MENTORING AT A DISTANCE

No matter what the medium, the heart and soul of every successful mentoring partnership rests on learning and relationship. 

First, learning is the fundamental process, purpose and product of mentoring. Without learning, there is no purpose for mentoring. 

Second, mentoring relies on continuously connecting and cultivating the relationship. 

While all communication potentially can create misunderstanding, mentoring at a distance can be a formidable task because the feeling of connection is frequently lost through electronic communication.

Both mentor and novice teacher must work to stay connected with each other and to stay focused on learning--their students' learning and their own!

In the UNT Mentoring Network, we try to make that easier by providing a whole network of potential mentors and multiple resources, rather than thinking of mentoring only as a one-with-one relationship. 

(Source: Zachary Lois J. (2000). The Mentor's Guide.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.retrieved 8/14/03, from  http://www.dlrn.org/library/dl/mentoring.html)