“I Become a Part of the Learning Process”: Mentoring Episodes and Individualized Attention in Graduate Education

Abstract

Meaningful interactions with faculty can help graduate students’ progress successfully through their academic work, develop scholar-practitioner identity, and begin to cultivate academic relationships and relational skills that will help them succeed. These outcomes emerged from a critical incident technique study in which we interviewed 21 master’s students. Based on the findings, we propose individualized attention as an organizing theme to help us consider how to intentionally engage with our students from a relational perspective. The concept of individualized attention, as developed in this inquiry, suggests: invitation, engaged presence, care, and enthusiasm as elements of the relational practice of teaching and learning.

Keywords:

• mentoring episodes
• mentoring
• graduate students
• master’s students
• faculty
• relational cultural theory
• positive psychology
• critical incident technique