Enhancing Professional Growth: Effective Mentorship Strategies in an Open Distance e-Learning Institution

Abstract

The effective mentorship programme in Open Distance e-Learning (ODeL) is fundamental in ensuring that mentees are equipped with the necessary academic skills to flourish in an academic discursive setting. This study explores the effective strategies that can be employed by mentors in Open Distance e-Learning to intensify and strengthen mentees' professional growth. The study will be guided by a qualitative research method using a phenomenological research design. The present study uses semi-structured interviews to collect data. Significantly, the population for the study consists of academic seniors and new junior academics. Ultimately, purposive and snowball sampling was employed to sample 15 mentors and 15 mentees in an Open Distance e-Learning institution. Thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the collected data. Ethical considerations such as informed consent, privacy, confidentiality, and voluntary participation will be followed in the present study. The study will adopt the positive psychology approach to gain insights into the working relations between mentors and mentees.