RECAP OF WICKED PROJECT PARTS A-D
PART A - DESCRIPTION OF NEED OR OPPORTUNITY
In this Wicked Project an important educational goal that needs to be addressed is acquiring mentors for high school students transitioning into college. This is an important fundamental need because many students are graduating from high school not knowing what they plan to do once they are out on there own. This is the time when students become lost because they think that they know it all, but still have so much to learn about the real world. Many students are entering college and choosing a major based on their parent’s interest, or what career they believe will make them the most money, status, etc. All of these are good reasons, but more than often these are not the same factors that keep students in there majors which lead them to changing there major later in college. This prolongs there graduation and sometimes causes students to miss out on vital career opportunities had they decided earlier.
Considering that I do not have a classroom to start a student/mentor group, I plan on addressing this issue by taking a high school senior I know and pairing him up with a mentor to help guide him/her in their college choice and career. I want to group students with mentors in there field of study. I believe that the likelihood of students dropping out of college will be decreased if students have a mentor to guide them from freshmen to senior year. Mentors will also assist students with narrowing their focus to avoid being undecided, changing their major, and exhausting federal aide and/or parental support. This will also give them a good direction on if they need to change before it is too late and they end up stuck in a career they do not enjoy. Through this mentoring I would like to help jump start resumes and allow students to be one step ahead of other students that did not have an opportunity to intern, etc. The cost of this program is *Free*, all that’s needed is volunteers and committed educators, mentors, and students that are serious about making a change.
My scope to start this Project is to take a high school senior interested in electronics, audio, and computers and match him up with a current MSU employee that is in the Instructional Media Center to see if this is something he/she would like to possibly do.
Some relevant Online Mentoring Organizations
http://www.eduguide.org/ EduGuide: people who are passionate about pursuing their potential and finds joy in helping others reach theirs too. EduGuides live to share what they’re learning and to help others discover new ways to succeed
Icouldbe.org's online mentoring programs reach young people who do not have access to quality educational resources, using a learning environment to connect them to mentors who offer practical and individualized advice, information and expertise.
iMentor is a New York City-based youth mentoring organization that uses guided email communication to enhance in-person youth mentoring, and continues to leverage lessons learned to help other groups start up their own mentoring programs. The organization effectively uses technology to add flexibility and structure in its mentoring program, engaging professionals as mentors and mentees from some of the most economically and geographically isolated communities.
The Electronic Emissary is a web-based service and resource center that helps teachers and students with Internet connections locate mentors who are experts in various disciplines, and then plan and engage in curriculum-based learning. In this way, the interaction that occurs among teachers and students face-to-face in the classroom is supplemented and extended by email, online forums, chats, and audio and video conferencing among participating teachers, students, and volunteer mentors.
MentorNet is dedicated to diversifying the engineering and scientific workforce by providing e-mentoring to women and underrepresented minorities in colleges and universities. Arguing that engineering and science are the engines of progress and economic development it grew out of a pilot online mentoring program at the Dartmouth School of Engineering and now partners with more than 100 universities.
GEM-SET is one branch of pre-college mentoring provided by the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program at the University of Illinois at Chicago that links volunteer women mentors in the fields of science, engineering, and technology to student members from across the U.S. More than 1,300 young girls ages 13 to 18 years old and 200 mentors in graduate school and beyond have participated via online mentoring and face-to-face programming where available.
Horsesmouth, a relatively new online mentoring organization, was formed as a place where personal contributions create public value. It is purposeful social networking, a so-called "wisdomocracy" for adults which consists of an online social network for informal online mentoring on a wide range of topics within the three broad categories of life, work and learning. The general philosophy of Horsesmouth is stated as that if "you've lived, you've learned."
Although they are embedded within traditional university programs and blend teaching, tutoring and mentoring, the following three universities are interesting to note because of their online mentoring components.
UCLA Extension Writers' Program is a good example of how online mentoring and tutoring cross over. As America's largest continuing education provider of online creative writing and screenwriting courses and services, it offers individualized feedback and mentoring to thousands of aspiring and practicing writers worldwide.
