E-mentoring and its benefits

In education, mentoring involves offering guidance and assistance to students to foster their growth and tackle obstacles during their academic journey. Generally speaking, mentorship enables mentors to establish strong interpersonal relationships with their pupils and positively impact their academic performance, behaviour, and self-esteem. E-mentoring typically occurs through digital means like email or video conferencing and offers added benefits.

• Flexibility and accessibility: Digital mentoring allows mentors and mentees to communicate when and where they like, thereby reducing transportation costs and travel time. It also allows for more interactive formats such as online discussion groups. In addition, it expands the range of mentors with specialised knowledge.
• Increased resources and monitoring: Digital mentoring often provides access to online resources, tools, and materials that can enhance the mentoring experience and facilitate monitoring and evaluation.

How to mitigate the disadvantages of e-mentoring?

Despite its convenience, digital mentoring comes with certain drawbacks, such as a lack of personal interaction, limited engagement, technical issues, and data security concerns. Being aware of the disadvantages can help you to find ways to mitigate them.

• Emphasise personal connection by promoting open communication and active listening and maintaining consistent contact with mentees to compensate for the absence of face-to-face interaction and build trust. Use interactive content and participatory tools such as polls, breakout rooms, and collaborative projects to foster engagement.
• Provide technological support. Mentees need to have access to the necessary technology, technical training, and remote support. Anticipate technical issues by using back-up methods of communication. Ensure that proper security measures are in place to protect confidential information.