Enhancing Experiential Learning via Technology Enabled Engagements with Mentoring™ (TEEM): Enhanced Student Peer Mentoring

Researchers will enhance the established Technology Enabled Engagements with Mentoring™ (TEEM) program, which delivers an experiential learning program that facilitates structured, high-impact mentoring, emphasizes real-world knowledge, professional and soft skills development, mentoring, and entrepreneurial thinking.

Funded by the CCI Hub

Project Investigators

• Principal Investigator (PI): Jeff Pittges, Radford University Impact Lab
  
• Co-PI: Deri Draper-Amason, Old Dominion University Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center
  
• Co-PI: Milos Manic, Virginia Commonwealth University Cybersecurity Center
  
• Co-PI: Bobby Keener, CivilianCyber CEO/CIO

Rationale and Background

Employer surveys routinely show that students graduating from traditional programs aren’t workforce-ready due to a lack of critical thinking/soft skills and the inability to apply theoretical knowledge learned in the classroom. 

While experiential learning approaches seek to address this issue, many lack needed structure. 

The CCI-aligned TEEM program has previously served more than 150 students from 12 CCI-affiliated institutions of higher education and 13 school divisions, with more than 75 industry professionals acting as mentors. 

Methodology

TEEM will deliver a student-driven experiential learning  program that facilitates structured, high-impact mentoring engagements by emphasizing real-world knowledge attainment, professional and soft skills development,  mentoring, and entrepreneurial thinking. 

Once the mentor is assigned, the student-mentee takes the lead to:

• Work with the student-mentor to  establish a routine meeting time.
• Study curated  weekly topic-specific learning materials (written,  video and interactive) in preparation of the meeting.
• Lead weekly meetings using a provided structured  agenda with built in feedback points.
• Capture meeting feedback and data in the Your Career  Counselor™ platform.
• Perform follow-up actions that include meeting re-caps to the mentor.  

Projected Outcomes

TEEM will continue to leverage the successful approach of having experienced higher-education students serve as the mentors for less  experienced college and high school students. 

This phase will also meaningfully enhance TEEM by:

• Developing a required student-mentor micro-credential aligned to mentoring  best practices.
• Aligning the program to Virginia High Quality Work-Based Learning (HQWBL) requirements. 

Funding the proposal will drive 45 mentor/mentee student engagements representing institutions throughout Virginia.