Assessment of a University-Based Distance Education Mentoring Program from a Quality Management Perspective

This study describes assessment results from the Distance Education Mentoring Program (DEMP) at Purdue University Calumet, Indiana, USA. The program, sponsored by the university's Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, was made available to all teaching faculty who wished to become proteges and develop their skills at teaching online courses. The DEMP is a university initiative designed to enhance the development of high-quality online courses by mentoring faculty in instructional design principles. Faculty member proteges who completed the mentoring program were surveyed using an anonymous questionnaire. Data were obtained from 34 faculty respondents who completed the program during the last three years. Using regression analysis, we found that the Pyramid Model explained 83% of the variance in perceptions of teaching improvement attributable to the DEMP. The program's process orientation, continuous improvement approach, and focus on customer satisfaction explained proteges' perceived improvement in teaching. In addition, proteges believed their peer faculty mentors provided more psychosocial support than career development. Implications for implementation of a mentoring program in a university setting are discussed.