Course mentor
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A course mentor is a person hired by a college or other higher education institution to provide expert advice and support to students taking a particular course. Many colleges have mentor programs, designed to help students adapt to the college life, but course mentors exist solely to help students in a particular class. Colleges that use such programs cannot employ mentors for every class offered, so the program is typically only used for courses that are historically found to be difficult.[1][2][3]
In the process for selecting mentors, colleges may choose to hire students who have had success in the course previously, or they may elect to hire an expert in the field from outside of the school. Some of those from the latter category may not only help students pass the class, but may also teach additional skills that the instructor may not address or teach sufficiently in the course. Other times, a course may involve a set of skills that the instructor may wish to impart to his students. A course mentor, in this case, would work to instill those skills and provide academic support when necessary.[1][2][3]
Some online degree programs and virtual schools employ course mentors since course instructors are not physically present. The mentors serve in the same capacity in this case: they identify shortcomings in a student's learning and fill whatever gaps in knowledge there may be.[4]
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Thomas Edison State College, "What you can learn from your mentor outside the discussion board," accessed September 9, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Washington College, "Course mentors," accessed September 9, 2014
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Colorado College, "FYE mentors," accessed September 9, 2014
- ↑ ARRL - National Association for Amateur Radio, "Mentoring online courses," accessed September 10, 2014
