| The purpose of this study was to determine whether formal or informal mentoring was more satisfying to online faculty who taught at community colleges. Study research questions inquired whether online faculty members were more satisfied with the formal or informal faculty mentoring they received before teaching online. A mentoring satisfaction survey was administered online to participants in order to better understand how satisfied online faculty were with the type of mentoring that they received prior to teaching online classes. Besides gathering data regarding faculty satisfaction, the survey also collected sample demographic information such as gender, years of teaching online and level of education of participants. Phone interviews were used to further collect data to answer the research questions in the study. The study was limited due to the small sample size. Study results indicated that online faculty considered mentoring beneficial but did not have polarized responses as to whether formal or informal mentoring was more satisfying. Faculty had some degree of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with both types of mentoring. Results of the study indicated that except for a slight increase of satisfaction in formal mentoring, both informal and formal mentoring were very similar in respect to the satisfaction of the online faculty study participants. Larger sample sizes may produce different results in studies of similar variables. Based on the study results, it is recommended that further research be done and that mentoring programs should also be reviewed and evaluated on a regular basis so as to improve faculty satisfaction and effectiveness of the mentoring provided. |