These are all online mentoring programs that focus on careful recruitment, training, and evaluation of mentors. All these programs are at the forefront of virtual learning environments and online learning to connecting classroom programs, bringing students together with mentors to explore real life advice, experiences, and training.
A plan I will implement during this course is putting together a survey of students interested in having a mentor, and for students to give there expectations of what they will do to contribute to their own success of being connected with a mentor. Students will have the opportunity to indicate what role they think a mentor should play in there success, and to follow the student throughout this course to see if having this MSU professional as his mentor gives him a better focus on what he would like his major to be upon entering college.
A plan I will implement after the completion of this course will be to take all surveys and connect students with mentors through one of the above online programs. I would also like to monitor these students for as long as they feel they need their mentor, or upon college graduation.
The success of the program will be from the students that are successfully entering there field with confidence. Through the mentoring program I would like to see a significant increase in students decision making skills and there ability to handle school and real life situations.
Part B - APPLICATION OF TPACK
This project focuses mainly on online collaboration with student and mentor. There can be face to face if the parties choose to meet face to face for onsite learning, or on the job experience. With EduGuide, the student and mentor can create a profile and work together to creating an environment where the student feels comfortable discussing future goals and plans. The mentor is there to assist, offer advice, and answer any questions about their field of study to see if the student would be interested in pursuing that path as a career of study throughout there college career. This will definitely be a team effort and the student as well as the mentor has to be open to help each other and make sure it is a comfortable environment to discuss work, school, career aspirations, etc.
Using Eduguide students and mentors can set up timelines of success where ever there’s an internet connection. There is no pressure when communicating to set up timelines from high school graduation to college entrance. If the student feels they still need a mentor, they can go as far as setting up goals for each academic school year. Students will also have the opportunity to intern if a position is available at their mentor’s site in order to get real life experience on the job. Through Eduguide the student and mentor can go to the online library to look for resources, and if there is a question the mentor can’t answer there is an advice section where the question can be posted for other mentors. This gives the student the opportunity to obtain clarity about a subject and gain feedback from others. You can also create a team of experts in your field of endeavor to serve as a guide in assisting you in your knowledge base of your career path. Lastly the number one thing before making all this happen on EduGuide is setting a goal!!! What do you want achieve?
The student benefits from this mentor program because it will give him/her a good ideal upon entering college what he/she should choose as his major. Students will have the opportunity to choose a major (i.e. Communications, Telecommunications, Film & Media), this will narrow down choices and give the student more confidence in questions to ask their advisor when picking classes. The mentor will have the opportunity to help the student select the best elective classes to assist with the major of their choosing.
Part C - IMPLEMENTATION
Part D - FINDINGS & IMPLEMENTATION
1. Formative: Did the project get implemented as planned?
Q: Hi Leonard, how is it going with you and your mentor?
A: Things have been going really well. Vinessa is very knowledgeable in the area of electronics and I feel that I’ve learned a lot from her. It’s been fun going to her job and seeing what happens in a regular 9 to 5. It’s nothing like my job at Halo Burger.
Q: How long have you guys been meeting and how often:
A: We’ve been meeting for the past three weeks, usually 2 days a week. I missed a day two weeks ago because of the winter storm.
2. Summative: Evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice
Q: How has your mentor helped you with narrowing down your major choices to study electronics, computer, radio, and film?
A: Vinessa has helped me a lot by allowing me to see what she does from day to day. Her supervisor has really high expectations of her and she is given really important tasks. She has helped me to narrow my focus to studying electronics. Vinessa often allows me to do some hands on stuff to assist her with her job. She has shared with me the necessary coursework which is needed in order to obtain a position, and has helped me to see how important it is to obtain an internship prior to going into the field. I would have probably gone to MSU next year as a no preference major had I not had the opportunity to work with her.
Q: Did she guide you towards your college decision?
A: Vinessa helped me to see that I have a lot of options and that I do not have to pick one thing right now. She didn’t push me towards one major or the other, but she allowed me the hands on experience and the opportunity to see her at work which led me towards my career path.
3. How would you approach another project of this type differently given what you’ve learned here?
Through what I have learned I would pair my mentors and mentees up a lot sooner, so that they can have more research time to guide or help students make their decision.
