Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Activity 5 - Who Should Be Your Mentor?


In your opinion, do you a think a portfolio mentor is necessary for you to compile a portfolio or would you rather compile it yourself? What are some of the reasons for your choice? Hit the comment link below and write away!

327 comments:

1 – 200 of 327   Newer›   Newest»
Anonymous said...

it will be good to have a mentor, especially the more experienced lecturer, we can learn from them and can start on track faster

Anonymous said...

yes, a good mentor can provide the necessary advice and guidance. He or she can help to identify my blindspot as well

Anonymous said...

i have been compiling a portfolio for a long time as i am in the design field so for me, i am quite happy to compile the portfolio myself and ask questions from time to time from my RO, colleague or even my parents who are teachers

Anonymous said...

I do think it is very important to have portfolio mentor, to be an all rounded lecturer, if not person. Having just understand the term “portfolio mentor”, I now realise that I have been collecting them as I passed through every phase of my life and I’m thankful to them to have guide me, advise me and be frank to me all these years. I will continue to compile and treasure this portfolio of mentors.

Anonymous said...

I think that for a start, it will be better to do a collaborative portfolio with a mentor, who is not only an experienced lecturer, but also someone who is familiar with the teaching aspect. By having someone to guide, it will ensure that we are on the right track.

Anonymous said...

As a designer, I know what to do but teaching , I am new. A mentor with an open mind to teaching would greatly help in my compilation of a good portfolio.

Yap Chin Hooi said...

It is good to get a mentor to advise on the portfolio though alot of things I will need to do it myself.

Anonymous said...

It is good to have a mentor, especially an experienced person in with a specialisation in the related fields. We can learn from them and use time more effectively. The mentor should guide and suggest for modification and not dictate what to do.

Ellen said...

I like the idea of an experienced lecturer providing mentorship for a new lecturer's teaching portfolio. Its just a matter of finding a person who can fulfil that role. It takes a person who is willing to spend the time to really help the newbie and is not afraid, or threatened, by sharing thier experiences and advice.

Anonymous said...

I would love to have a portfolio mentor to guide me, the newbie, on what should be included in a teaching portfolio. We could learn and recieve advices from the experience lecturer without having to hit on the walls to get the points taken.

Mark Gossage said...

No comment: Its a loaded question (see slide 26)
However: I will try to catch some of the other lecturers and ask them about teaching portfolios, to determine if they know enough about it to help if they could help me prepare it.

Anonymous said...

It will definitely be great that we new lecturers are assigned an experienced senior as mentor. Guiding us what exactly is required from us and we wont waste our time pondering of whats required. Time for everyone especially new lecturer is precious.

Anonymous said...

It will be great to have a portfolio mentor, he/she could give us comments and guidance if any. Having a mentor will also drive us to update our portfolio consistently and identify our blindspots.

Anonymous said...

good to have a mentor to guide us in the preparation of the teaching portfolio.

Anonymous said...

I would like to have mentors who can guide me. I would like to take inputs from people who are actually teaching the same discipline as I do as well as from the experts in ESD to get a broader picture.

Anonymous said...

Having a mentor has obvious benefits, but my mentor must be one that I feel comfortable and easy with. (preferrable no ROs as mentors):)

Anonymous said...

yes...he/she serves as a F1 button to me. The mentor has to be someone who is experienced and teaching in the same field as me.

Anonymous said...

It may sound indecisive for me to take a stand between the two while I'm inclined to prefer a portfolio mentor. While with a mentor, we can be well-guided to creating a good teaching portfolio but there is a probability of a portfolio that is a shadow if his/her's.

Unknown said...

It will be good to have a portfolio mentor as they can act as an advisor to the newly-joined lecturers. This will aid us in the compilation of the portfolio.

Anonymous said...

A mentor would be good as he can provide advice and guidance to me.

Anonymous said...

Very few people do what I do in SP. A mentor with technical skills, similar or parallel teaching methods and subject wiuld be great!!

Maurice Ling said...

I think a mentor will fast-track the sequence but at the same time, I'll rather use a working committee than a single mentor - sourcing advice from all over the place and evaluate them myself. Perhaps like minded colleagues will be very useful and they may not be in the same school. On top of this, I think ROs are no no for me as mentor as it will require them to be too schizophreniac.

I also think teaching style is something personalised. Conflicting teaching styles may be complementary rather than antagonistic; hence, I think even though mentor is useful, it can be deterimental as well, which is the main reason I will prefer not to have ROs in this role.

Anonymous said...

I have learnt that time is of the essence while you are working in SP. It will be great if we could have a mentor. But I am not sure if any of our seniors will be free to show us the ropes of writing up a teaching portfolio. It will be great if we have a library of teaching portfolios to look at. Not just portfloios from our own department, but also from other school. It will be great referencing!

Anonymous said...

It would be great if an experienced lecturer is willing to provide mentorship for a new lecturer's teaching portfolio.

Anonymous said...

A mentor may help in some ways in providing some guidance.
Some referencing guides would also be helpful for the new lecturers.

Anonymous said...

