We are a group of online learning professionals who decided to tap into our collective expertise by starting a peer mentoring program. Peer mentoring is a no-cost professional development solution that encourages collaboration and shared leadership. Come hear our lessons learned and discuss whether peer mentoring is right for you.

Introduction: In 2017, the online learning professionals working in the various departments and schools across our institution formed a community of practice, known as the Instructional Innovation Committee (IIC). The group meets monthly to discuss trending topics, report on projects we are working on, and ask for and respond to calls for help. Last year, our colleagues surveyed the group’s members to gather insight on the community’s strengths and identify opportunities for growth and collaboration. The survey and follow up discussion revealed a desire for a mentoring program. Therefore, we decided to form a sub-committee to review different mentorship models and identify one that would best fit the needs of our group. Project Development Overview: After reviewing different program models, we decided that a peer mentoring (also known as collaborative mentoring) approach was most aligned with our theoretical frameworks. Less formal than a traditional mentor/mentee relationship, peer mentors support and encourage each other while working toward a shared goal (ID2ID, 2017). To make this program a reality, we began with drafting a questionnaire. Its goal was to identify participants’ areas of expertise, topics of interest, how they would like to engage with a peer mentor, and level of time commitment. Once we tested and approved the questionnaire, we shared it with the Instructional Innovation Committee via email and Microsoft teams. We gave everyone two weeks to respond. After the deadline to participate passed, we uploaded the results into ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence tool, and asked it to pair people up based on their expertise, interests, and goals. We chose to use ChatGPT for the pairing process in order to eliminate any bias that we, the program’s organizers, might have. After the peer mentor pairs were established, we sent each pair a “kickoff” email with instructions on how to get started and suggestions for how they might engage with their peers. Implementation and Initial Results: In this pilot project, ten IIC members (out of 48 total) opted into the peer mentoring program. Our pairs are currently having their initial meetings, creating a schedule, and establishing their shared goals. A survey, to be distributed Fall of 2024 will capture the initial impressions and experiences of our first peer mentoring cohort. Results of that survey will be shared as a part of this Discovery Session. Expected Findings & Potential Challenges: Collaborative mentoring can be a source for professional growth, but it also comes with its own set of challenges. Some of the favorable outcomes we expect include: - Reciprocal Learning: Collaborative mentoring facilitates a reciprocal, mutual exchange type of environment, creating a dynamic context for learning where partners benefit. - Foster Diversity and Equality: This approach embraces diversity (i.e. people with minoritized identities), and aims to transcend power dynamics. - Professional Partnerships: Collaborative mentoring has been shown to be vital for the professional partnership of professors and teachers, where mentoring duties and processes are shared equally. However, collaborative mentoring faces several challenges, including conflicting responsibilities, uneven commitment, and variations in skill levels among participants — as explained below: - Poor Communication: Misunderstandings and ineffective communication, coupled with challenges in providing and receiving constructive feedback, can hinder the mentorship's success. - Misaligned Expectations: Lack of communication can definitely impact how partners set goals. Also, different goals and unclear objectives between partners can cause a lack of direction and purpose within the team. - Time Constraints: Busy schedules and conflicting priorities can make it difficult to schedule regular meetings and prioritize mentorship activities. - Lack of Structure: In certain situations, some individuals prefer for others to take the lead, and sometimes without a structured plan or clear roles and responsibilities, mentorship can lack focus, direction, and measurable progress. Addressing these challenges involves clear communication, setting realistic and mutually agreed-upon goals, effective communication and constructive feedback, and ensuring a good match between partners in terms of areas of interest, expertise, personality, project goals, and availability, to name a few (Mullen, 2023, pp. 13-14). Interaction with Attendees: Although the research consistently shows the value of mentoring for professional development, collaboration, and community building, there are limited case studies in the context of online learning professionals. During the Discovery Session, we will share how the program was received by our small cohort and the lessons we learned during the process. We will then ask attendees questions about their organization’s culture, discuss