FULL presentation

1. Dr Andrea Wheeler, William Bancroft, Professor
Simon Austin and Professor Jacqui Glass
The Centre for Engineering & Design Education, 1st Floor, Keith Green Building
School of Civil and Building Engineering
E-mentoring: Developing
powerful partnerships with
industry employers
June 24th 2013
Moscow State Technical University, Bauman University

2. Higher Education Academy Award –
Departmental Grant - School of Civil and
Building Engineering £39,500 January
2012 – June 2013
E-mentoring for employability

3. CONTEXT
PROBLEM
METHOD
SOLUTION
IMPACT
Outline

4. CONTEXT

5. • Construction vacancies have dropped 50%
since 2001 .
• 5.1% reduction in graduate employment from
2001 to 2012. (18.9% unemployed)
• Figures show that nearly 36% are employed in
a lower skilled job compared with 26.7% in
2001 (the Graduates in the Labour Market
2012 report published by the Office for
National Statistics).
Statistics

6. Humanities graduates
find it particularly
difficult to find
relevant employment.

7. Loughborough University Engineering
Statistics
Graduate Employment Statistics for Loughborough Engineering Graduates (6 months after
graduation)
Standard Publication Category Number of Graduates Percentage of Graduates
Full-time paid work only
(including self-employed)
384 65.1%
Part-time paid work only 17 2.9%
Voluntary/Unpaid work only 4 0.7%
Work and further study 71 12.0%
Further study only 41 6.9%
Assumed to be unemployed 45 7.6%
Not available for employment 23 3.9%
Other 2 0.3%
Explicit refusal 3 0.5%

8. I really have worries about my post
PhD life because I would like to be
involved with industry, but
suddenly feel like I am a fresh
university graduate (even after
getting PhD!). There is so much
uncertainty, and if I am being
honest some lack of confidence on
my part (Loughborough University,
School of Civil and Building
Engineering, International PhD
Student 2011).

9. I spent my placement year
working in Malaysia. I am a
home student but have no
work experience in the
engineering or construction
industries in the UK.

10. E-mentoring
Employability
Internationalisation

11. THE TEAM
Associate Dean for Teaching, Professor Simon Austin;
Director of Under Graduate Studies, Professor Jacqui
Glass;
Staff Development Officer (Research Staff Mentoring),
Michele Zala,
Senior Careers Development Advisor - Susan Reed;
Design Education Coordinator and the Regional
Representative of the Institution of Civil Engineers,
Malcolm Jackson.

12. Industry and Industry Body
Support

13. THE SUPPORT FROM INDUSTRY
Interserve Construction
CH2M Hill
A-one
AMEC
Environment Agency
Atkins Ltd
Smith and Wallwork Engineers
Pick Everard
Morgan Tucker
Costain
Balfour Beatty
Pick Everard
Arup Midland Construction
Jacobs Engineering
Stomor Limited
Network Rail
Morgan Sindall
Carillion
British Power International
AECOM
Halcrow
Costain
Interserve
PrP UK
Kier Construction Limited
Laing O’Rouke

14. Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE)
President, Richard Coakley
“Harnessing the energy of the ICE’s partnerships with industry and
Government” presentation to the Department of Civil and Building Engineering
The President of the ICE, Richard Coackley:
The e-mentoring pilot scheme, headed by Professor Simon Austin, links students with
construction professionals according to interest and career path to provide the principles
of traditional mentoring but exploiting the free and readily available technologies of
Skype, social media and e-mail to foster the awareness of professional practice and the
needs of employers. This is an excellent example of harnessing the energy: with mentors
using their time and energy to harness and refine the energy of their mentees providing
them with important experience of industry. (Richard Coackley, 20th April 2012,
Loughborough University School of Civil and Building Engineering).

15. PROBLEM

16. Can e-mentoring provide engineering and
construction students, particularly those with an
international perspective, with an educational
opportunity which will significantly improve their
employment opportunities?
If it can, how does it do it?

17. Literature review

18. I was brought in during the
summer 2012 to review the first
mentoring scheme and assist with
the organisation of the second
but I also took the programme
into my final year dissertation so I
am still involved in the project.

