Telementor Guide

What are mentees' expectations in a telementoring relationship? Expectations have a powerful shaping influence on us, and on our relationships with others. In one of our previous telementoring projects, we examined mentees' expectations of their mentors using surveys administered at the beginning and at the end of the project. At the start of the project, students mostly expected their mentors to help them find background information, web locations, and reading materials about their chosen topics. Students did not often expect their mentors to ask questions or challenge their thinking. Interestingly, at the conclusion of the 10-week project, one of the strongest contributors to students' impressions of success in their mentoring relationships was the usefulness of the questions mentors asked them. One explanation for this finding is that students simply did not have the experience to anticipate which types of advice would be most beneficial to them in the work they were being asked to do. Once they saw how helpful their mentors' questions could be, they appreciated them a great deal.