Abstract:

Mentoring is crucial in today's dynamic educational landscape by empowering mentees to achieve exceptional learning outcomes (Olesova & Campbell, 2019). Its significance lies in providing guidance, support, and knowledge-sharing from experienced professionals. These experiences enable mentees to navigate their career paths, develop essential skills, and gain valuable insights within their respective fields. Mentors serve as invaluable resources, fostering mentees' confidence and ambition. Complementing mentoring, internships offer invaluable opportunities for hands-on experience in authentic work settings. Internships enable individuals to apply theoretical knowledge, cultivate practical skills, and explore career interests. By bridging the gap between academic learning and professional practice, internships provide exposure to industry practices, facilitate networking, and support establishing professional connections. Mentoring and internships play a pivotal role in nurturing talent, addressing skills gaps, and empowering individuals to excel in their chosen fields, thus contributing to their overall personal and professional growth.

This paper presents a pilot project exploring innovative mentoring practices tailored to instructional design and online learning. The project investigates the potential impact of incorporating personalized guidance, technology integration, diversity and inclusion, reflection, networking, coaching and feedback, and collaborative projects on transforming the mentor-mentee relationship and enhancing mentee learning outcomes. Valuable lessons learned and best practices derived from this pilot project will be shared, allowing other institutions to implement this model and improve mentoring experiences in their own instructional design and online learning environments. By disseminating these findings, the project aims to make a meaningful contribution to the wider educational landscape and empower mentees across diverse institutions to achieve exceptional learning outcomes through effective mentoring strategies.

Reference:
[1] Olesova, L., & Campbell, S. (2019). The Impact of the Cooperative Mentorship Model on Faculty Preparedness to Develop Online Courses. Online Learning, 23(4), 192-213.

Keywords:

Mentoring, Internships, Online, Mentor, Support, Professional Development.