19. E-mentoring

20. …boundaryless, egalitarian and qualitatively
different….
…ease and immediacy…
Same function as mentoring added benefits…
But a difficulty in forming mentoring
relationships virtually?
O'Neill, k. D., Li, S. & Weiler, M., 2005. Software support for online mentoring programs: a research-inspired design. Mentoring and
tutoring , 13(1), pp. 109-131.
Single, P. B. & Muller, C. B., 2001. When e-mail and mentoring unite: the implementation of a nationwide electronic mentoring
program. Creating mentoring and coaching programs , 1(1), pp. 107-122
Bierema, L. L. & Merriam, S. B., 2002. E-mentoring; Using computer mediated communication to enhance the mentoring process.
innovative higher education , 26(3), pp. 211-227.
Zey, M. G., 1984. The mentor connection, IL:Dow Jones-Irwin: Homewood.

21. • e-mentoring programs… to “‘level the playing-field’
by providing mentoring opportunities for those who
otherwise would be left out of important informal
network”.
• Earliest e-mentoring programs focused on creating
educational and professional opportunities for
underprivileged or underrepresented populations.
The history of e-mentoring

22. Less stereotyping within mentoring
relationships…
Outsiders…more impartial advice… less
vested interest
Sproul, L. & Kiesler, S., 1993. Connections: New ways of working in networked organisations, Cambridge: MIT Press.
Single, P. B. & Single, R. M., 2005. E-mentoring for social equity: review of information to inform program development. Mentoring and
tutoring , 13(2), pp. 301-320.

23. E-mentoring v. mentoring
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages Disadvantages
It creates an egalitarian environment Slower relationship development
Mentors provide impartial inter-
organisational advice
Lesser role modelling
Logistics / ease (communicate anywhere
any time)
Reduced commitment?
Miscommunication
Computer and writing skills needed

24. Employability

25. • The impact of social and cultural capital: graduates from
less privileged backgrounds are less likely to know how to
“work the system”
• Developing ‘soft skills’, personal qualities and dispositions
is easier for some than others.
• Students often do not know what they want their working
lives to be.
Employability – the literature – the problems

26. Drivers for a changing work context
• Extreme longevity
• Computational world
• Superstructured organisations
• The rise of smart machines and
systems
• New media ecology
• Globally connected world
Willen-Augenti (2012) Society 3.0 How Technology is Reshaping
Education, Work and Society

27. Changing skills/ Future Work Skills 2020
1. "transdisciplinarity" (understanding concepts across
multiple disciplines),
2. "virtual collaboration" (proficiency in working as
part of geographically dispersed teams),
3. "cross-cultural competency" (ability to operate in
multicultural settings).
4. “Social intelligence” (workers who can build
collegial and productive online relationships will be in
high demand). “As organizations expand globally, social
intelligence will help managers build virtual workgroups
comprising the right blend of talent and personalities,”

29. Universities engage
with employers

31. • Even within an increasingly internationalised HE
context international students can lack cultural
competence: the ability to make correct attributions
about the cultural values, beliefs and behaviours
and norms of the new society.
Internationalisation – the literature

32. “Intercultural competence”
…the ability to communicate those working in or from
different cultures – free from prejudice and motivated to
continued learning: A set of cognitive, behavioural, and
affective/motivational components that enable
individuals to adapt effectively in intercultural
environments.

33. • Still asking can e-mentoring improve employability and how? Also,
asking: are there new ways thinking about employability emerging
from a changing and more internationalised Higher Education
community – from students, academic and industry collaborators -
demanding curriculum support from HE;
• Do e-mentoring schemes provide a testing ground for the discovery of
this need for change?
• Can e-mentoring schemes support international students whose work
experience (or lack of) can differ significantly from UK based or
European students
• Can such programmes prepare them for work either in the UK or
internationally where industry is becoming increasingly globalised?
Research Questions

34. METHOD
Two pilots, each 5 months.
12 relationships in each pilot (self- selecting).
Launch event (meeting for the first time),
interim questionnaires, interviews and final
“cafe-event”/workshops.
Qualitative evaluation of both mentor and
mentee experiences

35. The E-MENTORING Pilot 1: “Improving Student
Employability Through E-Mentoring”.
(February 2012 – June 2012)
• Recruited mentors and mentees. Mentors were
young, 2- 7 years post qualification. Mentees
from the School of Civil and Building
Engineering (without placement experience).
• Invited to a launch meeting to meet
mentors/mentees and have some training (all
online).
• Left to get on with it. Some emails. Some
invitations to feedback via online
questionnaires.
• June – August interim interviews.
• September, review of programme and revision
ahead of pilot 2.