4. What are the lessons learned that others might benefit from knowing about?
Through this program lessons learned that could benefit others is that no one has all the answers. Sometimes it takes a group of people to help one person. It is important to never be afraid to ask for help when you are unsure of something. Usually the thing that you had a question about, others were wondering the same thing but were afraid to ask. It is very important that mentors and mentees maintain open communication lines with one another and feel comfortable asking questions, offering critiques, and showing support. This opportunity will provide the mentors and the mentees to learn something from one another. Again no, one person has all the answers!!!
5. In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again, and what will you change or not do?
In the future, I plan to go to different high schools around Lansing and talk to guidance counselors and give them pamphlets about this program for any student that may be interested with my contact information on it. I would like to pair students with suitable mentors to assist them with career planning. My plan is to start early to give myself more time to find mentors from all areas of interest.
Additions/Adjustments:
Part A - Description of Need or Opportunity
To streghten my program in the future, incorporate more students, and increase my mentors I do plan on using other sites such as Educause, Twitter, and even Facebook just to name a few. You never know who would be interested in mentoring unless you give people the opportunity!!!!
Part B - Application of TPACK
Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is a term used to describe what teachers need to know in order to integrate technology into their classroom setting. I will illustrate the relationship between my Wicked assignment and the various levels of knowledge within this framework. My Wicked assignment is based on the mentor relationship between my cousin Leonard and my friend Vinessa who works in the Communications department at Michigan State. My goal is to demonstrate the impact that this relationship will have on my cousin Leonard, versus my other cousin Breonna who did not take part in the mentor mentee relationship. In terms of TP knowledge my cousin Leonard has had the opportunity to gain hands on experience during this internship as he job shadows his mentor who works in the communication department. He has been heavily involved in functioning and maintenance of numerous technological components in buildings across campus. His mentor has shared with him her knowledge and expertise in the field of technology to broaden his horizons and help him to see the correlations between the different technological tools that are used in the work place. This relationship has been extremely helpful to Leonard who is a kinesthetic learner due to him having the opportunity to learn by doing. This opportunity has provided the knowledge and motivation that Leonard needs to be successful in college.
In terms of TC knowledge, this opportunity has provided Leonard with the resources necessary to narrow his major in college down to one particular area. Leonard has utilized a number of different technological tools while working with Vinessa. He has been able to recognize which tools have been the most beneficial towards his development and understanding of the field. Leonard has decided that a field in telecommunications would be his best fit based on the literature that he has received from his mentor as well as the hands on opportunities. Vinessa has provided Leonard with important resources, campus connections, and set up meetings with advisors to assist Leonard in keeping a narrow focus.
In terms of PC knowledge, this mentor relationship has been invaluable to both Vinessa and Leonard. Vinessa has had the opportunity to mentor and develop a young man who would have been lost his first year in college without her expertise, availability, time, and patience. Working hand and hand with Leonard has helped Vinessa recognize her own strengths and weaknesses as a professional. Vinessa has found this relationship mutually benefitting and has indicated to me that she would like to continue in this capacity with another student in fall. This mentor relationship has actually served as a teacher-student relationship between Vinessa and Leonard. Vinessa has provided Leonard with multiple ways to obtain the technological knowledge that he needs to be successful in college as well as his career. Vinessa recognizes that it is important to provide hands on as well as literature driven information in order to help students succeed in the field of technology.
I believe next time when I do the implementation I will go a different route and have a podcast of the mentor and mentee process on how there educational relationship is helping each other accomplish the goals they have set. It will be an interview podcast of the people in the program and how it is personally benefitting them.
Part D - Findings and Implications
To add to my findings and implications, I would continue to get the student feedback on how the mentor is doing as well as the mentor feedback on how the mentee is behaving. I would have more questions to find out there schedule, time commitment, if they plan on continuing there mentor/mentee relationship through college, and over all for them to give me personal feedbacks on things they would like to see so that the program can continue to grow.
Finale of Dionna's Wicked Project
I have implemented this project and was a success, not only did I have one resource but two, I decided to take it a step futher and add an additional element inspired by my CEP 800 course, to show the benefits to having a mentor vs. not having one. Enjoy!!!
