Getting them done: a qualitative study of characteristics of mentors successful in graduating online students in a distance education context

Abstract Many doctoral students in online distance education programs are nontraditional students who require mentoring needs that may be different from traditional students. Additionally, time to completion is becoming more important as student debt is a growing public concern. The purpose of the study was to allow faculty (N = 22) in a for-profit, distance education university who have demonstrated ability to work at scale and have an excellent record of graduating doctoral students to give voice to the characteristics they felt were important to the mentoring relationship. 5 themes emerged: (a) regular and proactive communication; (b) building a trusting and empathic relationship with students; (c) timely, substantive, and specific feedback; (d) accountability; and (e) expertise in research, scholarly writing, and knowledge of internal and external resources. Several characteristics of excellent mentors are provided that can be used as a tool for faculty development and training.