Outcomes of the American Occupational Therapy Foundation's Curriculum-Mentoring Project

This study investigated the outcomes of a year long formal curriculum-mentoring project sponsored by the American Occupational Therapy Foundation. Five occupational therapy faculty groups were selected through a competitive application process and paired with mentors to assist in curriculum change. The experiences of each of the teams were studied using multiple methods of data collection, including semi-structured interviews conducted in person and via telephone, a mailed questionnaire, and bi-monthly electronic journal entries. The process and outcomes of two representative cases are reported in this qualitative, critical case study analysis. A two part content analysis yielded information that addressed each of the four original research questions. Overall, the faculty in each of the two teams seemed to benefit from mentoring in differing degrees as a result of their participation in this Curriculum-Mentoring project. It appears as if a more junior faculty group benefits from mentoring from a team of mentors, who are able to initially direct through well thought-out questions and then allow growth among the faculty. The findings of this study demonstrated that the junior faculty group gained insight into their curricular issues by participating in a formal program. Faculty who are more senior in their makeup and have patterns of independent productivity may be better served by mentoring focused on team or community relationship building rather than on curricular issues. It also seems important that a well focused plan needs to be established at the onset of any formal mentoring project and presented in writing and early in the process outlining clear expectations as to how and when to communicate so to allow a long distance mentoring relationship to sustain the momentum over a year time period.

Name thesis:degree_name

EdD

Level thesis:degree_level

Immediate Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Instructional Leadership Excellence (ILEAD)

Year dc:date.available

2004

Author dc:creator

• Provident, Ingrid Mary

Contributors dc:contributor

• Barbara M. Manner, Perri Stern
• George J. Szymanski
• James E. Henderson

• Curriculum Change
• Education
• Mentoring

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1065

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-2081