Chris.

a mentor is good, provided it doesnnt stifle creativity

Anonymous said...

Having a mentor is definitely great as it speeds our learning curve in compiling the teaching portfolio. I believe our mentor would probably be the RO as he/she would have a better idea of what modules we are teaching and the students we have. But of course this does not rule out the possibility of having someone from ESD to mentor us too.

Anonymous said...

Having a single portfolio mentor will never be a positive thing.A bad mentor can definitely hamper one's progress and slow down individual's development.A group and top management collaboration might be a better solution.One have to be highly motivated to do self reflection as that will be a key to a good portfolio.

Anonymous said...

Having a mentor is good as we can tap on the expertise of an experienced lecturer.

Bakhitiar AB said...

I think it is good to have a mentor so as to give guidance for the new lecturer of what to be focus on especially on the system and get prepared for any audit.

Trudy said...

Having a mentor would be a big help, provided the mentor is willing to spend time guiding the newbie in putting together a portfolio. But it might be hard to find someone who deals in similar subjects as the newbie, as I believe lecturers in the different discplines would keep vastly different portfolios.

Anonymous said...

YEP! Definitely need a mentor for newbie lecturer like me
Preferably someone who had wrote or is currently writing a teaching portfolio.

Terry said...

Chee How Terry

A mentor would definitely helps towards building my personal teaching portfolio. It should be someone who is familiar and has years of experience in the area of higher educational teaching, be it a RO, educational advisor or senior lecturer. Their valuable advices can greatly help us to cut down all unnecessary paths taken to get the portfolio compiled i.e. quality work and time spent, not quantity.

Anonymous said...

I think mentors should come into the picture at selective stages, such as initially when we are setting up directions and intermittenly at significant milestones after that.

I like the idea of working on individual portfolios with groups of like-minded colleagues. It gives room for personal growth within the comfort of a support group, which can be motivational.

Anonymous said...

I think at least for the beginning of the compilation, a portfolio mentor will be preferred than working alone required. The mentor can also help to ensure that the information compiled is inline with the intent of the teaching portfolio. Another advantage is that some sort of guidance is available and ideas can be evolved through some discussion. Another important advantage is that the mentor can motivate and encourage the lecturer to continue to prepare the portfolio.

Samik Nath said...

One of my senior colleagues, who is going to be my RO soon, would be my portfolio mentor. I am yet to ask him though. Since I joined SP I worked closely with him. He mentored me so far on all other aspects. Therefore, I want to choose him as my portfolio mentor as well. Besides a Senior colleague here from Accounting division helped me a lot. He is a very well qualified person and is SB - Quality Manager, therefore he can help me a lot on systematic documentation aspects and other areas of portfolio building,

Anonymous said...

I think the Portfolio could be done by a lecturer alone if it serve the purpose of recording his own experience, and it would be useful if Section heads from various years of the same course could contribute comments and ideas.

Anonymous said...

Besides my RO as my mentor, I have another mentor whom I look upon for guidance when it comes to pedagogy in teaching IT related modules to student. They would also be my advisor on how to build my teaching portfolio.

Anonymous said...

For me, a mentor is always necessary, I’m not that confident with my work... I might disagree with few suggestions during the process, but I’m able to consider it after seeing the positive sides of the ways or suggestions that my mentor would give me.

Anonymous said...

Good to get advices from a mentor and think it will also be helpful to dicuss and work with colleagues (who are also working on their teaching portfolio)...always good to share!

Francis Nai :: Lecturer said...

I think that a mentor is always useful to help us to jumpstart and ensure that we are creating the portfolio correctly and completely. The mentor will be able to help us to fulfill the minimum standard of our portfolio, given his professional advice and critics.

Anonymous said...

Shirlynn says:


it will be good to have a mentor
good to learn from the experienced lecturer. learn and realise our mistake faster and more effective.

Anonymous said...

Havin a jedi master around for guidance is always good - especially someone who have taught across school, seen all types of students, teaching environments and able to cramp all that into one ‘idiots guide to teaching’. But sometimes these gurus might not be the most up-to-date, say, with student psyche, pop culture or industry progression. dioni

Anonymous said...

Yes, I agree that a good mentor can provide the necessary advice and guidance. And it is very important to discuss with any senior faculty member and share their experiances.

Anonymous said...

I think it would be more effective to interact with both new and experienced teachers to gain insights into different encounters and adopt best practises that suit each lecturer's style.

Anonymous said...

Definitely not by myself. Indeed a second person would be very effective. If I did everything correctly, I would be perfect, and I am not. And if I knew all my mistakes, I won't make them. So someone to point out my mistakes and give valuable feedback would be welcome.

Anonymous said...

i think both.

- a portfolio mentor is necessary at the beginning stages of the portfolio as i would need guidance

- over time, self compilation of the portfolio is less reliant on the availability of another person and thus much faster to compile

Anonymous said...

I would complie a portfolio on my own as well as have a mentor guide me as there are many things that I need to learn.

Anonymous said...

I will prefer ask for advice on how to compile portfolio and from there improve on my portfolio compliation.

Anonymous said...

