HEA E-mentoring project FINAL short report

HEA Teaching Development Grants Department Interim Report Template Page 1 of 10
Teaching Development Grant
Departmental Grant Scheme
Project Details:
Project Title Improving Student Employability Through E-
Mentoring
Project Lead Professor Simon Austin
Institution Loughborough University
Email address s.a.austin@lboro.ac.uk
Project Summary
Please provide a short summary (max 350 words) on the progress of
your project to date, for dissemination through the HEA website
Whilst engineering and construction students benefit from some of the best
employment rates by subject, concerns raised by students concerning
employability led Loughborough University‟s School of Civil and Building
Engineering to undertake a Higher Education Academy funded project to
investigate the potential of e-mentoring programmes to support students in
developing skills for employability.
The research grant provided the opportunity and resources to examine how
HEIs can address issues of employability including those associated with the
increasing numbers of international students who often lack any work
experience in industry.Those examining the problems of employability
amongst recent graduates have argued that employability is not simply about
finding employment, or even finding the right job, but rather about skills and
about developing as an individual The unique relationship with an industry
mentor developed during the mentoring process has the potential to address
employability in a much wider perspective than simply developing skills to
attain employment:each individual student‟s experience is different, as are the
environmental factors that contribute to a student‟s ability to easily gain such
skills, or indeed adapt to the working environment. E-mentoring,nevertheless,
provides an easy and immediate point of contact for questions about career
development .The e-mentoring experience provides a unique time and place
for mentees to think about employability: a time and place to be able to
discuss with someone experienced in their field, not only the practical skills
that may help them find a job, but to explore how they might begin to live the

lives they value. This a less limiting definition of employabilitybut one that
illuminates the unique benefit that e- mentoring offers students in terms of
employability.
The objectives of the project were to:
1. examine the changing skills needed by graduates joining Industry;
2. explore the employment benefits of a cross-section of existing e-
mentoring schemes for undergraduate and postgraduate students;
3. examine the skills developed through e-mentoring and industry benefits;
4. collectively design curriculum changes and e-mentoring processes, and
sustainable implementation plans for undergraduate and graduate
programmes at Loughborough University;
5. develop a tool-kit for the adoption of e-mentoring by other Universities
and other disciplines.
The project‟sfull report examines how these objectives were achieved and how
e-mentoring can provide a highly beneficial opportunity to gain knowledge of
the industry and to develop skills. For international students, the e-mentoring
experience also gives them an opportunity to come to terms with different
working practices and working cultures. Moreover, the development of
intercultural competences within the mentoring relationship is mutually
beneficial: mentors also have the opportunity to build upon their knowledge
and skills and develop their own intercultural competences.
Milestones and deliverables:
Please outline the milestones and deliverables that have been met
against the timescale (max 1000 words)
Please include:
o activites that have been completed in the period covered by this
report
o any changes or additions to the original activities/milestones
outlined in the original project plan, including the reasons for
these changes
The milestones remained the same thought the programme, with only some
slight modifications to the timing of the programme in the later stages due to
the project extension.
Review of employers’ needs. This was carried out in the early stages of the
programme using a literature review. It was completed in January
2012;however, as with many literature reviews, research continued throughout
the programme. The final project report charts findings during this period of

the project.
Recruitment of the first set of mentees and mentors. The recruitment of
mentees and mentors was carried out as scheduled, with the launch event on
the 22nd February. Generating interest from the student bodywas not as easy
as anticipated. With the tight schedule and limited numbers,matching based
on a similarity of discipline and study/research theme was not as good as the
research team would have liked.
Training session at the university and profile matching of participants,
seeking to establish a representative sample in terms of age, gender and
origin.The training session was carried out with the assistance of Michele Zala
and the Careers team for Pilot 1 and in Pilot 2 the team decided on a
programme with less time spent on training and more on meetings. As
already stated, profile matching was difficult when numbers were limited and
whilst the criteria remained the same in the two pilots, refinements to the
recruitment questionnaire (the basis for selection) in pilot 2 meant the team
placed first priority on any wishes expressed by the mentor or mentee for the
latter programme.
Pre-scheme awareness questionnaire and interviews with a sample of
mentees and mentors. This milestone was incorporated into the planning of
the recruitment questionnaire, which requested information about
expectations of mentoring. A session was also carried out by Michele Zala in
the pilot 1 launch event to calrify the expectations of participants.
State-of-the-art review of formal industrial mentoring schemes in HE
including e-mentoring. [June 2012] This stage of the programme was
carried out by William Bancroft as part of his summer internship and final year
dissertation. The results of this literature review are contained inthe full report
document.
Reflective narratives of mentors and mentees describing the benefits of
and improvement for engagement. [July 2012] Reflective narratives were
sought by the research team in interview. Interim online questionnaire and
individual telephone interviews for both pilots were a realistic and achievable
approach to collecting data from mentors, many of whom did not have the
time to attend the university or to spend with a researcher invited to their
work environment. However, video interviews were also carried out in the
“cafe event” at the end of pilot 2 of the project and are published on the
website.
Evaluation of the Co-Tutor software to log engagement. [September
2012] This is one of the milestones in the project that, although set in place,
failed completely to engage the mentors and no data was obtained in the first
pilot from the university software. This was abandoned as an approach for the
second pilot. The researchers concluded from the trial of this software that
both technical difficulties of logging on to the software and the limited time

