Among other things, mentoring research is concerned with how mentors go about the process of choosing who they should mentor. Even when mentoring relationships are assigned, mentors need to feel that the efforts they are putting forth are worth the time and energy. What protégé attributes best attract the attention of a mentor? What mentor attributes make some protégés more attractive to them than others? This study looks at 3 explanations for mentor-protégé attraction, shedding light on the mental processes that influence why some protégés find it easy to get mentors and why some have a much tougher time finding the right person to mentor them. Practical and theoretical implications of this study are included.

This study analyzed participants in an online professional development and certification program can to see if they could predict the learning value of individual distance education tools. The Texas Center for Educational Technology (TCET) funded by the Texas Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF) designed the Technology Applications Certification Program (TACP). In the TACP, students are offered four graduate level classes which, when combined, meet the standards for the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) Technology Applications certification. The four courses that comprise the TACP are Computers in Education, Introduction to the Internet, Multimedia in Technology Applications, and Introduction to Video Technologies. The first course started in January 2002 with approximately 706 participants in 40 cohorts across the state of Texas. The TACP combines two different worlds of technology training. Half of the coursework was completed through asynchronous content and discussions, while the remaining classes were hands-on classes in local district computer labs. These face-to-face meetings enabled learners to get hands-on training with direct assistance. Between the online and face-to-face segments, a variety of learning tools were introduced to the participants. Participants were surveyed through the online Snapshot Survey in January and again in September.

This narrative study examines using a real life simulated problem base learning activity during education of clinical staff, which is expected to design and develop clinically correct electronic charting systems. Expertise in healthcare does not readily transcend to the realm of manipulating software to collect patient data that is pertinent to the care of patients. To gain the expertise, troubleshooting abilities and knowledge required to maintain their clinical system, each participant in this study has gone through the RLSPBL activity. Education in the corporate world must be effective and efficient while providing a good return on the educational investment. Corporate education must use material contextually similar to a workplace, and the techniques for education must provide both near and far transfer of the material. Ten individuals (eight clinical, two non-clinical) who work across the United States were interviewed; their reflections on their career as a clinical interface designer are told here. The participants varied in their age, educational background, and current work responsibility and computer experience. Their insights revealed four major themes which summarize their stories: problem-based learning, collaboration, hands-on activities and the use of a real-life simulated problem-based learning activity.The clinical environment requires patient safety as a paramount parameter …