RO should be the mentor.

Anonymous said...

Senior lecturer as mentor they can give advises to tackle different situations in class and giving pointers in delivering lectures.

Anonymous said...

Preferably RO or senior colleague as mentor. They have similar backgrounds in terms of expertise and have spent enough time in the teaching profession to give the right advise.

James Lee said...

Portfolio mentors are definitely good in the preparation of our personal teaching portfolios. As a teacher/designer myself, the portfolios of good artists and designers always provide benchmarks and inspire me reach for a challenging but attainable goals.

Anonymous said...

I think having a mentor at the start would be helpful, and then perhaps periodic reviews after I get the hang of it. A mentor would be able to provide a broader perspective as to what might be important or useful for the portfolio.

Anonymous said...

I think I will looking for a mentor first, he or she had better doing the similar job with me and hopefully we can focus same expertise area as well. if there is no such person available,maybe do the portfolio by myself is also not a bad idea

Ryan QinJiMing

Anonymous said...

I don't think anyone in this world will claim that they have nailed everything they need to know about education. While having a mentor could be useful, I think there are already some teaching discussion forums online for educators to share and discuss their methology. Keeping an online blog definitely helps.

Anonymous said...

Zhou Wei said...


It would be very helpful and effective to have portfolio mentor, since he has more experience in these aspects.

Anonymous said...

I'd personally compile it myself, and let a few different people, more experienced teachers, industry peers, my wife, my cat look at it now and then.. so I can get different insights from totally different viewpoints..and hopefully make sense of it in the end.

Anonymous said...

Mei Pheng said..

Yes having a mentor would be good. A mentor should be able to guide and have at least a few years of experience of mentoring.

Anonymous said...

I'll go for both!

Best of both worlds! We are all greedy people!
:)

I will like to start one myself, but have mentor guiding and providing insights to what i should include. sometimes we may just miss the blindspots....

but it is also important not to allow ourselves to follow the "textbook" formula... this is supposed to be about my experience afterall....

Anonymous said...

Since I'm new at teaching, I'd say some kind of guide would be useful so yes, a mentor would be helpful, especially at the start.

After that, I hope to be able to be given the space to explore.

It's what I'd hope for my students as well, especially since I'm teaching creative writing.

Mohd Fadil said...

being new in this line definately i need important guidance to ensure i'm on the right track and and on the right pace.

Anonymous said...

Chiam Tow Ming said:
It will be great to have a mentor. To guide and to correct my teaching method.

Anonymous said...

I think it would be good to have a mentor because of the wealth of experience they bring. Rather than try to second guess what constitutes a good teaching portfolio, the collective wisdom of a mentor (or several mentors) would be useful is assembling a right teaching portfolio.

Anonymous said...

Capt Mohit SMA

I beleive: Having a mentor for the portfolio can be of a great help. Mentor can guide you avoiding comon mistakes & miconceptions about portfolio's. He will help to refine & redefine the vision & ideas behind a teaching portfolio by virtue of his wealth of knowledge & expirience.

Anonymous said...

I would prefer to sit down alone and reflect on myself, then jot down the relevant features of a portfolio in respect of my teaching.
Thereafter, it would be good to discuss with fellow peers, not necessarily just RO, to shed a better light on what has been documented. Their invaluable experiences over the years would definitely spice up our lives and importantly serve as a motivator as well.

Anonymous said...

To have a mentor is essential to know how best to walk your own path as well.

As it is sometimes said, "Today's experts are those that can tell what yesterday's did wrong." to be able to learn from a mentor will be able to help progress and improve on what worked and what did not, for the future.

It does not mean to reinvent the wheel or to radically change everything to your suit, but to be able to work on the previous foundations and thus to make the base stronger since the ones that keep learning are always going to get smarter too.

Anonymous said...

Yes, a portfolio mentor will be helpful for me to compile a portfolio. A mentor with teaching experience will provide us valueble advises and critics that will enanle us to improve our teaching.

Anonymous said...

I would thought having a portfolio mentor is beneficial. Since they have been through the journey like us now, surely they have valuable suggestions and advices to guide us in our journey in teaching.

Anonymous said...

It would be great to have an experienced Senior as my portfolio mentor.The mentor can recognise our skills and mistakes and guide us accordingly.

Anonymous said...

Logically, we would all agree that having a mentor helps - assuming he/she has also experienced compiling such a portfolio! However, I think the final choice of content & format of the portfolio is one's own as it is a personal reflection of the teacher. In other words, see the mentor as a wise consultant but don't be constrained by him.

Anonymous said...

I think everyone will be glad to have a mentor to guide the way. Not only will it helps in the preparation for the modules, but also on all the administrative part in SP as well like setting Exam paper and so on. It will be best if the mentor has taught the same module before.

The mentor should be approachable and friendly. And hopefully can share his portfolio as well.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, the 2:42 PM comments is by me.

Anonymous said...

Definitely helpful to have a portfolio mentor. Always good to have a more experienced guiding hand than to muddle through on your own.

-Hans Lee

Anonymous said...

HE Yingjie's comments follow.