of mentors to commit to a diary meant that it was unlikely that any other form
of diary data collection would be possible from the mentors. In the second
pilot the student intern trialled a paper diary for the mentees to record their
experiences.
Second set of mentors and mentees selected and trained. [October 2012]
The second set of mentors and mentees was selected and the process was
refined slightly from the first pilot. The online recruitment questionnaire was
extended with some questions added to help further in matching the
mentor/mentee partners. Researchers also returned to the ICE regional
representative for his support in recruiting local young engineers to the
programme. This proved so successful that the programme was
oversubscribed by 100%. The researchers were surprised, however, by the low
interest of students in the programme.
Videos of mentors and mentees reflecting on their experiences uploaded
to the project website. [February 2013] Video interviews were carried out in
the final “café event” for pilot 2 and are available on the website.
Results of both the programmes will be evaluated and disseminated as
outlined above, including preparing journal papers and attending
conferences to present the results.
At this stage in the research programme the deadlines were extended. The
evaluation and analysis stage of the programme was extended to include the
intern‟s dissertation research work.
Final report circulated to all UK HEIs. [March 2013] This stage was also
extended and the final report was completed in May 2013.
Co-research and design group with mentees and student programme
president explore benefits of e-mentoring and work to refine and roll out
the scheme across the engineering schools. Proposals presented to the
School and University Directors of Teaching and Learning to develop the
curriculum to meet the changing skills needed for employability and
specific needs of international students. [April 2013] The co-research and
co-design group with mentees and the student programme president was
carried out in the cafe event, which was verysuccessful and was hosted by the
Centre for Engineering and Design Education well ahead of the programme,
on the 25th February. Results of these workshops are available in the full
project report also available on the website.
Outputs
Are there any outputs that have already been achieved or emerging
lessons that can be shared with colleagues (max 500 words)?
The outputs for the project include:

1. A project website to provide guidance to disseminatefindings and
outputs and to host the “tool-kit” for others to adopt an e-mentoring
programme.
2. Andetailedpublication about the project in the form of a final report
whichdescribes research methods, experiences, lessons learned and the
resulting effectivepractice.
3. Case studies of effective mentoring from perspectives of student
andindustry mentor which have been uploaded to YouTube.
4. Publications in an academic journal and to relevant academic audiences
at conferences.
The project website is hosted at http://www.workinsight.info. It provides
information about the pilot, the programme methods and results. It also offers
other Universities and Departments who may wish to run an e-mentoring
programme, a template in the form of a “tool-kit” together with basic hosting
of future schemes that can capture expressions of interest from potential
mentors and mentees.
The overview publication available on the project website – the full report -
charts the development of the project, the methods adopted and provides
evidence of the value of e-mentoring schemes within the engineering subject
discipline to improve employability both for UK and international students.
Case studies of effective mentoring, from the prespectives of student mentee
and mentor, have been published on the project website in the form of
VoxPop style YouTube published short interviews.
A number of presentations from the research project have already taken
place.These include:
Wheeler, A., Austin, S. and Glass, J. (2013) “E-mentoring as a unique
educational opportunity to improve graduate employment
opportunities” Higher Education Academy 9th Annual Conference:
Powerful Partnerships, defining the learning experience. The University
of Warwick 3rd – 4th July (forthcoming).
Wheeler, A., Austin, S. and Glass, J. (2012) “E-mentoring for
employability” International Conference on Innovation, Practice and
Research in Engineering Education (EE2012) Coventry University, 18th –
20th September. Available at:
http://cede.lboro.ac.uk/ee2012/papers/ee2012_submission_201_gp.pdf
[last accessed 26th April 2012]. A PowerPoint presentation prepared
for the conference is also available on Slideshare at:
http://www.slideshare.net/AndreaWheeler1/engineering-education-
2012-conference-coventry [last accessed 27th April 2013]

