Online mentoring of teacher education students by experienced recent graduates by using synchronous videoconferencing

ABSTRACT

This study explores the challenges and benefits of experienced recent graduates serving as online mentors for teacher education students by using synchronous videoconferencing. The innovative idea originated from the phenomenon that current teacher education students are likely to face several challenges owing to changes in the teacher education system that veteran teachers have not experienced in their career. An online mentoring programme was developed and implemented, during which 15 teacher education students and 7 experienced recent graduates of the same university were paired. By using synchronous videoconferencing, many doubts in the minds of the teacher education students were clarified. Moreover, the experienced recent graduates found that the questions posed to them by the mentees spurred them to reflect on their own educational problems. Graduates experienced in specific career preparation do not replace but offer a supplement to the deficiencies of current mentorship system.

KEYWORDS:

• E-mentoring
• teacher education
• synchronous videoconferencing
• online experienced recent graduates

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shih-Hsiung Liu

Shih-Hsiung Liu is a Professor in the Center for Teacher Education at National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan. His research interests include technology integration into K-12 education, higher education, and teacher education. His work focuses especially on pre-service and in-service teacher professional development.