Abstract:

In institutions for higher education our goal is to train individuals who are not only knowledgeable and informed experts in their fields but moreover they should be skillful, creative and innovative in solving problems which is the key to success in their future life. In life most of the time it is not necessary to recall certain information but the knowledge has to be applied and executed in order to find solutions. This as a premise can be the motivation for innovation in education, which might include many old and new approaches to teaching but most of all the presence of a leading figure, such as a ‘mentor’.

In most teaching methods of the present, education is mainly considered only as a cognitive matter, whereas aspects of certain abilities such as communication, adaptability to new situations, processing information and creating ideas are not emphasized. These factors are most significant in executing problem situations, for which motivation is a crucial element. Motivation has mainly to do with nonintellectual components of behavior such as our desires, aspirations, feelings, emotions, priorities and values. This is where the teacher as mentor comes to play a significant role.

This role figure is an advisor who is willing to share his/her professional experience and knowledge. Mentors support students actively and give emotional and moral encouragement, specific feedback on their performance and assist students in seizing opportunities. A mentor is not only the source of knowledge but a model for personality and identity, the catalyst for students’ empowerment.

A productive learning environment would be an informal condition where students are invited to express a position and an opinion and to approach their teacher with openness; they would develop curiosity and a genuine ambition to learn without the fear of being continuously assessed on their weaknesses and mistakes; we need to encourage students to be critical and independent thinkers. Students should develop their creativity and generate innovative ideas and experiment and test these ideas with a sense of awareness and social responsibility.

If an open learning environment is defined as a challenge to invite students to question as well as to experiment, then I believe that a well-defined structure is to be established to allow for such useful experimentations and innovative minds; this free expression can only occur within a structured system characterized by the leading role of a mentor.

Inducing the creative process as such involves participative teaching methods and interactive learning structures: monitoring, discussions and one-to-one conversations, exchange of ideas and interaction between students and the teacher. Students need to be guided through different stages of the design or any learning process, which helps them to refine their project and ideas and to articulate their creative minds. The importance of this guided process of experiencing, thinking as well as redoing and rethinking, makes the course structure a necessary component and allows further interaction among students, between students and teacher and encourages collaborative and cross discipline projects.

The mentor-student relationship can be an example for a productive and beneficial collaboration and teamwork for all participants where innovation, responsibility, leadership and courage in life are communicate.

Keywords:

Creativity, mentoring, innovative problem solving, empowerment.