Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: Stephanie Al Otaiba, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Childhood Education, Reading and Disability Services. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 8, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 157 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Charlotte, N.C., 2003. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 228-232).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-161).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 2006. / Title from title page screen, viewed on April 30, 2007. Dissertation Committee: Thomas P. Crumpler (chair), Donna Breault, Anthony W. Lorsbach, Cheri Toledo. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 194-202) and abstract. Also available in print.

This study is concerned with understanding the complexities inherent in the mentoring process. It investigates understandings of mentoring primary education student teachers within a school placement context. Further, it explores understandings and perceptions of the use of formative assessment principles and practices to support professional learning within that process. In addition, it aims to identify salient implications for mentoring practices within Initial Teacher Education. Within an instrumental, collective case study, a purposeful sampling strategy was employed in terms of selecting student teachers at a particular stage on a specific programme (an undergraduate primary education degree), their class teacher mentors, and their placement school management level and local authority mentors. Semi-structured interviews were used alongside a constructivist grounded theory approach to data analysis and theory generation (Charmaz, 2006). Current Scottish education policy is used to frame and exemplify points made with a variety of national and international literature employed to analyse findings and suggest recommendations for future mentoring research, policy and practice. Findings indicate that participants understood mentoring as a multidimensional process involving a range of relationships designed to support the mentoring of student teachers within a school placement context. Four relationships, which differ in terms of extent and form/function, are evident: class teacher mentor/mentee; school management mentor/class teacher mentor/mentee; school/university and local authority/school. These relationships appear to range in proximity from close to barely existent. The key relationship is that between class teacher mentor and mentee. Findings further suggest variability in understandings of formative assessment. Most participants were comfortable in describing its forms through examples of classroom practice. However, talking about function (why it is used) was an area of uncertainty. Participants also understood formative and summative assessment as connected processes. Several professional learning sources were cited as the bases of their understandings. With regard to perceptions of the use of formative assessment, findings suggest that it was used within the main mentoring relationship between class teacher mentors and mentees. Responses indicate that it was employed subconsciously in contrast to the structured, explicit way it is used with school pupils. Furthermore, participants viewed it as potentially helpful in the professional learning of mentors and mentees through strategies such as dialogue, self-evaluation and peer assessment. It was noted that support was required to develop the use of formative assessment within the mentoring process. In this respect, participants were able to articulate how it might be implemented with reference to specific professional learning mechanisms, however, were unsure about what its content might be. Based on findings, recommendations for policy and practice in the area of mentor education and partnership within Scottish Initial Teacher Education are suggested to foster a more cohesive, informed approach to mentoring student teachers. Future directions for research emerge in terms of the use of a variety of mentors from within and outwith school placement contexts, investigation of the role of the university tutor within emerging enhanced partnership arrangements, and an exploration of how formative assessment might be more consciously integrated into the mentoring process.

Organizations use the formal mentoring program as a human resource intervention in the socialization of newcomers. Mentoring scholars have found that effective mentoring leads to various socialization outcomes of newcomers, partially because mentors, seen as organizational agents, can facilitate the learning process in the socialization. Despite this progress, several limitations can be found in the literature. First, it is largely unknown how mentoring influences socialization outcomes in addition to the learning process (e.g. assimilation process). Second, the assumption that mentors are organizational agents in the socialization has never been tested. Third, previous studies of mentoring mainly focused on the white-collar workers, calling into the question about the generality of the findings in the mentoring literature. To fill the research gaps, this study applied the belongingness theory as the theoretical basis to explain how mentoring functions influence socialization outcomes through assimilation process. Drawing on the belongingness theory, this study proposed a research model and tested the mediation effects of organization based self-esteem (OBSE) and person-organization fit on the relationship between mentoring functions and three socialization outcomes (i.e. affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior). In addition, this study also tested the moderating effect of mentor’s organizational prototypicality on the relationship between mentoring functions and two mediation variables. Two-wave dyadic data have been collected from blue-collar workers in a manufacturing company. The results supported most of the hypotheses in the model. Specifically, OBSE and person-organization fit significantly mediated the relationship between mentoring functions and two socialization outcomes (i.e. affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction). Only person-organization fit significantly mediated the relationship between mentoring functions and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). In addition, mentor’s organizational prototypicality significantly moderated the relationship between mentoring functions and two mediation variables. This study advanced our understanding on how mentoring influences socialization outcomes through assimilation process. It also contributed to the literature by testing the role of mentor’s organizational prototypicality as the boundary condition of mentoring-outcome link. Finally, data from blue-collar workers increased the generality of findings in mentoring literature. Limitations and suggestions for future research have been discussed at the end of the study.

abstract: Historically, institutions of higher education focused their efforts on programs and services to support traditional students' integration (i.e., the eighteen year old who enrolls in college immediately after graduating from high school) into the college environment. Integration into the university environment contributes to student retention. Underrepresented students, specifically community college transfer students, are left out of the retention planning process. With the increase of transfer students transitioning to four-year universities, this study explored transfer students' integration experience within their initial six weeks of attendance at a receiving institution. This action research study implemented an E-Mentoring Program utilizing the social media platform, Facebook. Results from the mixed-methods study provided evidence that classroom connection interwoven with social rapport with peers, cognizance of new environment, and institutional and peer resources matter for integration within the first six weeks at HUC (a pseudonym). The information gained will be used to inform higher education administrators, student affairs practitioners, faculty, and staff as they develop relevant services, programs, and practices that intentionally support transfer students' integration. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2015

