The mentoring process

In previous research we had already used retreats to develop eLearning skills however follow-up evaluations showed that there was rapid fading of the enthusiasm, skills and abilities learnt at these events. I hoped that by using the five stages or phases, that Megginson et al (2006:19-21) describe as the basis for three retreats I could keep the staff engagement through the development of meaningful relationship towards a successful conclusion. Therefore in Retreat 1 the main aims and activities were about building rapport and setting direction. Retreat 2 on progression and Retreat 3 activities revolved around winding up and moving on. The use of the stages for the different retreats and their

activities was one of the most successful elements that has come out of using the mentoring concept. In both the internal and external evaluations participants commented on the fact that at the outset of the project they could see that there was a rationale for each retreat stage. That they could see a change in who facilitated the retreats, what activities were to take place and that each would be different (See Appendices 2: 221, 3: 224 and 4: 226)

“A very good way of getting people from different disciplines together and learn about different ways of going about ePDP”. (mentee)

The idea of taking people way from the University environment was to enable people to concentrate on the task they were being asked to do without any distractions from colleagues, students or their email. People were able to compare their school and subject cultures, sometimes favourably and sometimes not.

“The retreat was useful for bringing mentors and those being mentored together to identify practical/realistic solutions to some of the issues identified as being a threat to the use of PebblePad©”. (mentor)

At the time of the Pathfinder Project there were ten academic schools (since then this has been reduced to eight through major restructuring). What the residential events and in particular the discussion and debates raised, were the differences between each school’s culture though all were working for the same institution. A key element of the whole project was to develop a sustainable community of practice that was founded in retreat 1; this will be discussed further in a separate part of this chapter.

Retreat 1 (Appendix 2: 221) was about rapport building and then setting direction. As mentioned previously there were issues relating to the designated mentors that were addressed at this retreat which culminated with compromises and re-matching of mentees. The open and relaxed nature of the retreats, away from institutional constraints, facilitated discussion and dialogue which meant that by the end of this retreat the mentees knew who would be supporting them and in most cases what they (the mentees) wanted to achieve. When asked, after retreat 1, what do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of the retreat model of staff development compared to the traditional in house staff development? What would you change? The responses included:

M1: Advantageous if all the team were here for all the retreat. Why couldn’t the tutors have input into how they were to be mentored? And why not invite them to the meal? Social Learning Anyone? M2: Nothing. It helps to get away into a different and more relaxed

environment. Get lots done without interruption.

M3: Off campus! Enables colleagues to focus. Change – less food, more tea!

M4: The added focus of being isolated from normal work. I wouldn’t change anything.

M5: ☺ _{Away from distractions and allowed to concentrate on the tasks,} invaluable!

M6: The opportunity to immerse oneself in a problem issue etc. in a congenial and sociable environment is fantastic.

The activities that happened at this retreat placed an emphasis on dialogue, both face-to-face and online using the ePortfolio system. The ePortfolio system was used for two main purposes, firstly, to up-skill those involved in the project in the use of the software and secondly to allow different relationships to develop in ‘safe’ environments. The first environment being a space for mentors to share their thoughts and views with fellow mentors the Pathfinder team (Figure 28: 132, Figure 29: 133) and the second to collaborate with discipline colleagues to reflect on the mentoring relationship as it progressed (Figure 26: 131).

“The relationship with my tutor [mentee] has been strengthened and our shared enthusiasm has been revealed due to the retreat programme elements”. (mentor)

To make sure that the retreat was seen as the start of a relationship which had continuing responsibilities once the retreat was over I finished the programme with a goal setting activity that would be taken forward from the end of this retreat towards reporting on progress at the next retreat four months later. Over this interim period the relationships developed within the academic disciplines with outside support from the Pathfinder team in a tri-mentoring relationship.

The second retreat (Appendix 3: 224) was aimed at sharing the progress made with all Pathfinder Project participants as a way of gaining mutual learning. I designed the retreat so that the mentees presented their work supported by

their mentors. This worked in all bar two cases, both of those were presented by the mentor who introduced the work of the mentees. Neither of these bought into a concept of developmental mentoring. Following on from this retreat participants were aware that the final retreat 3 (Appendix 4: 226) would be the last in this project and would review and celebrate what had been achieved (winding up), would look at key messages from the project and would move the relationship that had been developed on to a different basis. In retreat 3 the people who had move the furthest were the mentees. Six mentees who were new to ePortfolio based learning have gone on to mentor colleagues in their academic schools.

The use of the five phases in the developmental model to structure three retreats has since been used in other projects. Colleagues comments that:

“I liked the retreat structure as I could clearly see what was expected of me”. (mentee)

“I could see that I would be expected, at the outset, to go through a process that has a start, middle and end … I knew I had to make a commitment to the end or there was no point starting”. (mentee)

“I really appreciated meeting with people from different schools – it’s amazing you think you work for one organisation but different areas seem to do things SO differently”. (mentee)

“Chatting to others in a relaxed place makes you realise that other people are going through the same issues as you, but normally I wouldn’t meet many if any, people out of my own subject”. (mentee)