© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 123
J. Kriewaldt et al. (eds.), Educating Future Teachers: Innovative Perspectives
in Professional Experience, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-5484-6_8
Chapter 8
Raising the Quality of Praxis in Online
Mentoring
Nick Kelly, Steven Kickbusch, Fay Hadley, Rebecca Andrews,
Bronwen Wade-Leeuwen, and Mia O’Brien
Abstract The decisions made by the designers of mentorship programs impact
upon the development of the praxis of the teachers involved. The recent develop-
ment of online mentoring provides an opportunity to revisit the question of how to
design mentoring programs that support the development of a high quality of praxis
in the participants. This chapter argues for a broad understanding of mentoring as
formally convened, dialogic communities of teachers that include arrangements
such as online, peer and group mentoring. It suggests that a high quality of praxis
occurs in a space where mentors adopt a critical stance for reflecting upon the inten-
tions behind the technical skills of mentoring. The theoretical understanding of the
praxis of mentoring is explored by describing a design-based research project,
TeachConnect, that facilitates online mentoring aimed primarily at preservice teach-
ers. The challenges experienced in convening communities within TeachConnect
are used to highlight some of the key issues in fostering a high quality of praxis of
mentoring in the online space, including the need to balance a fluid adoption of roles
within mentorship with the need for well-prepared mentors.
Introduction
Praxis is the union of theory (knowledge about how situations relate to one another)
with action (knowing how to act in situations to cause effect in the world). The
praxis of mentoring thus involves bringing an awareness of theory – borne of critical
reflection – into the acts of mentoring (Ax & Ponte, 2008 ; Orland-Barak, 2010 ). In
N. Kelly (*) • S. Kickbusch
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]
F. Hadley • R. Andrews • B. Wade-Leeuwen
Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
M. O’Brien
Griffith University, Mt Gravatt, QLD, Australia