Creating, Implementing, and Redefining a Conceptual Framework for Mentoring Pathways for Education Doctorate Students

Abstract

Supporting the proficiencies scholar-practitioners need to be successful in Doctor of Education (EdD) programs typically differ from the needs of traditional doctoral students in other types of programs; however, EdD students may benefit from participating in a mentoring program during the progression of their academic career. Several theoretical and conceptual frameworks that influence mentoring programs exist at the doctoral level despite the lack of research conducted that is specific to EdD degrees. In this article, we review several frameworks that influenced the creation and redesign of the Mentoring Pathways Program, developed explicitly to address the needs of scholar-practitioners attending a midwestern university. Through this process, we developed a Mentoring Pathways Program Model, by exploring the domains of sustainability, networking, and expected outcomes, with each domain enhanced through the foundational disciplines of readiness, self-efficacy, and progress. The development and implementation of the MPP model guides the mentoring approach for our EdD students while allowing for the flexibility to accommodate changing needs and requests. In this article, we present a reflective and responsive practice towards EdD mentor and mentee relationships, which are assessed yearly through surveys, interviews, and focus groups.

Filling the gaps: how the non-faculty mentor role contributes to the doctoral program support structure

“…Mentoring itself can take many forms from traditional dyadic mentoring pairs, to group mentoring or even online mentoring (Brown et al, 2020;Dawson, 2014;Holley and Caldwell, 2012;Mullen, 2020;Parker et al, 2015). Each form of mentoring has its benefits, and the type of mentoring implemented in an individual setting should be based upon mentees' needs, resource availability and programmatic structure regarding the program in which the mentoring is taking place (Brown et al, 2020;Dawson, 2014;Geesa et al, 2020a). Additionally, mentoring should be ever evolving based upon feedback and the changing needs of the stakeholders involved (Brown et al, 2020;Geesa et al, 2020a;Hall and Jaugietis, 2011;Mullen, 2020).…”

“…In order to combat high stress levels and dropout rates of doctoral students, most programs are designed with a faculty support structure, including a faculty advisor and a dissertation chair (Pifer and Baker, 2016). Some programs take that support structure a step further by offering or assigning mentors to doctoral students (Brown et al, 2020;Geesa et al, 2018;Lowery et al, 2018). While mentors may be faculty members, this article focuses on non-faculty mentors, including peer mentors (fellow doctoral students) and early career mentors (recent doctoral graduates who are now practicing in the mentee's professional field).…”

“…The program faculty initiated a Mentoring Pathways Program in 2016, which offered mentors (recent graduates or late-stage EdD candidates) to first-year doctoral students (mentees). The Mentoring Pathways Program has continued to evolve and grow (Brown et al, 2020;Geesa et al, 2018Geesa et al, , 2020aLowery et al, 2019;McConnell et al, 2019). While the initial year of the Mentoring Pathways Program had a typical dyadic mentoring format, this program has evolved into a unique group mentoring format in which mentors take turns hosting presentations and roundtable discussions with mentees.…”

“…We researched the mentoring program's 2019-2020 cycle with the intention of exploring how mentoring contributes to its existing support structure for doctoral students. Previous studies of this mentoring program established that both mentors and mentees found mentoring to be beneficial on academic and psychosocial levels (Brown et al, 2020;Geesa et al, 2018Geesa et al, , 2020aLowery et al, 2019;McConnell et al, 2019). All previous mentoring program meetings at this institution were traditionally organized in face-to-face or hybrid models.…”

Mentor support systems in a doctoral mentoring program

“…By giving mentees access to one another rather than to just a singular mentor allows more opportunities for networking, collaboration, and relationship-strengthening (Johns and McNamara, 2014). There are few studies related to EdD mentoring programs, and the uniqueness of EdD students' needs in a scholar-practitioner program should be studied further (Brown et al, 2020;Geesa et al, 2018;Geesa et al, 2020;Holley and Caldwell, 2012;Kerrigan and Hayes, 2016;Lindsay et al, 2017;Lowery et al, 2018;Lowery et al, 2019;McConnell et al, 2019). Huizing's (2012) extensive literature review on group mentoring established the benefits of various models of group mentoring, with many-to-many mentoring, perhaps, displaying the most benefits by allowing both collaboration and relationship-building among mentees, along with the added expertize of multiple mentors.…”