A journal publicationis being prepared to be submitted to theICE journal
Managament, Procurement &Law.Thefullreport, prepared in conclusion to the
project, will be sent to all HEIs and this will contain links to the website and
toolkit, and recommended processes and supporting technologies for carrying
out an e-mentoring programme.
Impacts
Please identify the immediate and expected impacts of the work on the
student learning experience (max500 words), e.g.
o What kind of difference has your project made in your
institution?
o How has the wider community benefitted from your project?
o What evidence do you have for this?
o How has your project changed the attitude of your
stakeholders?
The project has made a significant difference within the Institution. Students
engaged in both pilots have clearly articulatedthe benefits they experienced.
The Steering Committee members from the Career Service of the University
(who themselves run mentoring programmes) have commented on the
glowing success of the project and the potential benefits of establishing a
relationship as good as any face-to-face mentoring programme without the
administrative burden of facilitating meetings. Bothpilot schemes received
high praise from stakeholders and their representatatives from the Steering
Committee. Menteesreported benefits in terms of information received,
coaching and networking opportunities.Industry bodies representing young
engineers, such as the ICE, have been particularly supportive of the
project.Very early on in the project, the President of the Institution of Civil
Engineering (ICE), Richard Coackley,cited the HEA e-mentoring project whilst
giving a presentation to engineering students within the School. He stated:
“The e-mentoring pilot scheme, headed by Professor Simon Austin, links
students with construction professionals according to interest and career path to
provide the principles of traditional mentoring but exploiting the free and
readily available technologies of Skype, social media and e-mail to foster the
awareness of professional practice and the needs of employers. This is an
excellent example of harnessing the energy: with mentors using their time and
energy to harness and refine the energy of their mentees providing them with
important experience of industry”(Richard Coackley, 20th April 2012,
Loughborough University School of Civil and Building Engineering).
An article was recently published in the ICE‟s international weekly journal, New
Civil Engineer on 16 May 2013, entitled „How the ICE can build on Thomas
Telford‟s belief in mentoring: the internet opens up new ways to help

members develop our wealth of engineering talent. Written by Malcolm
Jackson, the Regional Training Officer, it stresses the virtues of mentoring as a
core professional duty and extoles the potential of eMentoring based on the
findings of the HEA project.
In the last week, the Municipal Expert Panel of the ICE have also requested
copies of the project findings and reports to support their own development
of an e-mentoring programme entitled: Passing knowledgeand experience to a
new generation of municipal practitioners. We are currently in dialogues as to
how to best support them.The research team have also been invitedas guests
to Moscow State Technical University(Bauman University) to present the
findings of the project at a special seminar day: “The project approach in the
preparation of engineers – sharing the experience of Loughborough
University, UK” Their own interest in the project is in exploring tools by which
the University can prepare engineers for employment in Russian industry.
The interest of the ICE, of other University academics and of International
Universities in the project, is due to the perceived ease and immediacy of
developing student relationships with industry, and the subsequent reduction
in administrative workload. These benefits were demonstrated also in
interviews with mentors.
Dissemination
Please give details of any dissemination activites that have occurred
during the reporting period (max 500 words)
The team have maximised dissemination of research findings through a
combination
of mechanisms to address a range of audiences. These have included:
A variety of project websites that were regularly updated and include
contributions frommentees and mentors, lecture captures, PowerPoint
presentations, YouTube videos and programmes from launch and cafe
event days.
An initial website was set up as a Google site at:
https://sites.google.com/a/lboro.ac.uk/e-mentoring-in-engineering/
[accessed 26th April 2013] simply for ease and immediacy. This site
acted as a repository for resources for the first 9 months of the project
and is maintained as an historical record.
The nature of Google Docs has meant that the site worked to facilitate
recruitment and also, in part, to collect initial research data from
research participants (mentors and mentees) to assist in the selection
process. For example, a web questionnaire was set up using the
Google Docs tools that allowed potential participants to submit