It would be great if I can find a mentor to help with my portofolio creation because that mentor would easily pass his/her many-years-accumulated experiences onto me in this process. Clear goals or clearly defined role model in life is very important to achieve any meaningful objective. So a portfolio mentor indeed is valuable.

However in reality it may not be easy to get someone to be a suitable mentor as it asks for a match in terms of personality, openness of mind, and so on. Nevertheless explicitly or implicitly I am always looking for some role model, not only in teaching but in my other areas of life as well.

Anyway I may start with creating my own portfolio myself and still look for possible mentors to revise later if any mentor should pop up and agree to guide me.

Anonymous said...

Yeow Heng said :

I think to have a portfolio mentor would be better over self compile. As mentor can point out what possible option can be considered to take to improve my teaching or make it more effective especially for the benefit to student learning directly, as well as my learning curve.

Anonymous said...

mentor an ultimate importance for beginers.

Natarajan Balaji

Anonymous said...

Again, there are pros and cons to having a mentor. The definition of a mentor is also important to answer this question. As a lecturer (thou very new and green in the teaching industry), I enjoy the autonomy of conducting my classes the way I plan and the content of my delivery. I prefer to fall back on many experts' opinion from the field and formulate my personal style of teaching. Again, I like to listen to my immediate receipients ie. my students before I make any key decisions or ideas. Joanne

Anonymous said...

Adrian Chan:

Having a mentor would be an excellent way to speed up the learning process, especially if there are more experienced lecturers that we can learn from and avoid pitfalls.

However, having good mentors who are available is few and far in bewteen. If you know of any, please let me know :)

Anonymous said...

gopal venkat said,

ask the students, which lecturers command their respect and why ?

then choose them as your mentor ,if you like.

Anonymous said...

This is Ro Ann

I think for a new lecturer, there should be a mentor who is more experienced so he/she can guide the new lecturer.

Sometimes, two minds are better than one :)

kyaw, marine acadamy said...

Yes, it will be a nice to have mentor for portfolio. No doubt about it. Finally you will be the one who’ve gotten to take good care of it as long as you been teacher / facilitator.

Li Min said...

A mentor will definitely be a big plus. Experience often trumps mere textbook theories.

lingtzi8 said...

Lingtzi:

I feel it would be nice to compile the portfolio with another new lecturer in my section and ask our RO from time to time for guidance. Our RO has many new staffs under her. That will be time effective too.

Duncan Sih said...

Very sibjective. Personally I would choose to compile it alone as that would become a portfolio of my experience. Having a mentor is good for guidance, but he/she should not interfere in the decisions the lecturer make. Just like us to our tutees. They have a choice how much they want to learn, at the end of the day, it is they who benefit from the experience. Hence, I would choose to do it alone, compilng my own experience, good or bad.

Irene said...

No harm having a 2nd opinion. As my RO is my assigned mention in school and he has to sit-in for my class anyway, why not him?

Chip Chuan said...

I think it should be a good practice to have a portfolio mentor. My concern is that a teaching portfolio may be something new to the more senior lecturer and hence, other alternatives such as teaching portfolio samples may be helpful.

Kah Ooi said...

Having a mentor would be a good start to provid guidance, but you may lose the flexibility as element of subjective feedbacks from the mentor might affect your compilation of your teaching portfolio.

For those who believe that they are confident to do this themselves, it might be better to do it individually.

For me, I think I would do it myself - for the reason that I would take this as a learning journey that suits my style better.

winston chai said...

Perhaps during initial period someone that could share a second opinion will be useful. Eventually it should be a personal portfolio.

Anonymous said...

Well for a start, it will definitely be helpful to have a mentor instead of having to figure everything out on our own.

- Erik

Anonymous said...

Chris Goh:

It would be helpful to have an experienced mentor to help provide some advice and suggstions.

Leon Lim said...

Do I think a portfolio mentor is necessary to compile a portfolio?
NO.

Do I think a portfolio mentor is helpful to compile a portfolio?
YES.

Do I think an experienced, educated, and expert portfolio mentor is necessary for me to compile a great portfolio?
ABSOLUTELY.

In my old school / analog context where I grew up, was mentored and made a good living for many years, a good and experienced mentor is an absolute must.

Can you do it all yourself? Of course you can, but it will take a lot longer and the quality will probably suffer.

I started out in the music scene as a HARDCORE D-I-Yer, we made bad music and no money. Then I sold out, signed with a major label, found a mentor, sold records and made money! =)

So yes, I am a convert. And I am a devout believer / follower of the mentor / apprentice system.

Chong Keng Hua said...

Agree that a mentor would be helpful. Different mentors would also give different perspectives that allow more evaluation and reflection on teaching.

Anonymous said...

Jacqueline Chua said:

I think someone who has experience in teaching and who is willing to spend some time with a new lecturer would be the ideal person to consult as the mentor.

It should be an ongoing process. Experience counts alot...

Andre said...

Always helpful to have a experienced mentor (operative word: experienced) to guide me in establishing a Teaching Portfolio. There must be a set of objectives in the TP that I'd want to accomplish. This must be shared and agreed with (even modified by) the mentor.

