with a mentor problem!î-From: Sarah Smith, 11/26/03
- Re: Need help! - ìWhat's the problem?î-From: David Wilson, 11/29/03
- Re: Need help!-ìSelection & matching problemsî-From: Sarah Smith, 11/29/03
- Re: Need help!-ìThink inclusiveî-From: B. Sweeny, 11/30/03
- Re: Need help!-ìMy processî-From: Nancy Boone, 12/3/2003
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This approach is very helpful as it allows us to see a query or prompt for discussion
and only those responses which are related to that question. This way we can follow
the ìthreadî of the discussion in the order it happened. Nice!
B. Characteristics of Online Threaded Discussions
Threaded discussion is a highly structured environment. It is this characteristic
that makes it possible to closely observe instructor/mentor and student/protege behaviors.
While the number of Web-based discussion participants is not theoretically limited
in most cases, for a productive mentor/protege relationship to develop, a maximum
of 15 students is recommended.
This author's research indicates that, while there may be several students participating
in a discussion, when the online mentor makes a post, all students read it and react
to it as if it was addressed to each personally. Thus, if a mentor tells a student
she doing a good job, each member of the group internalizes that comment and believes
they are taking part in a high-quality discussion.
The mentoring strategies presented here were originally developed for use by faculty
in graduate school distance education courses. They were used successfully by faculty
at three disciplines in different universities. More recently, work with graduate
students who were trained to use these mentoring strategies has shown that trained
graduate students can effectively use these strategies as peer mentors.
C. Possible Online Mentoring Strategies
In developing these Web-based strategies face-to-face mentoring strategies
first were identified. Many techniques that could not be used online were eliminated.
Research over the past six years indicates that the following thirteen mentoring
strategies are most effective in improving learning in online discussions:
- Model Good Analysis
- Clarify
- Challenge Hypotheses
- Question
- Ask For Clarification
- Frame Tasks
- Summarize
- Encourage Reflection
- State Opinions
- Nourish Good Ideas
- Champion Lost Ideas
- Feedback
- Recommend Resources.
D. The Three Most Frequently Used Mentor Strategies
The strategies used most often by mentors in threaded discussions are:
- Framing tasks
- Nourishing good ideas
- Summarizing.
1. In framing the task, the instructor provides a structure for the discussion,
and devises specific tasks for the proteges to perform. Once the task is clear,
the online mentor uses framing the task to help the students stay on task.
2. When nourishing good ideas the online mentor provides feedback to
a student post, indicating that it is a good post and explaining why it is a good
post. Examples of characteristics of good posts are reflection on assigned readings
and research. By showing appreciation of student ideas, the faculty mentor gives
support to those thoughts.
3. Summarizing is useful in helping to keep the students moving toward completion
of the assigned task. Sometimes an online discussion leader can help the group move
toward successfully completing the assigned task by reviewing what has been covered
so far and what still needs to be finished.
E. Responses to Unacceptable Messages
It is also necessary for online mentors to identify posts that are not acceptable.
In most cases, responding with "I agree" to another student's post is
not really helpful to the discussion. Also, staying on task is another important
protege behavior. Whatever those requirements are, student/proteges need to be given
a standard to against which posts should be judged.
F. Adjusting the Use of the Strategies to Fit
the Context
Research indicates that different strategies are more or less useful at different
times during a course and its individual discussions.
- At the beginning of a course mentors spend more time modeling good analysis
as a method of showing students the kind of posts that are expected.
- Once students learn how to make good posts modeling can fade and other
strategies emerge.
- In a discussion where the group has experience or is excited about the
topic, once the task has been framed it is not necessary to return to that strategy.
- It is also true that context is everything in threaded discussions. Depending
on the course, some online mentoring strategies will be more effective than others.
G. Summary
Just as with any instructional technique, the instructors who use online
mentoring improve with training and practice. The strategies presented here help
online mentors move past just asking good questions and allow them to more effectively
reach their instructional goals. Using these techniques will help any online mentor
to better support Web-based threaded discussions, and through that, to improve the
effectiveness of their mentoring and the learning and growth of proteges.
The author of this article is Dr. Bill Brescia, Assist. Prof. of Educational Technology,
who can be reached at:
University of Arkansas
Graduate Education Building, Room 336
Fayetteville, AR 72701
479/575-5115
brescia@uark.edu
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