In the spirit of new beginnings, we are excited to share that we are launching a new initiative in COED in response to feedback and suggestions gathered at our last COED Fall meeting. Born out of the desire to connect meaningfully in conversation throughout the academic year, and to learn with and from one another, we hope you’ll join in participating in Co-mentorship with COED.
What is Co-Mentorship?
As members of COED, we learn with and from one another in the community. It is in this collaborative and often reciprocal spirit that we hope and intend to bring folx together as co-mentors as part of a new (and exciting!) initiative launched in Spring 2022. Co-mentorship is emergent in nature and ideally offers an open and dynamic space for exploring shared interests and curiosities, as well as challenges and opportunities, both personal and professional in nature. This co-mentorship initiative will provide intentional and structured ways to connect meaningfully in one-to-one conversations with COED colleagues. We invite you to engage with us in upcoming formal and informal moments of co-mentorship!
In what ways is Co-Mentorship distinctive from other COED programming?
Co-mentorship offers a unique opportunity for COED members to connect in one-on-one conversation and to further develop relationships within the organization with intention throughout the academic year. These co-mentoring opportunities hold the potential for creating a relational connection that invites members to dig deeper into topics and areas of interest for both involved, with a more personal and less public dyadic exchange of lived experiences than would be offered in the context of Communities of Practice (CoPs), Action Learning Sets (ActLS), and/or Fika Fridays. Plus, with the co-mentorship structure, there are several ways to engage and/or sustain these relationships moving forward–we encourage you to experiment and choose your own meaningful pathway of mentorship!
Why might I engage in COED co-mentorship? How do I get involved?
Pause, reflect, and connect. These sentiments are part of the promise and premise of co-mentorship activity.
For each co-mentorship connection, there will be a different theme or focus. We will also provide some prompts in each round in case that’s helpful in getting the conversation started.
We will come together as a group at the beginning of the session for an introduction to COED Co-Mentorship. From there, we will offer choices in terms of themed breakout rooms so that you can engage in an emergent, organic conversation in duos, trios, or quartets! Finally, we will come together again as a large group to debrief and discuss next steps for continuing your engagement in COED Co-Mentorship betwixt and between these events!
Upcoming Co-Mentorship Sessions
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- Friday, March 7, 2024, 10:30 am to 12 pm ET, Register via Zoom
- Friday, June 6, 2025, time to be confirmed
Past Co-Mentorship Resources
- Co-Mentorship Slide Deck PPTX (March 1, 2024)
- Just-for-Fun Readings!
- Little, D., & Green, D. A. (2012). Betwixt and between: Academic developers in the margins. International Journal for Academic Development, 14(1).
- Richards, J., et al. (2023). Titles, experience, identities, and time: How the early career stage is defined by educational developers. Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, 17(3), 203–215.
- Simmons, N., et al. (2013). Conflicts and configurations in a liminal space: SoTL scholars’ identity development. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 1(2), 9–21.
- Whitchurch, C. (2012). Reconstructing identities in higher education. Routledge.
