Challenges and Opportunities of Hyperbonding in College Relationships

Sense of belonging is a key predictor of student success for college students (Strayhorn 2008; 2012). This sense of belonging can be enhanced when students find peers that they can identify with and develop relationships with (Gravett and Winstone 2020;…

Three students work together at a picnic table; two are writing in notebooks, and another reads a book. A quote in the bottom left reads: "We need to guide and mentor those students in seeing the bigger picture of their academic experience and help them think intentionally about their academic and co-curricular pursuits."

Mentoring for Learner Success: Multiple Pathways to Mentoring Relationships 

Mentoring relationships develop in relationship-rich environments (Vandermaas-Peeler and Moore 2022). In higher education contexts, they might evolve from other meaningful relationships like teaching, advising, supervising, and coaching, but they require time to become more reciprocal and mutually beneficial (Mullen and…

two students sit in front of a computer screen. One of them points at the computer while the other looks at it. "When it comes to supporting mentoring relationships, one-size initiatives don't fit all relationships"

Mentoring for Learner Success: Mentoring is not (just) having a cup of coffee, part 1

What comes to mind when you hear the word mentor? What images and emotions are evoked by the term mentoring? Acknowledging that the concept of mentoring has become ubiquitous, not only in higher education but also in popular culture and…

Two Black people work together at a computer, with a quote from the blog post: "Mentorship must be situated in a larger sociocultural context and can only be understood holistically and longitudinally, rather than as a snapshot of a meaningful moment."

Abstracts

Opening Keynote Posters A Sessions B Sessions C Sessions D Sessions E Sessions Closing Keynote Opening Keynote (Sunday, June 19, 6:00-7:00 PM) Laura Gonzales, “Translating Writing Across Communities: Emerging Frameworks for Building Community- Accountable Writing Pedagogies through Multilingual Orientations” What…

Capstone Experiences

Definition Capstone experiences aim to facilitate students’ sense-making of their growth and development across their major or general educational studies and have been a hallmark of undergraduate education in one form or another for at least as long as higher education has…

Mentoring Across Differences: An Upcoming Series of Conversations

I have been thinking about mentoring in some fashion from my earliest days as an athlete. I was motivated to impress teachers and coaches, listening and practicing skill-improvement that I internalized as self-improvement for much of my childhood. My skills…

What are your experiences, tips, tricks, and wisdom of mentoring across differences

Conference Schedule

All times are listed in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Sunday, July 11 1:00 PM Registration Opens 5:30-6:00 PM Welcome Reception 6:00 PM EDT Opening Keynote (Dr. Nancy Budwig, The Path to Capstone Work: What We are Learning about Student-Ready Institutions)…

Mentoring for Learner Success: Bridging Known and New

In order to enhance young children’s learning in the course of everyday interactions, parents often facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge by bridging, or establishing a connection between something familiar and something new (Vandermaas-Peeler, Westerberg, and Fleishman 2019). In a…

Mentoring Relationships as Bridges

Mentoring for Learner Success: Conceptualizing Constellations

In their recent book, Relationship-Rich Education, Elon colleagues Drs. Peter Felten and Leo Lambert weave together dozens of stories emphasizing the importance of meaningful connections for successful learning and well-being in higher education. Drawing on hundreds of interviews, they offer extensive evidence of the power of relationships between learners and peers, staff, and faculty, asserting that all students should “create webs…

"Mentoring as a Constellation" on photo of stars in constellation

Style Guide for Posts to the Center for Engaged Learning Blog

Content Potential posts to the Center for Engaged Learning (CEL) blog can cover a range of topics, including but not limited to: syntheses of research on engaged learning or high-impact educational practices; reflections on recent engaged learning publications; previews of…