Banya said...

It will help us a lot if we have senior lecturer or experience lecturer to talk to us for portfolio but we must have teaching experience first to gather information and combine information with our mentor. How much information we have that's how much we know how to solve and prepare when we face the problem.

kim nam chow said...

Mentors are especially relevant in such a field I reckon, as they provide some direction, at the same time emotional assurance that someone has "been-there, done-that".

Lim Pei Chin said...

I think the portfolio will be a personal one. However, for the items that are put into the portfolio, it would be helpful to have an experienced mentor to give their comments and ideas.

Derrick said...

For start, i think its good to have a mentor who is experienced to guide and direct you. I know portfolio can be personal. So actually once you know the process of doing so, you can be on yourself. However, I find its good to have a mentor over you. As in future you face any difficulties, you can always refer back to your mentor for assistance.

Sean Lee said...

I believe with a mentor around will enable faster learning and facilitate teaching process. A new staff in a particular company might have to go through OJT (on-job training). This is similar to a new lecturer in SP. A mentor can guide me on the expectations and the things to take note or for any kind of assistance.

Ng Buck Sin said...

I would prefer to have the portfolio complied by myself rather then do it for the sake of submitting it to the portfolio mentor.

Nevertheless, a mentor would be good to guide and advise us especially to people like me who has not done much teaching before.

Anonymous said...

I believe having a mentor is a better option and this mentor could be one of the senior lecturers in the divison who not only can help one built the portfolio but probably impart years of experience and observation that they would have made.. this could help to accelerate the learning process of the new lecturer and give them the best first hand experience which you can't get from textbooks.

- Muhammad HALIM Bin Ab WAHAB

Naung Zaw Htun said...

Portfolio mentor in my case is my RO. Since you are new in this field there are a million things you have to learn before you can stand on your own feet. In some cases, some of the senior lecturers help me out, because, even to prepair a question paper, there is a format to comply with. So you definately needs a guidance from a mentor most of the time for the first few months.

Dom said...

Like we are teachers, so are we students. Having a mentor does instil the mindset of the student upon ourselves, something that we may have lost touch with, which is something we can remind ourselves, when we teach the next generation.

Jae-Eun Oh said...

Everyone needs good mentors. Good mentor can help us to figure out the way to solve problems, but we also need to know how to sort out oppinions and suggestions we get from them.

Sharon Chua said...

I think it is important to have a mentor to guide you along especially if you are a new lecturer. The mentor will be able to discuss your teaching methods with you and provide comments to improve your teaching.

Gareth Lai said...

A portfolio and teaching mentor will be very helpful. Their experience in how to deal with students and situations will shortcut the time we need ourselves to figure out what to do, and reduce the mistakes we commit.

That said, how do we select and appoint a mentor??

Bernard Tan said...

I definitely need a mentor to prepare for the portfolio, as in life journey, who doesn’t need one? However I learned from my senior colleague that collation of teaching portfolio seems to be a new features of the CT course. Question is, who should be our mentor? Other than our good old Mark, perhaps EDU can pair us with recent graduate of CT course?

Martin Ng said...

Seems like almost all the postings agree that having a mentor is impt. I agree. In life, everyone needs a mentor of sorts. So this is no different. Perhaps I shall try to be a radical here by proposing that a mentor can only show u so much. As the popular adage goes sth along the line of one being shown the path, but whether or not one chooses to walk the path lies in his own hands. So while the mentor is definitely a necessity to show u the way, ultimately it depends on the individual to decide.

David Tay said...

It would be great to have one. Yes, I agree with Martin - the mentor can only show you the path, but whether or not one chooses to walk that path lies entirely with the mentoree. So ultimately, we have to decide what to do and do it. It is our work not his or hers.

Soh chai hoon said...

HI,

I think it is important to have a mentor for teaching portfolio. Perhaps to help us (new lecturers) to identify some of the common problems or mistakes. However, I also feel that as each of us is unique and independent, we should be able to explore new things and not to relay on mentor too much. After all , the learning process is the most important and not the outcome.

Handojo said...

Yes experienced mentor is important for guiding us working on general issues. However, for technical issues, I think we need to be more flexible to develop it.

Yan Naing Kyaw said...

When you are a child, your parents were your mentor. You must have a mentor when you join any industry. You need a mentor to guide you in many area which you are not very sure of. I think your RO should be your mentor or someone from the same department who is very senior and knows evry task.

Iain Choi said...

I think we do need a second opinion (especially someone who had years of experience in teaching) on making a decision, especially in teaching as they will give an influence to a student’s life. Also, it benefits for lecturers as we could have a objective opinion on how we teach.

Wayne Lee from CLS said...

A mentor will be a better guide for the new lecturer. However, time is a concern as in SP, everyone seems to have a lack of it....so.....:/ baptism by fire if you know what i mean.

Gene Ho said...

Nice to have but where there is a lack of time I think the mentor can be dispensed with as long as the paradigm of the teaching portfolio is clear to a lecturer. The collegiate mentoring could be informal and ad hoc.

