Mentoring: Exploring mentor identity

The workshops will begin by exploring the role of the mentor and participants will reflect on and consider their own mentor identity.  Participants are encouraged to do a pre-workshop task, selecting images that they feel best represent their perception of the mentor role.  Participants will then work in break out groups and consider what as mentors we should acknowledge might influence our unconscious communication with our mentees.  Literature has shown that an integral part of successful mentoring partnerships is critical reflection before, during, and after mentoring conversations so that we don’t fall into preconceptions of the mentor role which can be difficult to change (Nyanjom 2020 and Langdon et al. 2016) and a recycling of power hierarchy as the mentee progresses to mentor (Darwin 2000). Part one of the workshop will begin this reflection and participants will be left with some resources to continue this reflection with mentees.  

Pre-workshop task: Select image(s) that you feel represent the role or identity of a mentor.  You might find creative comms images from: 

• Pixabay - https://pixabay.com/ 
• Morguefile - https://morguefile.com/ 
• Stockfreeimages - https://www.stockfreeimages.com/ 

Create a collage in a word document or PowerPoint, or an alternative technology. 

Using images in reflective practice can help you to articulate thoughts, feelings and experiences and we often use images in mentoring approaches and to unpick difficult or challenging situations. 

Although presented as separate workshops, the four mentoring workshop sessions are purposely scaffolded to develop mentoring practice and participants are encouraged to attend all where possible.  

Presenters

Alex Walker

Alex is Professional Development and Recognition Lead within the Learning and Teaching Academy at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). Alex coordinates the University Mentoring Scheme, and leads Professional Recognition mentoring including mentoring for HEA Fellowship from Advance HE.  This has included mentoring for HEA Fellowships through the university framework ALPINE, through direct applications to Advance HE for PFHEA and internationally through a global funded research project exploring professional recognition and mentoring with colleagues at the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB).  Alex gained Principal Fellowship HEA from Advance HE in 2021, and recently completed a Masters in Tertiary and Higher Education.  An interest in mentoring and digitally enabled approaches to professional development including mentoring has led to a number of invited presentations and publications, the latter including: 

• Walker, A. and Smyth, K. (2021) ‘Developing online learning through the pandemic: Digitally enabled approaches to student and staff peer support within a distributed university’, Educational Developments, 22(1), pp. 13-18. 
• Walker, A. (2020) Establishing collaborative ways of mentoring: Digitally enabled and transnational approaches within distributed universities. In: F. Rennie (ed.) Bhutan: Ways of Learning and Teaching. eTIPS. pp. 45-73. 

Alex is on twitter @Walker80alex and contributes to UHI’s LTA blog https://ltauhi.wordpress.com/   

To Book

Please email lta@uhi.ac.uk to book a place on this event.

Accessibility

We want to make this a positive experience for all participants and hope we have met everyone’s needs in joining this event. If you have particular access needs please contact us at lta@uhi.ac.uk so we can work together to get you as good an experience as we can.

Privacy

Please read our policy on how we treat any personal information collected in relation to our events:
Data Protection Statement for Events