RESEARCH General Education

TEACHER SUPPORT
E-mentoring provides another means for assisting new teachers

Craig Chamberlain, Education Editor
(217) 333-2894; cdchambe@uiuc.edu

2/1/2002

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — New teachers often find themselves alone and overwhelmed, needing advice they either can’t find or are afraid to seek.

For a group of teachers in East Central Illinois, finding that advice and support is as easy as going online, where about 40 veteran Illinois teachers are waiting to help as "e-mentors."

The e-mentoring program is the latest addition to a four-year-old Novice Teacher Support Project, which this year is serving almost 120 first-, second- and third-year teachers in five Illinois counties (Champaign, Ford, Macon, Piatt and Vermilion). The NTSP grew out of a partnership that involves the University of Illinois, three of the state's regional offices of education, and school districts in the five counties, along with support from teachers' unions.

Already in place for novice teachers, before the e-mentoring program, were Saturday workshops, an annual weeklong summer institute, and a Web site with links to resources. So the online mentoring, rather than standing on its own, is part of a package, says Renee Clift, a University of Illinois education professor who serves as one of the project’s coordinators.

Many schools have their own programs for mentoring new teachers, Clift noted, and the e-mentoring program is designed "to supplement, not to supplant" those efforts. "For many of the teachers that we work with, they’re the only person in their content area, and sometimes the only person in their grade level, in that district or in that building."

The e-mentors don't work one-on-one with novice teachers, but participate in online discussions, monitored by NTSP, organized by topic, content area and grade level. One benefit of this system is that novice teachers get advice not only from several veterans, but also from other novice teachers.

"I can go in and ask a question and get a variety of responses," said Angela Butler, a second-year second-grade teacher. Going online also provides a way to spread around the questions, she said. "As a new teacher, you tend to have a lot of questions, but you don't want to overwhelm the support you have (from school colleagues)." And while the opportunities to ask questions of colleagues are often limited and at the end of the day, questions can be asked online anytime of the day or night.

E-mentoring also has the benefit of being anonymous, said e-mentor Jennifer Murphy, a nationally certified English teacher – recruited, like many of the online mentors, from the ranks of UI College of Education alumni. "It's a place where new teachers can open up more freely," she said, because many new teachers fear that leaning too much on school colleagues may signal they’re not up to the job.

"Even if everyone is there to help, and everyone is honestly wanting to help, it just feels like you are alone," she said. "One of the good things about (the online system) is there's lots of mentors out there saying it's OK to feel that way … and letting you know you're only as lonely as you choose to be."