Loo Hui Ying said...

Good to have someone to refer to for portfolio. RO and superior definitely are the one who decides how is your portfolio going to look like to be frank. Somehow a good mentor can be anyone who really helps.

carolyn goh said...

I think a portfolio is mostly individually compiled. But having a portfolio mentor will help to guide in the whole process. The mentor will be able to offer his or her expertise and also offer feedback that will be useful in the gathering of information and resources to improve the porfolio, individually and teaching.

Joseph Tan said...

I suppose it'll be good to have someone help or guide you. Probably peers would do a good job in helping to critic this portfolio as well.

HH said...

I think it would be sufficient if there were a few samples of good portfolios where I could refer and adapt from.

Unknown said...

Kelly

It certainly helps to have a senior mentor as we can learn from them and can pickup faster as well as doing 'right' the first time.

Teo T. Hui said...

I would like to get two mentors, 1. a senior lecturers who has wide teaching experience, 2. a professor or lecturer in teaching education

The senior lecturer looks at a more practical and close to my daily teaching life, while the professor could suggest independent new ideas in the portfolio preparation.

Yvette Koh said...

Having a Mentor is necessary and essential, in lending us the viewpoint of Experience. Along with that, a Mentor would also afford us feedback and constructive criticism, all in the good name of improving.

Kong Yuen Ho said...

Kong Yuen Ho:

I would prefer to prepare it myself as there will be more flexibility and creativity without limiting the ways in preparing one. However, I may consult my peers and colleagues in the process of creating one since their feedback offer some insight in how to create a simple and yet detailed porftfolio.

Wong Yunyi said...

It would be great to have a mentor to help kickstart and guide the process. It also would be good to have a proper set of established guidelines (like flowchart - yes I am an engineer) and tools easily available (I know DARE has many items... but it is so hard to find where the items are). However, the key aspect is the lack of time.... a million and one other things to do!

Anonymous said...

Linda Liew shared:

Whilst it is good to have a mentor to help and guide us along; it is also important for us to be creative on our own as well.

We will also have to bear in mind our mentor's existing workload & responsibilities too.

Anonymous said...

ONG Chai Lin said....

Definitely good to have a mentor who has been teaching for a while. Question is I think most teachers are already 'swamped' with their own workload, so how are they able to help another with such a task.

Unknown said...

Tan Hai Su:

It is good to have an experienced mentor to guide us. This would lead us to a clearer and faster path to success.

Zhang Sen said...

It is better if have a mentor to guide me in teaching. His/her experince would be very useful for my progress.

Justin Ho said...

I would probably do it myself as I believe there will be more room for creativity, less restriction and freedom of format. Along the way, I will share the ideas, experience with colleagues, RO and Mentor so that advises can be gathered and improvement made to portfolio. Most importantly is to practice what is captured.

Asmah Hanim said...

As a start, having a mentor would be good to provide you with the general overview of how things work.

Thereafter, it is good to start compiling it on our own to inject our own bits of creativity into it as we might have experiences/ideas of our own to share.

Chia Chew Lin said...

With or without a protfolio mentor, we should be able to compile it ourselves independently.

With a mentor will be great since having guidances from a experienced lecturer can get you on track faster.

Anonymous said...

Patrick:

A mentor would be useful for guidance but I think it is better to be able to compile by ourselves. We should be more independent learners.

Thevaraja Ramu said...

Yeah. Having a mentor would be good. At least I'd know if I'm heading down the right path.

But after awhile I'd like to do the portfolio on my own.

Leewah Koh said...

Yup, I think getting a mentor will be really helpful. Given a choice, I would like to have a patient lecturer who is also well-liked by students to be my mentor.

As I am totally new to teaching, experiences of seniors are valuable resources. They will be able to help me figure out things that might not even be found in written references.

It is a bad idea to compile the portfolio on my own as, that will probably be like the blind leading the blind…..

Gabrielle Koh.

Heesun Kim said...

For a starting point as a new lectuere, I think it'd be better to have a mentor to build a teaching portfolio. Mentor can guide to the right track in terms of teaching aspect and ensure to fulfill the roles.

yina said...

A mentor is definitely very helpful.
Being new, we do not have any experiences, we do not know what to expect, what to do with our students and what should be done as a lecturer.
We need advices and guidances to ensure we are on the right track.

Sharon Gan said...

Since I'm new as a lecturer, a good mentor will definitely very helpful. A mentor can guide me in compiling the portfolio and share some experiences with me, may help me to reduce my workloads, and, also can help me to prevent from making mistakes!

HENDRA said...

A good and experienced mentor will definitely help me in my teaching. I can always listen to their valuable guidances and advices and apply them in my class as and required.

Anonymous said...

fangyen said:

being new, i would definitely value the insights and guidance of a mentor.

Wong Yoon Quee said...

Activity 5: Do I need a mentor for the portfolio
• Since the portfolio is an individual assignment, a mentor would not be necessary
here. However, the writer may seek the view of a senior faculty member for any
information he may need to assist him to complete his portfolio.
If for any reason a mentor is necessary , he must be qualify to guide the
candidate to achieve his goal in completing his teaching portfolio.