36. The E-MENTORING Pilot 2: “Improving Student
Employability Through E-Mentoring”.
(October 2012 – March 2013)
• Recruited mentors and mentees (included some PhD
students).
• Invited to a launch meeting to meet mentors/mentee.
Refined and less formal meeting.
• Left to get on with it. Some emails. Some invitations to
feedback via online questionnaires.
• Interim questionnaires.
• Cafe event
• Videos

37. THEMES
Success (mentee and mentor benefits)
Limiting factors (including mentee
motivation)
Matching (poor matching)
Communications, type and frequency
Relationship progress (poor relationship
development)
Qualitative Thematic Analysis

38. Insights
• Success - mentees have reported (to various degrees) career development, networking, and
in some cases, role modelling.
• Limiting factors - PhD and Masters students weren’t able to commit sufficient time to the
scheme;
• Matching - more parallel educational and career paths were, the more the mentoring pair
perceived their match as a success.
• Communications - all mentoring pairs who explored communication technologies but didn’t
have regular contact showed some heightened relationship levels but not to the levels of
mentoring pairs with regular contact. In terms of technology use there was no general
consensus as to which method was better for facilitating an e-mentoring scheme.
• Relationship progress - during pilot scheme 1 an international student reported finding it
hard to break the ice in the questionnaire but when interviewed 2 months later reported
having a close and meaningful relationship; this was backed up with a dramatic increase in
communication and a change in communication technique. A handful of mentees reported
not feeling comfortable asking probing questions of their mentor even at the end of the e-
mentoring scheme, but a lot of mentoring pairs built very close relationships and have
continued the mentoring outside of the Loughborough programme.

39. Does e-mentoring improve skills for the
graduate employment market ?
E-mentoring provides an opportunity for mentees to discover the skills
they may need in a rapidly changing work context. But it is also much
more than this…
giving confidence,
networking,
discovering work skills they don’t know they have

40. The main discussions were about
identifying the skills the mentee has got
and bringing it out and presenting it
nicely whether that is on the CV or
whether that is at interview. For
example, some projects or coursework
he has done that he is not aware that
could be used to show the development
of, or skills he has got, actually I brought
that out from him. *…+ So it is mainly
about identifying his skills but also about
providing advice about how he could get
employed through fairs, through
journals and through relationships with
people really. So giving advice,
sometimes encouraging and giving him
confidence, I think that’s really
important especially in this economic
climate, as I am sure he is a good
candidate. He will be employed.
MENTOR
confidence
skills he did not know
he had
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfWDGmmu2Kw

41. Mainly it was about the CV, tweaking it
to specify for certain companies or
certain audiences. And Chartership,
looking at how to get yourself chartered,
just developing the professional side of
your personality with professional skills
so that they can all add onto your CV.
Even if you’re just starting your
Chartership or your personal
development plan, put that in you CV.
Stuff that I wouldn’t have even thought
about, even though I haven’t completed
it, show I’ve started it, shows your
willingness to engage and willingness to
progress your knowledge. *…+ Where to
look for jobs don’t look where everyone
else I looking, there’s a good reason why
everyone is looking there but you’ve got
more competition, things like cold
calling, letters, looking at who’s doing
well in the news, industry specific
magazines and things, so they will have a
good chance of recruiting, and approach
them but with a tailored CV to make sure
you *seem like+ you’re going to them in
the first place.
MENTEE
Stuff I had not even
thought about
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yJSa4ip7rM

