Mainly for the CH-SIG group ... I agree with Stanton that roundtables are a
better venue for mentoring than a session. I think we should be sensitive
to the inhibitions many grad students, esp. more junior ones, might feel
about presenting in a more formal session with senior people as discussants
.... we have the past experiences from xmca to rely on about many people,
not just grad students, feeling a bit intimidated ... but roundtables are
more informal, safer, more supportive venues, where smaller numbers of
people can really interact more. The AERA model is one senior person
surrounded by those who want a chance to meet and talk, but that's a little
too egomaniacal for my tastes .... my experience is that two or three (no
more per table) of the senior people can take questions or hear ideas from
others and give (diverse) reactions. Of course we ought to hear what the
grad students want!
I suppose I tend to think of courses and mentoring as contrasting modes of
activity, or at least complementary. The idea of an online international
course (_is_ that the idea? or something more conventionally place-bound
but still international?) is certainly a good one. It's the organization
and "accreditation" that are complicated. (I really laughed out loud over
Mike's mention of the gold seals for sale in the bookstore ... multum in
parvo).
Another idea that I have been hearing from people now for several years is
online cross-institutional (and certainly international) consortia for
mentoring doctoral students. We hear so often from students that at any one
institution they feel limited in the number of senior scholars they can
talk to informally about their ideas and "career" advice. xmca does not
really provide that sort of forum, and the old xgrad was supposed to be a
peer-to-peer forum for students only. How about xmentor? A forum where
students _initiate_ topics, themes, questions and mentors respond? with no
archives and an understanding of confidentiality so that participants can
feel free to be candid, ask awkward questions, etc. Is this possible
without a face-to-face building of trust relationships? Is it possible to
find out by trying it? Is there demand for it?
JAY.
---------------------------
JAY L. LEMKE
PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION
CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
JLLBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
<http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/education/jlemke/index.htm>
---------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Sep 01 2002 - 01:00:06 PDT