Pearl said...

A good mentor is a gift. I am open to any comment or advice. Of course, I am hoping that the mentor is qualified.

AndrewLerh said...

Do it myself and consult whenever necessary as it’s not easy to find a mentor with time to spare. In this regard, may I request help from Mark to provide his excellent guide (found in the Reflective Action in Practice Presentation) in a format (e.g. word or pdf) which is easier to retrieve for reference.

Tiong Kwee said...

Agree with Pearl a good mentor is a gift. A good mentor is willing to share his/her experience and also provide guidance to "greenbird" like us.

Stella said...

I like working alone but since I'm new at teaching, I would welcome help from a 'sifu'.

Blyss said...

It is very beneficial for greenhorns to have a wise and trusted senior in getting them started on the right track. The experiences, guidance and constructive feedback provided by the mentor definately can shorten the process time and reduce efforts in compiling a portfolio.

Edna Soo said...

Of course a mentor is necessary. No matter what, the mentor would have so much more prior and life experiences that he or she has encountered in her teaching career that he/she can share with me which will be very valuable.

Ronnie Hoh said...

I would prefer a portfolio mentor as I can look for that person for advice as to how to build my portfolio. Also, we can share with each other our teaching journey so as to learn from each other.

Learning from each other's mistakes and successes will definitely help in making our teaching journey more enjoyable and be more effective lecturers!

Gilbert said...

A mentor to guide the development of the teaching portfolio is always welcome. Especially in the early stages where the framework of the portfolio and it's direction is being crafted.

John Xie said...

I would choose those (peers, lecturers, RO)who are objective, experienced, and those who enjoy teaching.

Hoe Heng said...

While I personally prefer to work on my own portfolio, I reckon that having a mentor will cause me to be more accountable and 'force' me to complete the portfolio in a more timely manner.

Lai Kin Wai said...

I prefer to compile it myself.
Different lecturer will have different teaching philosophy and different style of teaching. I will carefully consider suggestions and opinions from experienced lecturers, filter it and build up a teaching portfolio that fit into my teaching philosophy and my own teaching style.

Yeap Boon Hou said...

I would like to compile it myself, as everybody is busy, but I am having one mentor and is working well with me, thanks for your help Mr David and Mark, it would be great if i can have more.

Charmaine Lim said...

Having a mentor is a plus since we can draw 'wisdom' and experience from him/her. However, ultimately we still need to complete it independently since it is our own TP.

Unknown said...

I will probably talk with more experienced colleagues for their opinions and advice but would prefer to compile the portfolio myself so it will reflect my experience.

Iswan Sudaryo said...

Having a portfolio mentor would be a plus. He/she can observe your skill set in particular areas far more objectively. However, getting them to work with you is another thing all together.

There are few areas of my teaching methods that i think are personal and intend to compile them on my own.

Well, I guess it's a bit of both.

Melissa said...

I prefer having a mentor. Because i don't have any experience in building teaching portfolio. Therefore if there is someone that could guide me, it will be better.

Noel said...

I think a mentor will be great because of my lack of experience in teaching poly students.

Chun Keat said...

A mentor would be good for a new lecturer like myself.
But there may be times when I would like to compile it myself, in relation to personal teaching methods.

Hiap Aik said...

I do not think I will need a Portfolio Mentor when I already has a Teaching Mentor and we have various information sharing platforms like Community of Practices, sharing sessions, informal coffee-talks with fellow colleagues, etc.

Poh Hui said...

I agree with the idea of having a mentor. Useful pointers given by a mentor can help us and needless to say, a lot of time and saved.

Aaron Yuen said...

In my opinion, it is necessary to have a portfolio mentor.

A good mentor can be like a guiding light; it can show you the right path to adopt and also to highlight some of the pitfalls along the way.

Alison said...

Certainly having a good mentor would be helpful. There is someone you can go to when one is unsure if he or she is on the right track for instance. Giving a choice I would certainly prefer to have an experience mentor that can impart knowledge and experience.

Unknown said...

Hey David here.

Yes I need someone whom have learn the rules and played well but also able to adapt when certian rules are bent. As much as I love teamwork while in my industry, I would prefer to hear different views on an idea. Hence I hope to have at least 2 mentors whom could widen my perpective to teach in a more effective way.

Yang Huat YIO said...

For the initial stage, a good mentor will be good motivation for me...Subsequently i hope to proceed and compile on my own. As i think i tend to think more, reflect more to my own pace....and personalised it to certain style that i am comfortable with.

Ivan Leung said...

It will be good to find a portfolio mentor for an early teaching career. He/She will be able to give comments and suggestion of do and don't in our situation and the experienced mentor will help us to keep ourself on the right track.

Charmaine Tan Yen Ling said...

It will be great to have a senior/experienced mentor to guide us in the preparation of the teaching portfolio.

Kum Kit said...

I already have a great person in mind for my Portfolio Mentor. In ABE, we currently have a new initiative with 2 persons having been selected to become Academic Mentors. Both have great knowledge in L&T matters. Even without making them my mentors, they consistently take the initiative to offer courses to us on various L&T topics.

