E-mentoring

E-mentoring is a means of providing a guided mentoring relationship using online software or email. It stemmed from mentoring programs with the invention of the internet, and began to gain popularity around 1993. First used for programs connecting schoolchildren with business people, e-mentoring is now popular throughout the US, the UK, and some parts of Europe. A very recent development is websites offering online mentoring (not just matching of a mentor and a mentee).

Many early e-mentoring programs used email communication to link mentors and mentees. Telephone communication was also occasionally used, known as telementoring. One of the first e-mentoring programs was developed in Canada in 1990, where teachers from schools in British Columbia were given online support and training by experienced peers. The teachers and peers never met in a face-to-face context.

Modern e-mentoring projects tend to rely on web-based solutions, particularly if children are involved. Online software allows both mentors and mentees to log in to a secure online environment where they can converse under supervision of moderators and coordinators.

An example of an e-mentoring organization is in the US is MentorNet, a non-profit e-mentoring organization that focuses on women and underrepresented minorities in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. MentorNet uses an algorithm to match over 27,000 mentor relationships since 1997. The organization is unique because it uses technology to guide relationships between mentors and protégés. MentorNet focuses on college-level protégés for the 8-month matching scheme. Another US provider is Chronus who provide eMentoring services across various sectors from enterprise to non-profit.

An example of an e-mentoring provider in the UK is Brightside, a non-profit e-mentoring organization that works with 60 businesses, charities and universities. Brightside has developed a secure online portal featuring interactive content and resources through which over 6,000 trained online mentors are connected with over 21,000 young people, providing them with information and guidance about education and employment. Newer entrants to the UK market include sfG MentorNet®, which was designed jointly with a youth-based mentoring charity but which is also now being used by an increasing number of Careers Departments within UK universities. Others include Aluminati with their Aluminate eMentoring platform targeted to alumni and students of higher educational institutions and Mentor Match Me.

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Wikipedia