42. MENTORActually we didn’t have a very good start with
my mentee because he couldn’t attend the
first meeting so we didn’t have the first face-
to-face conversation with him. But I just
dropped and email and then everything
started. It went quite well actually I got quite
nice responses from him and so we are still in
contact and you know sharing ideas, just
telling what’s going on in his life and his
application he’s done lately. So yes it is quite
good. *…+ He is looking for a graduate
engineer role in a large sized company and he
wants to know how he can find a job of
course but he does have enough experience
in interviews, so generally we are talking
about job interviews and using the job search
tools and how he can find a job on the
internet. Well we started with LinkedIn
because I’m sort of active on LinkedIn so I just
shared all my networks so he can just see
recruiters HR people headhunted etc., he is
quite good with that one. *…+ I advised him to
create a profile on LinkedIn and he did. We
started with that but we will try the other
websites where he can look for a job and also
I am planning to send him to graduate
engineers in my company so he can share
ideas with them because I know there are
some specific websites just for graduates.
networks and
networking skills
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V97XkN1O35c

43. MENTEE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvo-7IY0l08
It has been a wonderful experience
having someone who you can call a
mentor has been the greatest
experience as we’ve been discussing
earlier, there are so many avenues in
terms of what’s available to help you out
in terms of getting a job or becoming
more employable but these avenues are
very one dimensional. For example I
could use a magazine and it would tell
me what I need to do with my CV and
what you need to say in an interview but
this is very one dimensional *…+ whereas
having a mentor they can give you
various perspectives on what these
interviews or job opportunities have and
they can give you more than one route
to follow. That is one of the greatest
things mentoring can provide.
Discussions are around what I as a
mentee have been facing discussion and
have looked deeper than what the
mentors have said and it is about making
yourself an all rounded person beyond
the CV. The CV is the first point of
contact but when you’re called in for an
interview the CV becomes a side issue,
they want to see what you are as an
individual.
Not one dimension
avenues in terms of
employability, various
perspectives…
Discussions look
deeper, start with
what I as mentee have
been facing…

44. Can e-mentoring facilitate an understanding of
inter-cultural employment skills - working
practices across cultures ?
• Understanding different working cultures
• Mutual development of intercultural competence –
mentors and mentees

45. Internationalisation - Narratives and
experience (Mentee Pilot 1) A different work
culture
…things that really stand out for me are that at this level after Masters when
we go back home we’re going to be more of manager’s than technical people.
People management, which is a very difficult thing, working with big groups,
I’ve learnt a couple of things about that. The thing I’ve learnt is about
strategies, this was completely new to me, you know. Every business,
everything in life, there’s a strategy. You need to know where you want to go
and have some sort of plan to get there. Before we just used to wake up and
do things and get there (International Masters Student).

46. Things are good in Kigali Rwanda. Yes am still in touch with
him. I got a new job since I returned so I run that
concurrently with my private business. Its all in real estate
and architect consultancy.
I hope life is good for you in UK. Thanks for asking. Do
keep in touch.
Still in touch…

47. “If I’m honest he didn’t really raise many questions to me. *...+ It was more me trying
to force the issue sometimes. He’s a very polite guy, he’s a very nice guy, I wonder
whether he’s almost too polite to ask me certain things thinking he was taking up my
time. [...] I mean some of the things – he kind of indicated stuff as he was sending an
email through he’d say coming towards the end of his PhD kind of thing and from
that I kind of latched on to you know what are you thinking of doing? This is what I
did, you know use the library to look at companies and stuff and we kind of got a bit
of a rapport going near the end and I think it had some success hopefully. He was
thinking that he would have to go back to Nigeria and possibly into academia and I
kind of said actually there are different routes through.
He’s almost too polite to ask me certain
things…

48. SUMMARY – A different sort of employability
programme - a student led approach to
employability and a unique time and space ?
Less limiting definition of employability: an opportunity to being
the live the lives they value – to discover the sorts of working
lives they would like, identify aims, and begin to make decisions
that will allow them to achieve these lives.

49. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJzHY9LN7F8
We’re been talking about
how I can help him improve
his CV and a lot about
interviews. At the start there
was a lot about this but as
the conversations moved on
it was more about what
should I say at interview,
what’s the industry like,
what sort of job roles should
I pin point, life experience in
general. You know I’ve been
working afew years now and
I’ve got experience to tell
him …you should really avoid
this sort of thing but if you
enjoy this sort of thing go for
it and do your best.
MENTOR
CVs and interviews
but about life
experiences in general
Insight into the
industry
Tailored advice, what
he should avoid and
what to go for

50. I was in placement in another
country so I still didn't have UK
experience. I was in Malaysia
with a UK contractor but it was
still a lot different to what it
would have been with a UK
contractor. He offered to help me
in a variety of different ways
including course work with the
University but we chose to focus
on employability and applying
for jobs, helping me with my CV
and he was open most of the
time so I could speak to him
whenever I wanted to . It was
good for me as I always had
someone to speak to about
subjects quite formal but he gave
me the opportunity to speak
quite informally so it was very
comfortable for me.
MENTEE
He was open to me so
I could speak to him
whenever I wanted to.
He gave me the
opportunity to speak
quite informally.
He helped me make
decisions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpBL6IO54RY

51. Solution

52. “But the one sort of big area I reckon you could improve would be to have like a central
knowledge exchange or database, kind of like a website essentially where …you could
have information, again about how to be a good mentor, what to expect from the
mentee’s point of view and perhaps you could have things on there like….
Mentee and mentor participation in the
specification for the website/ “tool-kit”

53. WorkInsight (website)
http://www.workinsight.info
Improving Student Employability Through
E-Mentoring (HEA title)
E-mentoring for Employability

55. Impact

57. Municipal Expert Panel of the Institute of Civil
Engineers, project on e-mentoring:
“Passing knowledge and experience to a new
generation of municipal practitioners”.

58. Dr Andrea Wheeler
Teaching and Learning Co-ordinator (Projects),
The Centre for Engineering & Design Education
a.s.wheeler@lboro.ac.uk

60. Dr Andrea Wheeler, Dr Paul Rowley, Martin Hamilton
An Innovative Knowledge Platform for Business and Community Engagement
A co-developed service model for online continuing professional development
in the energy sector
A CROSS-INSTITUTIONAL LEARNING
FRAMEWORK FOR ENERGY CPD:
MEGS-KT

61. CONTEXT
Midlands Graduate Energy School

62. The Problem
How to develop a relevant, up-to-date
desirable platform for “CFD”
opportunities, opening up University
resources and allowing SMEs to share
their knowledge.

63. Questionnaires and Interviews SMEs
• 10 paper filled questionnaire
• 18 online surveys
• 16 transcribed interviews
• 1 work shadow day (excellent data but too time
consuming)
• 3 planned “co-design” workshops

64. Building the MEGS-KT community of practice – the Jisc, the
fellows (the catalytic individuals) and SMEs team
Fellows Lecture Series
17/10/2012 Robin Nicholson, Edward Cullinan Architects
24/10/2012 Russell Smith, Parity Projects
14/11/2012 Terry McGivern, The Institute for Sustainability and the Flash
Programme
05/12/2012 John Davis, Domestic Green Deal Assessor
16/01/2012 Carl Benfield, Prescient Power
30/01/2012 Keyur Vadodaria, Researcher, CALEBRE project
20/02/2012 Rich Cartwright, RDC Energy , Jonathan Gilbert, The Rapid
technology Transfer Group, and Tracy Thomas
To ensure the sustainability of the project CEDE has agreed to fund the continued
development of the community and engagement with the demonstrator / website
through monthly evening lectures.

69. Catalytic Individuals and Our Social
Media Fellow Tracy Thomas

70. LinkedIn Community (50+ additional
members in the East Midlands)

71. Twitter Group 920 Followers

72. Barriers and limitations to this sort of
primary research
• Hard to engage SMEs
• SMEs don’t know what their knowledge needs
are (they don’t know what they don’t know)
• Professional bodies/networks limiting access
to SMEs by “outsiders” (difficult to send out
questionnaire via professional bodies)
• Concerns about sharing commercial
information from SMEs – “I prefer not to say”

73. The Community Views
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx602KnO
iFM

74. http://www.greenenergyheroes.org