Unknown said...

It's a nice to have but not a must. It's preferred if I work on it alone and on a need to basis, consult with others.

Unknown said...

I would like to have a mentor.

pam said...

Having a mentor to consult with and give tips on what to include would be nice. What's more important is having the flexibility to include the things I want as well.

Wai Leng said...

I can start the teaching portfolio on my own... but I would like someone else to comment on the portfolio (when it's halfway through completion and when it's completed) to provide a different perspective and provide feedback. Sometimes when you work on something on your own for too long, you might not be able to see the wood for the trees.

Thomas, Chuen Lam said...

Why not? It is always good to have a portfolio mentor to give advice and save our wrong steps.

Lee Kim Kheng said...

I prefer to have a porforlio mentor to provide some guidances and directions on creating teaching porfolio, thereby saving time by not traveling on unproductive road.

Thanks

Daniel said...

Yes, for new guys like us, it's always good to have someone who is able to guide you along.

Unknown said...

Perhaps not necessarily to have a specific mentor 'assigned'. I think it's more helpful if we know there's always someone whom we can have a chat with whenver there's a need to and this person could be a friend, fellow colleague, RO/Fl etc.

Chee Kong said...

Having a mentor is important so that he/she can provide some guidance.

Carol Tan said...

It will be good to have a mentor. He/She will be able to guide us into the right direction.

Oka said...

it is good to have mentor with experience on making teaching portfolio. The mentor can help to provide questions to probe further and hence enhances the reflection to higher level.

CK said...

I second the notion of having a mentor for starters.

Jiat Loong said...

Its definitely good to have mentors to provide guidance for newcomers to keep on right track.

Andrew said...

Definitely a good idea to have a mentor. Even ministers need mentor, what more can I say?

Ban Chow Chuin said...

Having a mentor would be great. With or without a mentor, we can always ask those who have gone through when there's a need.

Koh Hong Wee said...

It's always good to have one, provided the mentor is someone who is truly helpful to guide you through the process.

Gabriel Yeo said...

A portfolio mentor is definitely necessary especially for someone new. It gives guidance and advice to formulating a portfolio that is useful to begin with.

Sukitha said...

A mentor will definitely be helpful provided that there is commitment from both parties to reap the benefits of this mentorship relationship.

Unknown said...

Yes. Should have a mentor, to register for a PE, we also have to show evidence that we are working under a pratising PE. So the questions come to who should be our mentor.

Anonymous said...

Having someone to evaluate during or after compilation would be great.

Preferably, it should be someone with the time to go through the portfolio throughly and have the experience to comment and give feedback.

Lorain Kok

Tune Chien Jung said...

Yes, I think having a portfolio mentor would be an excellent benefit in my learning process as a beginning lecturer. Having someone to help you start out is good in the sense that you may not be aware of certain important data or information to start collecting in the portfolio, if not highlighted about it beforehand. Also, I'm also very keen in learning better ways to practice Personal Information Management (PIM) and Knowledge Management (KM) as I find that through my own professional experience, I often get lost in the piles of information that I have produced or collected, let alone make it accessible for others.

leelav said...

A mentor, as the name suggests, would have the necessary domain knowledge and experience to guide and advise newbie teachers like us.

Desmond Ng said...

If only an experienced teacher can perform as a mentor to guide the new teachers and share his experiences, then that will be the most effective ways. Collaborative effort is always better than alone.

Teo Wei Keong said...

Yes it would be helpful to have a mentor in guiding me on stuffs I should do and put in the teaching portfolio. But I need time by myself to gather those stuffs, so I feel that I should have a mentor and need time to do stuffs by myself too.

jacqueline ho said...

yes a mentor would be helpful especially in guiding newbies like me. sharing experiences would a good start...

Joo Ghee said...

At this moment, I'm not sure if I would choose a mentor or go alone. I'll probably decide when I start the process of preparing the portfolio and see if a mentor is needed.

molly chee said...

Its good to have a mentor as they are more experienced and will provide necessary guidance.

Unknown said...

I would like my RO to be my mentor, but not sure if she would happily agree since she's so busy. Does it have to be one fixed mentor all the way? I think I would go alone first, and would consult my senior colleagues whenver I need help. They all can be my mentor.

Ee Kwang said...

I'm a believer in the mentor-mentee relationship, hence I think a dedicated mentor in my learning journey would yield better fruits. However the disadvantage of having a mentor, may be their pre-conceived learning outcomes may friction with results that I obtain from my research.

Unknown said...

Carolyn Liu Yang said...
I definitely would like to have a mentor to give me some guidance along the way. The experience from mentor would be very valuable.

Lim De Yang said...

Definitely prefers a mentor, or rather, a partner from the same department. Maybe can have 2 new staff collaborating to build up a portfolio. Might inspire more teaching possibilities.

Pock Eriee said...

It will be great to have a experienced mentor when preparing a teaching portfolio in the beginning, as the mentor can provide guidance and suggestion.

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