whether a peer mentoring program would be a good fit, and what that might look like. Theoretical Frameworks: The program's initiatives are underpinned by two theoretical frameworks, which are the community of practice and collaborative mentoring. Originating from a comprehensive survey conducted by the chairs of the Instructional Innovation Committee (IIC), this program is in itself a microcosm of this community of inquiry. The IIC met in late 2023 to discuss the results of the survey. The following are some key findings, recurring themes, and areas of opportunity identified in the discussion that ensued: Collaboration among instructional designers can be enhanced through the creation of dedicated meeting spaces for professional development and interaction, including the occasional in-person meetings. Structured collaboration efforts such as forming sub-committees, implementing mentorship programs, and organizing workshops about teaching and learning can foster deeper engagement and knowledge sharing. Additionally, there was an expressed desire for showcasing opportunities, facilitating joint research projects, comparison of processes and strategies used in different schools, and organizing visits to other campuses can promote knowledge sharing and visibility of collaborative efforts. IIC members also expressed a desire to have a place for centralizing resources through a more visible and strategically managed shared cloud (to make resources accessible to all), as well as securing institutional-level funding for new tools. Finally, setting aside time in meetings to explore new technologies, conduct demos, and discuss new or emerging tools and trends, can encourage collaborative exploration and adoption of innovative technologies (Instructional Innovation Committee, internal communication, November 16, 2023). Based on these identified needs, several sub-committees were formed, including one for the mentorship program. For the purpose of this proposal, we will focus on mentoring within the context of communities of practice. Below is an overview of the theoretical frameworks that serve as the foundation for this project: Community of Practice: Communities of Practice (CoPs) are “set of relations among persons, activity, and the world, over time and in relation with other overlapping CoPs” (Lave and Wegner, 1991, as cited in Bottoms et al. 2020). In later work, Wenger (2006) clarified the nature of CoPs by describing them as having three characteristics: a domain, community, and practice. Wenger described the domain as the area of interest (mutual engagement) that the group shares, which encompasses membership and identity with the group. Community develops through the activities (joint enterprise) the group engages in together, the conversations, and the relationships that are developed as they learn from one another. Practice comes from the group’s shared repertoire of experiences, narratives, and artifacts, in short, the work of the group. (Bottoms et al. p. 144). Although they differ in scope and structure, based on these characteristics, both CoPs and mentoring share key similarities. Moreover, CoPs are prime for mentoring — they both foster learning, development, and identity formation. Collaborative Mentoring: According to Mullen (2017), Collaborative mentoring is a “proactive force that unites individuals or groups in a reciprocal, mutual exchange and dynamic context for learning” (pp.13). The author explains this approach promotes non-hierarchical approach to collaboration and fosters the inclusion of diverse voices (i.e minoritized identities). Finally, Mullen highlights the importance of professional partnerships with equally shared mentoring duties, the value of shared leadership in successful collaborations, and the development of an appreciative understanding among participants. This framework enables individuals of different ranks, career paths, educational backgrounds, skill sets, and areas of expertise to work together towards goal-oriented and productive outcomes (Mullen, 2023, pp. 13-14). References: Bolden, R. (2011). Distributed leadership in organizations: A review of theory and research. International Journal of Management Reviews, 13(3), 251-269. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2011.00306.x Bottoms, S. I., Pegg, J., Adams, A., Risser, H. S., & Wu, K. (2020). Mentoring within communities of practice. In B. J. Irby, J. N. Boswell, L. J. Searby, F. Kochan, R. Garza, & N. Abdelrahman (Eds.), The Wiley international handbook of mentoring (pp. 143-166). John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119142973.ch10 Buddy – ID2ID. (n.d.). ID2ID: Cross-Institutional Peer Mentoring Program for Instructional Designers; The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved May 29, 2024, from https://www.id2id.org/communities-of-practice/buddy/ College enrollment and student demographic statistics. (n.d.). Education Data Initiative. Retrieved May 29, 2024, from https://educationdata.org/college-enrollment-statistics Mullen, C. (2017). Critical issues on democracy and mentoring in education: a debate in the literature1. In The SAGE Handbook of Mentoring (pp. 34-51). SAGE Publications Ltd, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526402011