How am I doing? Using self-mentoring practices to improve a tenure-track faculty’s online instructional strategies

Abstract

ABSTRACT Junior faculty members face pressure to excel in the threefold mission of their assignment (teaching, research, and service) because the tenure process is complex and requires one to balance many diverse and competing demands. This qualitative study analyzed the self-mentoring practices of a tenure-track faculty who strove to improve his instructional practices in online courses. The study used online surveys and collected data from 363 graduate students. The findings indicated that students appreciated the instructor’s instructional techniques for connecting with learners, creating classroom interaction, providing constructive feedback, and remaining approachable and caring. Given the stressful nature of untenured faculty’s challenges inherent to online graduate courses, this study suggests self-mentoring is an effective reflective practice for new faculty to enhance their instructional practices. The study further recommends the development of faculty social-emotional competencies, the promotion of faculty self-reflective practices, and the use of faculty self-designed mid-term evaluation for instructional improvement.