Is virtual mentoring the way forward?

Students make intensive use of social media and evidence suggests on-line networking now forms part of the ‘social glue’ which helps students settle into University life (Cheng & Vassileva, 2006; Madge et al., 2009). Clifton et al., (2004) observes how peers give an individual the sense of coping and hence perceived control over academic progress. Tinto (2009) highlights peer mentoring as a key way in which support, one of four factors for student success, can be effectively embedded. Clark et al. (2010) found that over 80 UK institutions operate some form of peer mentoring but content analysis indicates that virtual based schemes are a rarity. Only nine institutions appeared to be using some form of virtual support, the majority of which supplemented face to face sessions by email contact. Therefore could an online model be more beneficial in a peer mentoring context? By using the idiomatic expressions below, this workshop will examine four discussion topics in relation to peer mentoring and its possible introduction in a virtual format. •“As keen as mustard” •“You can take a horse to water but you can’t make it drink” •“A man’s home is his castle” •“Bridge the gap”