information that was used to match the pairs in terms of work
experience and academic subject area. This website is active and
information from Pilot 1 is available on this site including video
captures from the Pilot 1 launch event on 22nd February 2012. (The
programme for this event is available at:
https://sites.google.com/a/lboro.ac.uk/e-mentoring-in-
engineering/launch-event).
A different website was subsequently set up for Pilot 2 hosted by the
Centre for Engineering and Design Education (CEDE) on their server at:
http://cede.lboro.ac.uk/ementoring [accessed 26th April 2013].
A MendeleyGroup was also established at:
http://www.mendeley.com/groups/2950901/e-mentoring-research-
publications/ [last accessed 26th April 2013] entitled “E-mentoring
Research Publications”. Furthermore, the bibliographic resources for
the project are available at this address.
In the data collection phases of Pilot 2 video interviews were collected
and these are also available on the project coordinators‟ YouTube
channel at: http://www.youtube.com/user/andreaswheeler.
Going forward, the team are building a „post-project‟ website at
http://www.workinsight.info which will be the initial point of reference
for anyone interested in the work. It is using „Work Insight‟ as the
brand.
A full report published on the project website extensively documenting
the pilot programmes, the methods adopted and the findings.
Outputs from the project as completed including the full final report
are also available at: http://eden-share.lboro.ac.uk/id/item/5 [last
accessed 26th April 2013]
A journal paper to inform researchers and HE practitioners of the
research findings and outcomes of the project.
Conference presentations, including the Engineering Education 2012
conference HEA conference – Powerful Partnerships,stimulating interest
across thesector in both universities and industry.The research team
have also been invited as guests to Moscow State Technical University
(Bauman University) to present “The project approach in the
preparation of engineers – sharing the experience of Loughborough
University, UK” Conference presentations have been uploaded to
Slideshare.
The development of a tool-kit to be utilitsed by leadership teams of
HEEngineering Schools for the adoption of e-mentoring
programmes.The toolkit demanded a website that could showcase the
project results and case studies and provide a template for other
departments within the University to take up the structured

programme. An IT website developer and graphic artist were
employed to complete this. The address of this website is:
http://www.workinsight.info
Issues and challenges
Please report on any issues or problems that have impacted on the
development and implementation of the project during the reporting
period (max500 words).
Whilst HEI‟s can be the best placed organisations to provide employability
support to students, e-mentoring presents an effective tool for students to
begin to develop relationships with industry and to gain information about
that industry, as well as an opportunity to review their own employment skills.
The importance of mentees “driving” the relationship, setting goals and
objectives,cannot be underestimated, as it is in this way that the unique,
tailored opportunity can be fulfilled. Nevertheless, the study also identified a
number ofissues and challenges concerning the ability of e-mentoring
programs to improve student employability and to address the problems of
internationalisation:
1. Matching mentor and mentee pairs. This may be addressed in many
different ways, but collecting a variety of information about each potential
participant is vital. However, success depends wholly on the “pool” of
candidates available and hence on recruitment (which was not as good as
we would have liked from students).
2. Recruitment of mentors. This was highly successful through the
professional body, The Institution of Civil Engineers. The endorsement of
the local representative and Steering Committee member, Malcolm
Jackson, encouraged the interest of potential candidates.
3. Recruitment of mentees. This was less successful. Ways in which to
encourage students to participate are still needed and strategies may
include the inclusion of the programme in a university-wide and careers
service led employability award for students.
4. Training was described as an important issue by those on the Steering
Committee (in particular the Careers Service) who had already carried out
mentoring programmes. The research team acknowledged this at the initial
event/launch event. Pilots 1 and 2,however, differed as it was decided that
the “training” for the launch event in Pilot 2 would be less formal, with
more time in the programme for participants to meet in person. Hence,
whilst information was transmitted in terms of “training”, reference was
given to the online lecture capture materials from the first event should
they be needed. This more informal structure worked well and the time to
engage with mentors and mentees was cited as important in establishing
an initial relationship by mentors.

5. Establishing an initial relationship. It was found that some students
required some help with establishing the initial relationship and finding
issues to talk about. This could be described as a matter of confidence,
motivation or simply reflect the need for some assistance in terms of “top
tips” (what to talk about and how to plan a session). Analysis of literature
suggests that the mentoring relationship takes some months to develop
and after 6 months, mentee/mentor pairs may only be at the initial stages
of relationship development.
6. Maintaining the good will of mentors. The failure of mentor/mentee
relationships does run the risk that relationships to local engineering
companies could be damaged; however the training sessions address these
issues where both mentor and mentee expectations of the programme
were explored.

HEA E-mentoring project FINAL short report

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