Posted by eporter on July 31, 2024
How To Determine If Online, Self-Paced or Face-to-Face, Instructor-Led Training is Better for Your Mentors
Pre-match mentor training can help mentors feel more prepared to mentor and supported by your program, which may ultimately lead to longer, stronger matches. Most mentoring program staff are aware that evidence-based training programs and practices are more likely to produce positive outcomes for mentors than training programs that are not supported by research. However, you may still feel overwhelmed with the responsibility of choosing trainings to provide to your mentors that will best suit their needs and support your program’s goals. You may ask yourself questions such as, “Are online trainings engaging enough for my mentors?” or “Is in-person training worth the time and resources it takes for my staff to conduct it?”
To help you answer these questions, we have outlined some of the pros and cons related to offering online, self-paced training or face-to-face, instructor-led training to your mentors. With this information, you may be able to decide which type of training you should offer to meet the needs of your unique program and maximize the benefits for mentors.
Why choose online, self-paced training programs?
Online mentor training formats are often engaging, easily accessible, and scalable.
Online training provides flexibility for both mentors and program staff. Scheduling in-person training can be challenging because it often requires finding times that both mentors and staff are available to come together in person. In addition, traveling to an in-person training location may take a lot of time or be inaccessible for some mentors, which may cause them to lose motivation to complete training. In contrast, many online trainings are designed to be self-paced, so mentors can complete training at times and locations that are convenient to them. Self-paced trainings allow mentors to complete a portion of their training, close out of their training when they need, and come back to complete it when they are ready.
In addition, online, self-paced trainings do not require program staff to conduct training. Not only does this save time that staff need to complete pre-intervention training or set up training, but it may also eliminate opportunities for program staff to communicate any biases or misinformation to mentors. Program staff may also need to train only one or two mentors on certain topics, such as how to support mentees impacted by substance misuse. Enrolling mentors in online training on these topics may save staff time and resources they would otherwise need to train only a small group of mentors.
A common concern that staff have about offering online training to mentors is that they do not know if their mentors will be engaged with training in an online format or if they will complete their training at all. Some online trainings, such as Mentoring Central’s online mentor trainings, contain interactive activities and animations to engage mentors in program content. In addition, Mentoring Central’s administrative dashboard allows program staff to track mentors’ progress in their online trainings, view mentors’ answers to open-ended questions within the trainings, and send email reminders to mentors who have not yet completed their training. In these ways, program staff can ensure that mentors are engaging and learning from online trainings.
Why choose in-person or online instructor-led training?
Instructor-led mentor training, offered face-to-face either in person or online via web conferencing software, allows program staff opportunities to interact directly with mentors as they complete their training. For example, mentors are able to ask questions based on what they do not understand about mentoring topics or what they are concerned about for their mentoring relationship. Staff are then able to directly address mentors’ concerns and clarify mentors’ misunderstandings about mentoring, so mentors feel more prepared and confident to mentor.
In addition, instructor-led training offers opportunities for mentors to participate in role-playing activities and view demonstrations from staff. For example, mentors may practice what their first conversation with their mentee may be like by role-playing with a partner during training. These types of training activities may be particularly beneficial and appeal to mentors with experiential, hands-on learning styles.
Your mentoring program may have specific policies and procedures, mission statements, or mentee needs that are important for your mentors to understand. Instructor-led trainings can easily be tailored to incorporate topics specific to your program, so mentors receive all important information they need to participate effectively in your program.
A blended training approach.
A third training approach, and perhaps the most beneficial training approach for matches, is offering a blend of both online, self-paced and in-person, instructor-led training experiences to mentors.
In fact, mentors who have received both online and in-person trainings have been shown to have more knowledge about mentoring, more awareness of the roles of mentors, less unrealistically positive expectations for mentoring, more confidence in their ability to mentor, and more preparedness to mentor compared to mentors who have only receive in-person training.1
Asking mentors to complete online, self-paced training first, followed by participation in an in-person training led by your program staff, may be a particularly effective way to blend self-paced and face-to-face training. Completing online, self-paced training first may help mentors build a solid understanding and base knowledge of mentoring topics on their own. Then, all mentors and staff can come together in person to complete instructor-led training with the same existing vocabulary and knowledge on mentoring. By starting in-person training on the same page, mentors and staff can discuss topics learned in online training in depth, participate equally in role-playing activities, apply knowledge from online training to their specific mentoring program, and ask questions based on what they did not understand from online training.
For example, mentoring program staff can offer a well-rounded, blended training experience for mentors by first asking mentors to complete the online, self-paced Building the Foundation for Mentors course. By taking this course, mentors will learn the foundational information and skills needed to be an effective mentor, such as roles involved in the mentoring relationship, what to expect from mentoring, and appropriate mentoring relationship boundaries. Then, program staff can use materials to conduct the in-person, instructor-led Building Your Mentoring Skills training with mentors to help them practice solving problems commonly faced by mentors and applying the skills they learned in the Building the Foundation course.
This blended training approach may give mentors a comprehensive, deeper understanding of important information and skills they need to be an effective mentor.
If you are interested in offering online training to mentors; accessing instructional materials to conduct an in-person, instructor-led training; or both, visit https://mentoringcentral.net/mentoring-training/ to learn more about our evidence-based online and instructor-led trainings.