Building a Better Bridge: Testing e-training to improve e-mentoring programmes in higher education

Uniting mentoring with e-mail results in expanded opportunities for mentoring, making it possible to overcome the constraints of time limitations and distance to achieve successful mentoring relationships. With these opportunities however, come many of the same challenges that have already been identified through the research on formal mentoring programmes. This article addresses one of these challenges by reporting on the impact of one model of training on e-mentoring outcomes. A series of interactive, web-based case studies was developed as training modules for mentors and prote´ge´s participating in the MentorNet programme. The target group for this research study was undergraduate students. Using a control group experimental design, we randomly assigned half the study group to a condition where interactive on-line training was required. The other half was assigned to a condition where the training was optional. Those in the mandatory group exhibited improved outcomes; specifically, they exchanged e-mail messages more frequently with their e-mentors. This study was focused on MentorNet (www.MentorNet.net), a large-scale electronic mentoring programme that matches women in engineering and related science majors with professionals in industry for year-long, structured mentoring relationships conducted via e-mail, in an effort to encourage their retention in the fields in which women are severely underrepresented. We discuss implications for conducting e-mentoring programmes.