A debate surrounds the topic of best practices for faculty development. There are those that hold the position that faculty are more likely to develop as a faculty member when they experience an enhancement program, rather than training and development. Still others argue the opposite position claiming that there are unintended negative consequences from faculty mentoring programs. This research examined the practices of mentoring among full-time faculty at member schools of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). This study was adapted from “The Nature of Workplace Mentoring Relationships among Faculty Members in Christian Higher Education,” a study done by Cunningham (1996). This research described the nature of mentoring among faculty in Christian higher education institutions by explaining the actual mentoring practices taking places in CCCU member schools, by examining the institution’s prioritization of mentoring, and by describing the conditions that might affect the development and maintenance of successful, ongoing mentoring relationships. Finally, this research provided a four-factor description of mentoring’s best practices: Career Guide, Friend, Discipleship, and Information Source. This study provides a clear picture of mentoring practices and how they might be generalized to best fit all Christian higher education institutions. Because Christian higher education institutions are uniquely positioned within society to have significant impact on current and future generations, and because the literature base is lacking in the area of Christian higher education faculty development and mentoring practices, this study provides a convincing argument for the use of mentoring as a best training practice in Christian higher education.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the MTech: Human Resources Management Degree in the faculty of BUSINESS at the CAPE PENINSULA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY 2008 / Mentoring is an informal and flexible approach to leadership, supevision and professional development. It involves the mentor and protégé setting goals that are focused on the protégé’s professional and personal development needs. Mentoring relationships can occur between a mentor and a protégé or a small group of protégés or it may involve peers who act as mentors for each other (Skinner, Roche, O'Connor, Pollard & Todd, 2005:2). Mentoring programs are increasing rapidly in response to needs for new and innovative ways to develop people, allow them to grow in their jobs and the need for change. However, typical problem areas include expectations and objectives which may be misunderstood, and these are areas that are necessary to determine whether the mentoring program was effective or not. Due to the vague understanding of mentoring programs and their effectiveness, techniques and methods were reviewed and discussed to figure these out. Mentors and proteges who were already on programs and those who had begun new programs were randomly selected to participate in this evaluation; the reason why these two groups were chosen is that there is a need to determine how the groups went about making their programs a success or not, since these groups were already on the program or starting out, and interest in a mentoring program was already existent. An attempt to motivate new groups would defeat the aim, since it could sabotage the aim of the research and end-results in several ways, for example, groups would require guidance to begin their programs. The groups were monitored over a five month period, and evaluated at the end of every four weeks in order to make sure that no information would be omitted at the end of the five months. Furthermore, information from literature on mentoring was used in order to compare respondents' information that was gathered over the monitoring period. Participant groups were randomly chosen from the Karas region and from different industries and fields in order to obtain a good reading from different work environments; the work areas were chosen from seven companies. Each month had an area of interest, which was examined throughout the five months. Once questionnaires were completed and returned, data was examined to determine positive and negative impacts that mentoring relationships and approaches (within in the relationships), had on both parties and their styles of participation. Participants were assessed six months after the fifth evaluation to determine the long term effect that mentoring had on participants, the mentor and protege. A reason for this was that some participants might have grasped the knowledge and skills for a only a short period of time and then forget or ignore it, while others may have taken time to understand and implement the new knowledge, which would have given them time to absorb the information, knowledge and skills that were acquired. The mentor, protege, as well as the organization, should be clear on what they expect and want from mentoring, and should communicate thoroughly, while the program should be tailored to the needs of participants and the culture. The mentor should be trained, if necessary and evaluation and reviews methods should be established in order to ensure smooth running and, eventually, the effectiveness of the program. Both employees and the organizations can benefit; employees can benefit through career development initiatives and find a sense of belonging and empowerment, while organizations can benefit as this helps the firm to communicate its values and behaviours, provide opportunities to expand networks and boost training efforts, as well as facilitate knowledge.

Thesis (MTech (Entrepreneurship))--Peninsula Technikon, Cape Town, 2002 / By international standards South Africa's unemployment rate and poverty levels are extremely high. Currently the unemployment rate is approximately 30% (Business Day, 28 March 2002) or in the region of 40% if those who are not actively seeking work are included. Owing to the high unemployment rate, the informal sector has experienced a growth spurt. Unfortunately, due to a lack of entrepreneurial competencies, South Africa's start-up businesses also have a lower survival rate compared to their international counterparts. Technology Enterprise Centres (TECs) were created by the Technical and Business Initiative in South Africa (TABEISA), a consortium of six South African and British institutions established in 1994. The TEC has developed a mentoring programme and aims to implement it in the near future. As part of a wide assortment of assistance programmes, mentoring is the latest methodology that is being promoted by the private and public sector as a valuable developmental tool for entrepreneurs. The purpose of this study is to examine mentoring as an important resource in extending the business life-cycle of the entrepreneurs of Peninsula Technikon' s TEC. The research reviews the mentoring literature and covers aspects such as the characteristics that mentors should have, the role of mentors, types of mentoring programmes, setting up a mentoring programme, current mentoring programmes, implementing a mentoring programme, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of mentoring. The survey concentrated on identifying the mentoring requirements of the businesses. The findings highlight the need for a mentoring support programme to help entrepreneurs develop faster, therefore smoothing the transition process from one business stage to another. The study concludes by stressing the need for an efficiently run formal mentoring process, coupled with other developmental programmes.