His work spans the fields of learning design, teacher education, technology-enhanced learning and computing education. He is intensely curious about how emerging technologies may be used to enhance learning outcomes and experiences. Dorothy DeWitt is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Technology at the Faculty of Education, University of Malaya. Her interests are in designing learning environments for problem-solving and collaboration, mobile learning and knowledge building. She is constantly probing for new pedagogies and innovative instructional methods.
Formal mentoring programmes continue to gain popularity in higher education, mirroring trends in industry. The study described in this article examines the design features of a formal mentoring programme for first year undergraduates and focused on three key aspects – the matching process, training and orientation, and interaction frequency. The programme allows mentees to interact vertically with academics and horizontally with peer mentors. The results indicate that students completing the programme have positive transition experiences and become more engaged and integrated into the university. The experience gained in this study can be transferred to other higher education institutions that are in the process of either designing or implementing formal mentoring programmes. Implications of formal mentoring programmes and recommendations for future research are discussed.
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