This article is adapted from Davidson Institute’s “Mentoring Guidebook”, part of our collection of free guidebooks for gifted and 2e families. For a deeper dive into supporting your gifted or twice-exceptional child, we encourage you to explore the full guide.
There are various types of mentoring relationships, which can be developed based on the needs and requirements of the mentor and mentee. There are several key factors to contemplate when determining which type of relationship will be the most beneficial to all parties; for example, geography, personality, goals, and time are all important to take into account. The following are three types of mentoring relationships and the potential benefits and constraints that each entails.
One-on-one Mentoring
One-on-One mentoring typically consists of regularly scheduled meetings that occur in a face-to-face environment. Mentors and mentees can determine the location, time, and frequency of meetings based on their needs.
Some of the benefits of a One-on-One mentoring relationship include:
- Improved communication through real-life interaction.
- Project-based interaction can enhance learning.
- Experience in a laboratory or other professional setting can increase the student’s depth of knowledge.
- Personal interaction can lead to increased academic and professional possibilities.
- The relationship and projects tend to progress faster with personal interaction.
Some of the constraints of the One-on-One mentoring relationship can include:
- Scheduling difficulties.
- Time limitations.
- Difficulty finding meeting/laboratory space.
- An increased need for parental supervision (although still vital in any mentoring relationship).
- Increased cost.
- More difficulty finding specialists to be mentors in rural areas.
Online Mentoring
Online mentoring can consist of emailing, instant messaging, or a combination of online communication methods. Mentors and mentees have more flexibility with online mentoring relationships. Some of the benefits of the online mentoring relationship include:
- Being able to communicate to and from any geographical location.
- No predetermined meeting times make communication more convenient.
- Shy mentees may find it easier to communicate and interact through their computers.
- The importance of superficial characteristics like age can be reduced.
- More cost-effective.
- There is a written record of correspondence, which can make supervision of the relationship easier and reinforce learning objectives.
- No difficulty in finding meeting space.
Some of the constraints of the Online mentoring relationship can include:
- Miscommunication due to inability to read emotions in text.
- Difficulty for younger mentees with communicating through typed emails.
- Slower progress on projects and learning.
- Can inhibit development of a quality relationship.
- Both parties are required to have access to the Internet as well as a computer.
- Online mentoring relationships do not offer mentees the opportunity to learn proper procedures and experience a laboratory environment.
Group Mentoring
Group mentoring relationships typically consist of one mentor who works with multiple mentees, usually during a set time. Some of the benefits of group mentoring relationships include:
- When mentors are scarce, it can provide opportunities for a number of mentees simultaneously.
- Mentees can share the cost of reimbursement for the mentor, lab time, and supplies.
- Mentees are given the opportunity to work with other students interested in the same subject.
- Mentees can gain knowledge and different perspectives from other participants and can develop a peer network for future projects.
- Mentees can learn to problem-solve together.
Some of the constraints of a group mentoring relationship can include:
- Academic levels of the mentees may differ.
- Mentees may not have the time to develop their interest fully when sharing a mentor.
- Mentees may end up on a project that is not specific enough to their interests.
- Mentees could have more difficulty scheduling around a group’s timetable.
- Mentees who are shy may feel uncomfortable interacting in a group.
Preparing for a Mentorship
Once you have established which type of mentoring relationship is the best fit, the next important component is preparing for the mentorship. One of the main elements of preparation is defining the relationship. If you will be meeting face-to-face, where will you meet? For how long? How often? If you will be working together online, how often will you email? Is the mentor available by phone if necessary? How long will you be working together? Is there compensation involved? If you will be working on a project together, who will get the credit? After these details have been agreed upon by both parties, you should prepare for the actual mentoring relationship.
Some of the items a mentee should accomplish can include but are not limited to:
- Be ready to discuss your objectives and goals with the mentor.
- Be ready and willing to accept feedback from the mentor.
- Be prepared to accept responsibility for the project and goals.
- Be willing to attempt new methods of approaching the project as directed by the mentor.
- Complete the research, homework, and take quality notes required for a project.
- If at all possible, define the project with all necessary background information before meeting with the mentor.
- Have a flexible timeline prepared for completing the project.
Developing and defining a project
One of the most critical portions of a project is the selection of a topic. Selecting a topic that interests you is just one important key. First and foremost, you must identify an achievable project that follows the ethical and safety guidelines set by the facility you will be utilizing. Next, you should consider the time and money that will be required to complete the project.
You can take several steps to develop your topic:
- Develop a short broad list of topics
- Gather information from an array of sources while taking quality notes
- Narrow your topic based on current research trends, your literature search, and your interests, keeping in mind potential constraints while considering your reasons for selecting this particular area to research.
- Define your objectives and goals for the project.
- Develop a question and hypothesis if applicable.\
Setting a timeline
Mentees may wish to consider the time constraints and commitment the mentor has agreed upon when devising a timeline. The timeline should reflect the projected amount of time needed to complete the project, along with any follow-up time you wish to have with the mentor.
In order to set a timeline, you may want to perform some of the following as suggested by Bimrose (2003):
- List all the tasks you need to accomplish to finish the project.
- Approximate the time required to finish each task.
- Determine how much follow-up time will be required after project completion.
- Draw up a calendar timeline of the project based on your task list and time estimations.
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