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Collaborative Learning as Mentoring
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collaborative-learning-as-mentoring.md

Collaborative Learning as Mentoring

Contents

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to encourage and empower anyone interested in mentoring to participate in a collaborative learning relationship.

Why Traditional Mentoring Feels Difficult

Mentoring can be a hot-button topic. A team that isn't working to empower its juniors stagnates in growth. Both seniors and managers push for mentoring, and see it as a healthy, relational approach to developing junior talent. Unfortunately, it's easy to get distracted by the ominous "how" of mentoring. Some of this boils down to our perception that mentoring is meant to be a unidirectional practice where a senior passes knowledge on to a junior. This approach puts the effort largely on the mentor and removes significant agency from the mentee. But if we reframe the way we think about mentoring and see it as an opportunity for collaborative learning, then we can see that it's something everyone can participate in equally as well as something everyone can grow from.

Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning is the process by which a group attempts to learn something together. When all participants work together, they build on each other's knowledge, and grow as a group. This fosters relationships and enables participants to grow together towards their goals.

In the context of mentoring, try to think of collaborative learning as partnering, rather than instructing in order to learn together.

Getting Started

So you'd like to start doing some collaborative learning? Fantastic. Here's a few tips to get going:

  • Establish goals
    • Discuss what topics or areas of interest to learn about
  • Find Resources
    • Look for books, articles, blogs, zines, videos, sample code, sample problems, etc
  • Facilitate Discussion
    • Talk about resources you watched, read, listened to as a starting point
    • Remember that all questions are valid (even if the answer is "I don't know" or "I'm not comfortable talking about that")

Anything that you can discuss or work on together will do. Pair programming can be especially handy, just make sure to share the driver's seat. Collaborative code reviews (of your own code, or code written by someone else) are also great discussion topics.

Create Space

If you are leading collaborative learning, remember that in addition to your own learning, you should focus on creating space and opportunity for growth. Give everyone time and space to think about what is being discussed. Create venues for discussion by checking in with your partner(s) and asking them about their work. Encourage them to do the same with you. And if your schedules don't allow for checking in often, that's okay. Work with the time that you have.

Be Present

Make sure that you are present during your discussions. It's better to reschedule than to split your focus. Collaboration doesn't work if only one person is contributing, so make sure you are actively listening and engaging.

Be Flexible

Collaborative learning is about relationships, so naturally, a partnership should be as unique as the individuals it involves. Try not to bring expectations of how things should go, but rather get to know each other and find a common place to work from.

Anyone Can Contribute If They Want To

Most importantly, everyone has something to contribute. We all bring our unique experiences to the table, and that gives us different perspectives that we can share. Whether you are leading collaborative learning or actively participating, there is room for everyone to grow.

Not everyone is comfortable leading or participating in collaborative learning. Many people that have not led a collaborative learning or mentoring experience won't feel like doing so, which will render the exercise ineffective. Everyone must want to participate for collaborative learning to work.

Additional Resources

Credits

This document was developed collaboratively over multiple reviews and contributions from the following individuals:

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