Task 6: Mentor Guide
Getting to Work

1. Review the readings provided in the Resources section to become more familiar with the theory and practice of this style of pedagogy. In particular, read:
   • Notes on Coaching/Mentoring/Tutoring (.ppt) (which provides an overview of key points from the readings)
   • The annotated talk on Situated Cognition and Cognitive Apprenticeships (.pdf)
   • Cindy Hmelo-Silver’s paper Collaborative Ways of Knowing: Issues in Facilitation (.doc)
   • Roger Schank’s paper on Teaching and Testing in the Modern World (.rdf)
2. Review the two styles of mentor guide provided to determine which is likely to best meet the needs of your potential instructors:
   • The Practicum on Enterprise Security Mentor and Tasks Guides(.html)
   • The APRIL Facilitator’s Guide(.doc) (developed for a short course, Air Plume Readiness Interactive Learning, for the Environmental Protection Agency)

   As always, consider a hybrid or an adaptation of either if that seems to best meet the needs of your audience.

3. Edit the Mentor Guide appropriately to reflect the specifics of your course.
   • Be sure to devote adequate space to explaining the pedagogical approach because if may be unfamiliar to many in your audience (and may even seem non-intuitive to some).
   • Be sure to adequately cover the details of the scenario in which instruction is situated; interaction with the instructor plays a significant role in engaging the student in the scenario.
   • Consider developing “standard solutions” to student tasks to aid the instructor in coaching students. (An example is provided in the extract from Practicum on Enterprise Security.)
   • Determine what the instructor will be called in all course materials (e.g., “mentor” or “coach”) and use that term consistently in these and other documents. (We suggest mentor or coach to make the point to both the instructor and the students that the instructor’s role is different than the norm.)
4. Review the Plan for Faculty Training (.doc) developed for the Practicum in Enterprise Security and adapt it, as appropriate for your audience.
   • While a Mentor Guide will be helpful to future instructors, it would be ideal if they could apprentice to you as you teach the course.
   • In addition (or instead – if apprenticeship is not possible), it is desirable for instructors to approach at least some key tasks as students would, e.g., to plan how they would solve the problems presented (if not to actually solve them).

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Updated: June 21, 2005