Mentoring Online Doctoral Students through the Dissertation Process Melissa L. Johnson, Ph.D. Swapna Kumar, Ed.D. Truly Hardemon University of Florida, USA
Strategies for Mentoring Online Doctoral Students
through the Dissertation Process
Melissa L. Johnson, Ph.D.
Swapna Kumar, Ed.D.
Truly Hardemon
University of Florida, USA
Objectives / Purpose
In what ways can a supervisor-student mentoring relationship be successfully supported in an online environment?
Literature
• Mentoring relationships between student and graduate advisor (Ives & Rowley, 2005; Lee, 2008; Maher, Ford, Thompson, 2004; Smith, 1995)
• Helping to become a credentialed scholar (Burnett, 1999; Gaffney, 1995; Johnson, Lee, & Green, 2000; Lyons, Scroggins, & Rule, 1990; Rose, 2005)
• E-mentoring (Bierema & Merriam, 2002; Griffiths & Miller, 2005; Mueller, 2004; Schichtel, 2010; Warner & Witzel, 2004)
Methodology
• Participants: 6 graduates from first cohort of online doctoral program
• Data collection: Semi-structured interview, phone
• Data analysis: Inductive (Hatch, 2002)
Results
Emerging themes:
• The online environment and mentoring
• Strategies used by mentors that helped students
• Challenges faced by students
• Strategies used by students termed best practice
Results
The online environment and mentoring
• Value of using multiple media sources
• 4/6 participants met with mentor for F2F discussion
• Synchronous communication tools for discussion
• Asynchronous communication tools for feedback
Results
Strategies used by mentors that helped students
• Participants appreciated structure, timely feedback, and the establishment of timelines for feedback
• Types of feedback = encouragement, specific / candid feedback, additional resources, posing questions
Results
Challenges faced by students
• Time management, work-life balance, motivation to continue writing, research implementation problems
• Handling / acting on feedback
• Low peer support
Results
Strategies used by students termed best practice
• Establish open and consistent communication with mentor
• Ask questions and find medium of communication that is helpful
• Establish deadlines with mentor
Discussion / Implications
• Clear communication, honest feedback -> perceptions of ideal mentor (Rose, 2003)
• Multiple modes of communication in mentoring (Schichtel, 2000)
• Students prefer faculty to initiate structure / supervise transition (Johnson, Lee, & Green, 2000)
• Improved strategies need to be found to provide feedback in online environment
Future Research / Practice
• Continue interviews with students in first cohort as they graduate from program
• Use strategies to advise second and third cohort through the dissertation process
• Interview faculty members re: their perspectives of mentoring from a distance
References
• Bierema, L.L. & Merrian, S.B. (2002). E-mentoring: Using computer mediated communication to enhance the mentoring process. Innovative Higher Education, 26(3), 211-227.
• Burnett, P.C. (1999). The supervision of doctoral dissertations using a collaborative cohort model. Counselor Education and Supervision, 39(1), 46-52.
• Gaffney, N. (Ed.). (1995). A conversation about mentoring: Trends and models. Council of Graduate Schools, Washington, D.C.
• Griffiths, M.D. & Miller, H.M. (2005). E-mentoring in schools: A brief review. Education and Health, 23, 6-8.• Hatch, J.A. (2002). Doing qualitative research in education settings. Albany, NY: State University of New York
Press.• Ives, G. & Rowley, G. (2005). Supervisor selection or allocation and continuity of supervision: Ph.D. students
progress and outcomes. Studies in Higher Education, 30, 535-555.• Johnson, L., Lee, A., & Green, B. (2000). The Ph.D. and the Autonomous Self: Gender, rationality, and
postgraduate pedagogy. Studies in Higher Education, 25(2), 135-147.• Lee, A. (2008). How are doctoral students supervised? Concepts of doctoral research supervision. Studies in
Higher Education, 33(3), 267-281.• Lyons, W., Scroggins, D., & Rule, P.B. (1990). The mentor in graduate education. Studies in Higher Education,
15(3), 277-285.• Mueller, S. (2004). Electronic mentoring as an example for the information and communications technology in
engineering education. European Journal of Engineering Education, 29(1), 53-63.• Rose, G.L. (2003). Enhancement of mentor selection using the ideal mentor scale. Research in Higher Education,
44(4), 473-494.• Schichtel, M. (2010). Core-competence skills in e-mentoring for medical educators: A conceptual exploration.
Medical Teacher, 32(7), e248-e262.• Warner, M. & Witzel, M. (2004). Managing in virtual organizations. London: Thomson Learning.