Assessment of a University-Based Distance Education Mentoring Program from a Quality Management Perspective

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Assessment of a University-Based Distance Education Mentoring Program from a Quality Management Perspective

Casimir Barczyk
Janet Buckenmeyer
Lori Feldman
Emily Hixon

Abstract

This study describes assessment results from the Distance Education Mentoring Program (DEMP) at Purdue University Calumet, Indiana, USA. The program, sponsored by the university’s Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, was made available to all teaching faculty who wished to become protégés and develop their skills at teaching online courses. The DEMP is a university initiative designed to enhance the development of high-quality online courses by mentoring faculty in instructional design principles. Faculty member protégés who completed the mentoring program were surveyed using an anonymous questionnaire. Data were obtained from 34 faculty respondents who completed the program during the last three years. Using regression analysis, we found that the Pyramid Model explained 83% of the variance in perceptions of teaching improvement attributable to the DEMP. The program’s process orientation, continuous improvement approach, and focus on customer satisfaction explained protégés’ perceived improvement in teaching. In addition, protégés believed their peer faculty mentors provided more psychosocial support than career development. Implications for implementation of a mentoring program in a university setting are discussed.

Keywords

Career development, Faculty development, Mentoring, Online learning, Psychosocial, Quality management

Annotation

This study reports on the results of an assessment conducted on the “Distance Education Mentoring Program” (DEMP), a faculty professional development certification program at Purdue University Calumet focused on mentoring new online teachers in online course instructional design. In DEMP, faculty members new to teaching online are paired with an experience mentor housed outside of their discipline to ensure focus on pedagogical principles rather than course content. DEMP is examined through the lens of Quality Management (QM). 34 faculty members who were mentees in the program completed the questionnaire. Results showed the teachers felt the quality of their teaching improved and felt mentors provided “more psychosocial support than career development support” (p. 19). The authors suggest that a focus on quality management in mentoring, as well as the use of mentors capable of providing social support in addition to technical support can lead to improved outcomes for mentees, which in turn will improve outcomes for students and thus other stakeholders in online education.

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