Rural Mentoring Application

Abstract

Mentoring is one of the most dynamic and traditional tutelage tools that are dynamically used in teaching and learning in the educational field. Mentoring is a conventional method of transferring knowledge and ideas from an experienced professional in society to an inexperienced member of the sector. The education sector has found mentoring quite an effective tool long back and with the advent of new technologies, comes the idea of online mentoring, which is also referred to as e-mentoring. Instead of face-to-face meetings, Online Mentoring System (OMS) uses asynchronous, electronic communications to establish and support the mentor and mentee relationship using virtual mode. E-Mentoring uses a computerized medium to transfer knowledge and skills from mentor to mentee. Online Mentoring System is a Client-Server model, which acts as an Interface between mentor and mentee. Online Mentoring System strives to reduce the workload of students in entering their details and at the same time enable the Mentors to assess their students more efficiently. It will also undertake a career exploration journey that will help them make informed career choices.

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

Mentoring is a friendly learning relationship where the major focus is on long-term career development. Its primary purpose is to drive personal growth, knowledge, understanding, and building skills. Mentors may use coaching skills in their conversations with the mentee. But usually, the mentor’s role is broader than that of a coach and may include opening doors, sharing experiences, and making connections.  A mentor is an individual with some expertise who can help the mentee develop their career. A mentor often has a primary function for the mentee.

The career-related functionality establishes the mentor as a coach to provide guidance and advice to the mentees, to enhance their performance and development. 

Online mentoring refers to a process of mentoring where mentors and mentees communicate through means of Internet-based tools such as web applications or social media networks. Virtual mentoring usually occurs because of the distance between the two parties. It enables mentors and mentees to meet over a virtual platform instead of in person. This program is a more structured way to connect mentors and mentees. In a rural area, it can be challenging to have a guide or a mentor who is well literate and experienced to guide the students; usually, they are less skilled or educated to help the students in their career choosing aspects. Hence, this virtual mentoring can help solve all these challenges remotely. Goal-setting, career planning, general discussion, and the development of leadership qualities and professional experience can be carried out in this application.

II. BACKGROUND

“Desh Ke Mentor”, launched by Delhi government in October 2021 [1]. Students of Delhi Government School can take up a career exploration journey that will help them make enlightened career choices. We have intensified this currently existing system by making it handy for all the students studying in Karnataka state in class 5 to 12.

“Mentor to Go” launched by mentor together in 2012 is a mobile mentoring platform [2]. This is charged by a dream to take mentorship to all part of India; making it possible for anyone, anywhere to access or supply high-quality mentorship. We have boosted this existing system by coming up with high security. The system to be proposed will ensure security as it demands for various documents and government id proofs to upload in the time of registration.

“E-Mentoring System Application”, put into IEEE in February 2019 is a web application program [3]. The senior students can guide the junior students of an organization. But this application can be used only by the students of a particular organization. To envelop this concept E-Mentoring is a desktop-based application that is essentially developed to improve the performance of the students by helping mentors to acknowledge mentees problems effectively and effortlessly. This is accessible by both mentor and mentee which is effectively designed to be in an educational zone for the purpose of mentoring.

III. PROPOSED SYSTEM

Mentor and mentees are known for sharing a good academic relationship. Mentors play a very important role in both the personal growth of the student and as well as in professional growth. They act as a guide or a teacher for the students who need support and steer them in the right direction. Mentoring is a two-way communication system where the mentor and mentee play an important role. This will mandate and necessitate the individual to take up the responsibility and actively participate and try their best from both sides in achieving the goals. The mentorship will result in a useful connection only if both participants are a good match. The mentor as a guide will provide support and guidance to the students in their academic aspects by navigating complex and challenging situations in their careers.

We have developed a web-based application that will provide mentoring services and also online counselling to empower the students. We have implemented this project in such a way that the student and the mentor will be able to virtually connect with each other. The mentor has to encourage and support mentees in managing their learning in an effective and efficient way so that they may improve their performance by learning new skills and help become the person they want.

In this project, we are providing an interface for those, who are willing to help and the ones seeking help. The person who is willing to be a mentor or a mentee has to create an account in the app and upload the necessary documents that are required to check the eligibility of being a mentor. The admin manually verifies the account by checking the information uploaded by the user. This system is secured because both Mentor and Mentee should undergo the verification process. If the verification is successful, the account will be created, which the mentor can use to access the mentorship. Both the mentor and mentee can update their profile and add their interests. The Mentees are provided with a search option, where they can search for the mentor based on their interest in their subject, a mentor list will be displayed based on the interest searched. The Mentee can send request to the mentor, if the mentor accepts the request then that particular mentor will be assigned to that mentee. In this way, the mentee can have one or more mentors from different fields of interest. After the allocation, the registered students can virtually connect with their mentor every day by posting queries and getting their responses from the mentor using a live chat that will help students in learning and acquiring skills. The mentees can also provide ratings and feedback about the mentor; they can also change the mentor if they are not satisfied.

IV. RESULT

We are developing a Web-based application that will assist the students in their academics and their career. This application can also cultivate a more robust mentoring program by improving connection and communication between mentors and mentees. Using this interface in the workplace can have other benefits including skill development and improved collaboration. In both personal and social life, mentoring has the power to accelerate our self-development, career progression, and overall confidence.

Conclusion

Traditional mentoring programs will sway but online mentoring is an increasing trend. Online mentoring is user-friendly and is easy to use software, as it is based on a client-server model. The responsibility of a mentor is to showcase the possibilities to the students and to guide them on possible outcomes. Online mentoring offers a modern approach of facilitating learning and mentoring in this era. For online mentoring to work, it is necessary that trust between mentor and mentee is formed. The objective of any mentoring program is to establish win-win situation for all participants. In other words, the absorption of online mentoring practices can play a momentous role in attaining important organizational outcomes.

References

[1] “Desh Ka Mentor” App launched by Delhi government in 2022. [2] “E-mentoring in Online Course Projects: Description of an E-Mentoring Scheme”, Sandra L.Williams, Justin (Jin-Hong) Kim, International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol. 9, No. 2, August 2011. [3] Ellen A.Ensher, Christian Heun and Anita Blanchard “Online mentoring and computer-mediated communication: New directions in research”, Journal of Vocational Behavior 63 (2003) 264–288, 2003. [4] Kimberly Nicole Rowland, “E-Mentoring: An Innovative Twist to Traditional Mentoring”, Journal of Technology Management & Innovation, 2012,Volume 7, Issue 1. [5] LynnAkin and Janet Hilbun, “E-mentoring in three voices”, Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Volume X, Number I, Spring 2007. [6] Joanne D.Leck, Penny M. Wood, “Forming Trust in E-Mentoring: A Research Agenda”, American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 2013. [7] “From Face-to-Face to e-Mentoring: Does the „e? Add Any Value for Mentors?”, Celayne Heaton Shrestha, Steve May, Palitha Edirisingha, Linda Burke, Tim Linsey; International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Volume 20, 2009.

Copyright

Copyright © 2022 Unaiza Irshad Ahamad, Afrah Thabassum, Sourabha C Dixit, Spoorti Masti Naik, Dr. Shreekumar T. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.