Mentoring & Social Networking

Once I started teaching at a community college, I figured my days as a mentor would be limited. I figured since I would primarily be working with students enrolled in gen ed courses, I would not be needed as a mentor. I should have known better. As a graduate student, some of the most important mentoring I received was from my peers. And one of my same graduate student peers who I considered a mentor was also a colleague peer mentor when I first got hired. After my first couple years at Mesa CC, I just settled into having a list of people whom I called upon when I needed words-o-wisdom; I still never really foresaw myself mentoring.

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This past year I’ve had three different people call me “mentor.” I have to admit, I’ve been surprised. I’ve been thinking about how and why I believe this has occurred. First, I think the fact that I’m hitting my third year of facilitating a number of teaching with technology workshops across the district has contributed to my collecting of mentees. Specifically, one of the individuals who called me a mentor I met during one of my workshops. Second, I think my position as Faculty Professional Development Coordinator at Mesa CC has made me more visible across the disciplines. Third, I think my easy accessibly through a variety of social networking technologies (email, IM, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) has also greatly impacted my growing role as a mentor. To be blunt, I am around (virtually) to ask questions and I try to provide answers quickly. I’m excited about the connections between social networking and peer mentoring. I look forward to gaining more mentees while I strengthen my own networking of mentors.

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August 15 2009 | Posted in