From: Steve_Home [mailto:
stevearmstrong@welton-lincoln.freeserve.co.uk]
We would like to draw your attention to the following Professional
Development Workshop (PDW) entitled:
"The Value of Empathy: E-Mentoring for Women's' Management Development"
Session #123: Saturday 7th August, 10.00am until 12.00pm, Fairmont, Bayou II
room
This PDW will explore the potential of E-mentoring as a tool for promoting
management development for professional women. The workshop will draw on the
experience of a research project that examined the effect of mentoring on
women managers careers. The EMPATHY Project was designed to enable both
employed women and those on a career break to benefit from personal and
professional guidance online, using custom-built websites, chatrooms and
message boards. There will be a demonstration of these features, and the
opportunity for participants to discuss the benefits and problems we
encountered in practice. Questions that will be addressed in the workshop
include the following: What training is needed by mentors and mentees? How
can we ensure effective pairings? What is the best way to develop productive
online socialisation? What is the role of the E-moderator in facilitating
collaborative learning? (G. Salmon, 2000). The EMPATHY Project made use of
technology to create a Community of Practice that was multi-professional and
multi-sectoral. The workshop will explore the implications of this model for
management education and how its potential for creative
academic-practitioner relationships can be realised. The workshop will also
offer participants the opportunity to adapt the EMPATHY E-mentoring model to
meet the needs of their own target groups.