Online Learning Mentors
The Virtual-Workspace has a vibrant team of Online Learning Mentors to assist and support students in their learning.
Students have access to three types of Learning Mentor:
- Live Mentors: They run live responses to students’ questions from 8am to 8pm, every weekday. They deal with any general questions a student might have about their learning, and can refer them to experts, or give advice on other sources of help, if necessary.
- Specialist Mentors: They provide information and guidance on any subject-related questions students may have about English, maths, science, business studies, ICT, French, German and Spanish.
- Careers Mentors: They offer specialist advice about training choices, Further and Higher Education options and apprenticeships.
As eMentors we provide students with a variety of support. Our overall aim is to help students overcome barriers that are preventing them from learning effectively. This can range from working through coursework together, directing students to useful resources in the V-W, referring them to trusted third party websites, providing re-assurance or a different perspective on an issue, giving advice on presentation, planning, revising and organising work, through to listening to problems of a more personal nature.”
Charlie, V-W Learning Mentor
How do students in the V-W get help from a Mentor?
Students enter the Learning Mentors area in their workspace. There, they have access to:
- Knowledge Bytes - answers to 500+ learning-related questions, written by the Mentors;
- the Live Support Online button - for contacting a Mentor directly (enables a student to have a private, one-to-one conversation with a Mentor in 'real time'); and
- the Message a Mentor button - for leaving the Mentors a message.
Supporting the interactions between the Mentors and the students are the range of communication channels in the V-W. Online communication can take many forms, but it falls into two broad categories:
- Synchronous communication - this is live communication taking place in real time, ie with both parties (or more) present at the same time. Synchronous communication channels in the V-W include the public or private chatrooms and the individual Live Learning Mentors facility.
- Asynchronous communication - this means that there is some delay between a message being sent and being read. Asynchronous communication channels in the V-W include the community discussion forums and the messaging facility (internal to V-W users only).
Promoting a culture of success
To help engage them in the learning process, the Mentors try to encourage the students to value their education and promote an enthusiasm for learning.
Through an enthusiastic and positive approach to student queries, our Mentors are helping to develop a culture of success in the Virtual-Workspace. The focus is on instilling a more proactive attitude towards learning, which will assist the students in reaching their full potential.
