Mentoring is already e-mentoring
October 13, 2026
Today, Beyond the Campus, the book I wrote with Dr. Cristina Baciu, is available as an e-book, and for the digital release, I’d like to tell another e-mentoring story.
I never really meant to study technology and higher education, but a few twists and turns along the way and this is where we are. Maybe it was 2008, when I was working in residence life and a tech vendor told us it would take three months and a significant amount of extra money to create photo rosters for our Resident Assistants. With my fumbling SQL skills, I had the rosters pulled before the meeting was over. Maybe it was Fall 2011, in Dr. Steve Weiland’s Education in the Digital Age class, when he encouraged me to build a website for my essay so that I could embed YouTube videos, Twitter widgets, etc. into my analysis of HASTAC’s digital badging claims instead of trying to find a way to hack Microsoft Word (I still have that paper but I don’t know the me that wrote it). Or (and yes, I love the rule of threes) maybe it was when I realized that leadership requires digital literacy, but I didn’t see many people actually talking about that. Lots of other little stories, including studying with Dr. Kris Renn and being occasionally useful with technology like knowing enough HTML and graphic design to handle a basic website build.
I’m just comfortable with digital systems and connecting across digital mediums. That’s probably the biggest reason why today you can read my first book on technology. I prefer a little space in my mentoring work, truly. I prefer writing to speaking, and I really need the time to edit my brain’s first drafts, which just isn’t an option when my mouth is running. I like being able to text my mentors and give them time to decide how and when they want to respond. I want my students to have their pet nearby when we’re discussing my feedback on dissertation chapter drafts.
Colleges and universities aren’t going to become less digital, businesses aren’t going to give up seeking online presence, social media (and, ugh, self-promotion like this) is here to stay. Videoconferencing was practically a marvel pre-COVID, and now I can’t go to a coffee shop without being in someone’s video call background. Our practice of supporting, coaching, developing, and mentoring others, and of receiving mentoring ourselves, is already e-mentoring. Let’s just plan for it, make some small adjustments, and build e-mentoring relationships and programs that leverage this opportunity.
Not sure where to start? Well, we thought of that.
← All essays · Also published on Substack.