Deborah Ann CHOO* and Julie GOUIN
Centre for English Language Communication (CELC)
Choo, D. A., & Gouin, J. (2024). Mentoring for everyone's well being [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-dachoo-jgouin/
SUB-THEME
Opportunities from Wellbeing
KEYWORDS
Mentoring, wellbeing
CATEGORY
Lightning Talk
EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Mentoring new colleagues is an important part of integrating new staff into the university setting. This presentation is part of a case study through document analysis which evolved from a mentoring relationship. Together we hypothesised that a fruitful mentoring relationship leads to mentee and mentor wellbeing, consequently promoting student wellbeing. We define wellbeing broadly to encompass both the hedonic and eudaimonic forms (Zuo et al., 2017).
Our experience aligns with the literature that good mentoring leads to professional development (Gilles & Wilson, 2004; Hudson, 2013) and retention of new staff (Gardiner et al., 2007; Kanaskie, 2006; Laband & Lentz, 1995). Our workplace handbook, which references Lipscomb and An’s (2010) recommendation to create a structured mentoring relationship also delineates the roles and responsibilities of the mentor and mentee (Lee et al., 2017). We found that throughout our ongoing relationship, we each assumed many of the roles from the handbook and other literature, but mentor as “role model” (Kram, 1983, Levesque et al., 2005, Olian et al., 1988, Shen & Kram, 2011) led to an ethic of care (Noddings, 2012) and thus, we contend, to student wellbeing. Furthermore, Riva et al., (2020) found that teachers’ care for students at the university level correlates with student wellbeing.
Our mentoring relationship was initiated by our management, based on our assignment to teach the same course. Mentoring activities included discussions about the course objectives and materials, addressing students’ questions, and responding to mentee’s questions. The mentor also anticipated items that might need clarification or elaboration and oriented the mentee to the course, the department, the broader opportunities, and the physical environment. A Microsoft (MS) Teams group, created by the mentor, facilitated sharing and reflection on classroom activities among the mentor, mentee, and two additional colleagues. The mentee drove the relationship by seeking clarification, observing the mentor’s class, reflecting on pedagogy, and implementing useful ideas for student learning and the promotion of wellbeing.
In our study, we quantified the data by creating tables using three of Zuo et al.’s six dimensions to uncover evidence of wellbeing in the following documents: student feedback, the course coordinator’s review of the mentee, the mentee’s review of the mentor and the MS Teams forum. The three dimensions were then separated according to hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. Additionally, we produced tables using four selected categories of care ethics (Noddings 2012) to analyse selected documents. We also created a table to demonstrate the connections between mentor, mentee and student care and wellbeing, analysing all documents in addition to mentor-mentee communications.
Our analysis showed that the mentor’s modeling with her own students and suggestions for care positively impacted mentor, mentee and student wellbeing. For instance, the mentor displayed care by asking students about their sleep and encouraging open communication about stress. She also suggested that the mentee survey her students, which led to a positive change in the mentee’s teaching style as reported through the student feedback exercise. Furthermore, like the mentor’s engagement with student wellbeing, the student feedback exercise reflected the mentee’s use of this approach as a strength and thus, the mentee’s wellbeing. Further analysis of this student feedback showed a distribution of wellbeing across the three dimensions (Zuo et al., 2017). Additionally, mentor wellbeing was evidenced in the mentee’s observation and MS Teams forum, using the same method for analysis. Overall, there was a predominance of eudaimonic wellbeing for mentor, mentee, and students across all documents. These findings are significant because they support the importance of effective onboarding of new staff members. Well-executed mentoring relationships increase the likelihood of positively impacting the mentee, the mentor, and the students.
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