INN345 Mentoring in Practice

Credits (ECTS):10

Course responsible:Matthew Patrick James Lynch

Campus / Online:Taught campus Ås

Teaching language:Norsk

Limits of class size:20

Course frequency:Annually

Nominal workload:250 hours. Mentoring in practice: 75 hours, participation in seminars and preparation 75 hours, self-study: 100 hours.

Teaching and exam period:This course starts in the August parallel. This course has teaching/evaluation in the Autumn parallell.

About this course

  • Mentoring in entrepreneurship and innovation
  • The mentoring process and its framework
  • Mentor roles and functions in peer mentoring
  • Core skills in mentoring (active listening, effective questions, the difficult conversation, effective communication)
  • Own reflection on personal strengths and pitfalls in the role of being mentor

The aim of the course is to strengthen the student in the role as mentor and develop skills to be able to support others in learning and development processes. The course primarily provides training in practical mentoring skills and will address key concepts from research and the literature. A prerequisite for the course is a continuous opportunity to practice mentorship throughout the semester. The course therefore consists of a practice period with participation of at least three teaching days (presentations) during INN340's duration, as well as follow-up as a mentor by a dedicated team where you actively contribute to follow up and guide the team's work as their dedicated mentor. In addition, there will be 7 teaching sessions in mentoring. Reflections on practice are generally provided.

Learning outcome

After completing the course, the student has acquired the following:

Knowledge:

  • Be able to account for the importance and relevance of mentoring for innovators and entrepreneurs
  • Be able to understand and see the relevance of different roles and functions in mentoring in entrepreneurship
  • Have a good knowledge base of various core skills in mentoring
  • Have knowledge of what inhibits and promotes learning and good team processes through mentoring
  • Knowledge and reflection on one's own strengths and weaknesses as a mentor

Skills to:

  • plan, facilitate and carry out mentoring
  • apply and adapt selected mentoring functions to the situation
  • be able to provide effective feedback that contributes to positive development on a professional and personal level
  • be able to conduct challenging conversations through effective communication

General competence that enables the student to:

  • reflect on one's own behavior and communication as a mentor
  • analyze and reflect on own mentoring experiences in a constructive way together with other peer mentors and supervisors
  • reflect on the significance of situational factors and factors in the mentee / team that can influence the outcome of the mentor's influence
  • contribute to the further development of the peer mentor program in close dialogue with other professionals
  • The learning activities will consist of practice such as mentoring, seminars, self-study and own reflection. There will be 7 mentoring seminars; two seminars at the beginning of the semester and a final seminar before the examination period
  • Guidance and follow-up by course coordinators will be provided, as well as the opportunity for practice reflection in seminars.
  • A written reflection report, which counts for 100 % of the grade. The reflection report is assessed pass/fail.
  • An external examiner is used to ensure the quality of the assessment.
    • Mandatory activities are participation in 7 seminars.
    • Delivery of 3 reflection logs
    • Participate in 3 mentoring/feedback sessions in INN340 or other approved course (written approval for mentoring other courses can gained from the course repsonsible)
  • There will be 7 mentoring seminars; two seminars at the beginning, and there after evenly spread out the semester.
  • Master students in Entrepreneurship and innovation have the first priority to the course.
  • Passed / Not Passed
  • Bachelor's degree. Master students in Entrepreneurship and Innovation have priority for this course.