ANALYSIS OF ON-LINE COMMUNICATION IN A MENTORING PROJECT

Telementoring potentially extends opportunities to
many more students and will allow mentors to
participate, who otherwise would find the time
investment prohibitive (Muller, 1997). The
integration of telecommunication opportunities has
removed many of the obstacles, such as time and
space, which have doomed mentoring relationships that
did not employ telecommunications technology (Noe,
1988). Understanding the nature of communication
between participants involved in telementoring
programs requires the systematic study of said
communication. This research focused upon the nature
of on-line communications in a curriculum-based
project that involved secondary students who
electronic mail to mentor middle school students.
On-line communications included character count, word
count, and sentence count of electronic mail
correspondence. One purpose of this study was to
determine whether there are significant differences
in the on-line communications of middle school
students with regard to gender and grade level.
Another purpose of this study was to determine if
significant differences existed between middle school
and secondary school participants.

Autorentext

Dr. Richard Pierce is an Assistant Professor of Education atFairmont State University. He taught 6-12 Computer Applicationsand later acted as the District Technology Coordinator in theTexas public school system.His research interests include studentmotivation and educational technology.

Klappentext

Telementoring potentially extends opportunities tomany more students and will allow mentors toparticipate, who otherwise would find the timeinvestment prohibitive (Muller, 1997). Theintegration of telecommunication opportunities hasremoved many of the obstacles, such as time andspace, which have doomed mentoring relationships thatdid not employ telecommunications technology (Noe,1988). Understanding the nature of communicationbetween participants involved in telementoringprograms requires the systematic study of saidcommunication. This research focused upon the natureof on-line communications in a curriculum-basedproject that involved secondary students whoelectronic mail to mentor middle school students. On-line communications included character count, wordcount, and sentence count of electronic mailcorrespondence. One purpose of this study was todetermine whether there are significant differencesin the on-line communications of middle schoolstudents with regard to gender and grade level. Another purpose of this study was to determine ifsignificant differences existed between middle schooland secondary school participants.