Using iPads/iPods to Provide College Mentorship

Recently, I wrote a funding proposal to purchase iPads and iPods for the purpose of delivering intrusive peer mentoring support to a special population of college students. I titled this project the "Mobile2Mobile Learning Community" as it is my hope Peer Mentors (PM), who are academically successful BSW and/or MSW students with an interest in technology will engage their Mentees using mobile technology.

I recruited confident, self assured, respectfully aggressive PMs that are comfortable being "persistent" and sometimes intrusive in their approach to mentoring. The PMs will each be assigned a caseload of 4-5 Mentees they will work with October 2012 through August 2013. The PMs will be responsible for monitoring their Mentee's progress at the university and will be given an iPad in exchange for their service in lieu of a cash stipend. Each Mentee will be given an iPod Touch to help them engage their PMs and administrative program staff.

PMs are expected to engage their Mentees once per week using FaceTime in addition to texting and "IMing" their Mentees to ensure they are progressing socially and emotionally at the college. The PMs record notes of their meetings with their Mentees using the iPad "Notes" function. These general session notes are then forwarded directly from the iPad to the M2M LC administrator's email for record keeping and follow-up as needed. Given potential confidentiality concerns, only general information is transmitted electronically.

While iPads/iPods will be used heavily to facilitate communication between PMs and their Mentees, the mobile technology will also aid participants academically as these devices have internet access, the ability to load college e-textbooks, conduct research, check email, and much, much more. I am hopeful using iPads/iPods to provide college mentorship will prove to be an effective tool and will also enhance college student retention, while delivering key support services to potentially at risk student populations.