E-Learning

1. Creating Student Engagement
Through
E-Learning Faculty Mentorship
Aubrey Statti, Ed.D. & Kelly Torres, Ph.D.

2. Introduction
• Student engagement through technology has
been studied in areas such as social media
(Junco, Heiberger, & Loken, 2010), blended
learning (Morton, Saleh, & Smith, 2016), and
simulated games (Morton, Saleh, Smith,
Hemani, Ameen, Bennie, & Toro-Troconis
2015)
• Technology enhanced learning environments
help promote engagement with students in a
time and place that is convenient for them
(Goh, 2015)

3. Online Education
• 28% of students are enrolled in a minimum of one online course (The Online
Learning Consortium, 2016)
• Student persistence in online classes may be lower than traditional face-to-face
courses
• Students may need extra support in online programs

4. Faculty Mentorship
• Described as creating a zone of
proximal development in which students
receive support based on their current
academic skills and need
• Should be based on trust, integrity, and
opportunity
• Growth of online education has created
the need for mentoring to take place
from a distance

5. Mentorship Benefits
• Helps to provide students:
 Guidance and personal connections that may be necessary for university/college
students’ academic success
 Self-confidence, goals, and continual progression through their academic studies
 Support in the development and enhancement of their graduate and professional
identities
 Positive impact on student:
 Retention
 Connections and feelings towards their education
 Dissertation completion and research productivity
 Potential career advancement.

6. Mentorship Challenges
• Lack of professional development focused on how to become effective mentors
often results in mentors focusing on tasks and roles rather than personalized
student learning (Linden, Ohlin, & Brodin, 2013)
 Professional development training could focus on networking, psychosocial guidance,
and coaching (West, Gokalp, Pena, Fischer, & Gupton, 2011)
• Lack of clarification of written feedback (Kumar, Johnson, & Hardemon, 2013)
 Which may not be unique to online settings

7. Student Engagement
• Online mentoring may be perceived as more effective in synchronous formats
and through the inclusion of multiple forms of technology (e.g., email, telephone,
web-based) (Kumar, Johnson, & Hardemon, 2013)
• Online mentoring provides opportunities for students to access “different
pathways to assess learning processes (O’Brien & Hamburg, 2014, p. 255)

8. Conclusion
• Faculty also need to provide students
psychosocial, academic, and
professional development support
(Kumar, Johnson, & Hardemon, 2013)
• Providing effective mentoring
experiences is the responsibility of both
the faculty and institution

9. References
• Goh, P. (2015). Using a blog as an integrated eLearning tool and platform. Medical Teacher, 38(6), 628-269.
• Hammel, S., Sarkar, N., & Manzo, C. (2015). Proceedings from E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate,
Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education. Kona, HI.
• Junco, R., Heiberger, G., & Loken, E. (2010). The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades. Journal of
Computer Assisted Learning, 27(2), 119-132.
• Kumar, S., Johnson, M., & Hardemon, T. (2013). Dissertations at a distance: Students’ perceptions of online mentoring in a
doctoral program. The Journal of Distance Education, 27(1), 1-12.
• Linden, J., Ohlin, M., & Brodin, E. M. (2013). Mentorship, supervision & learning experience in PhD education. Studies in Higher
Education, 38(5), 639-662.
• Morton, C., Saleh, Smith, S., Hemani, A., Ameen, A., Bennie, T., & Toro-Troconis, M. (2016). Blended learning: How can we
optimize undergraduate student engagement? BMC Medical Education, 16, 1-8.
• O’Brien, & Hamburg, (2014). e-Learning. In F. Garcia-Penalvo, & A. Seoane-Pardo (Eds.), Methodologies and case studies for
successful learning (pp. 249-263). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
• Online Learning Consortium (2016). Report: One in four student enrolled in online courses. Retrieved from
https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/news_item/report-one-four-students-enrolled-online-courses/
• West, I. J. Y., Gokalp, G., Pena, E. V., Fischer, L., & Gupton, J. (2011). Exploring effective support practices for doctoral
students’ degree completion. College Student Journal, 45(2), 310-323.