Mentor Monitoring

Abstract

The present document is intended as a framework for the experience in mentor monitoring by the teacher, in the University of Évora, which will be named “mentor monitoring”. This mentoring is directed towards 1st year students for the courses offered by the University in the academic year of 2009/2010. This document is intended to fulfil two main goals: synthetically, to present the principal results produced by research on this subject, i.e. regarding the students’ transition from secondary to higher education and the factors shown in the process of their adaptation to a new educational reality. At the same time, it is intended to present the concepts that underlie it so as to create a common language common to all higher education institutions, to facilitate the understanding of this phenomenon; the second goal is to list and to put into practice the more relevant aspects present in the transition and adaptation to a higher education learning process, so that these can be constituted as a basis so that tutors, according to the reality of their circumstances, may better design their courses of action. Given the experimental character of the implementation of “mentor monitoring”, this document will be dynamic and will be periodically updated, according to any needs detected, and include suggestions and proposals. As a functional instrument, it will contain only the more relevant information. Gradually, additional texts will be sent to the tutor and other teachers that wish to have a deeper contact with the research produced on this subject.