Abstract
This paper presents the results of implementing an inquiry-based and online mentoring intervention in a project revolving around social entrepreneurship. The intervention was implemented in the context of an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) module at a higher institution and aimed at developing learners’ 21st century skills, such as team work, problem-solving and communication as well as social entrepreneurial competence. Thirty-three ESP students majoring in Business Management at a higher institution participated in the intervention which was implemented within an online mentoring platform. The analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data yielded interesting results pertaining to the students’ interaction and engagement activity on the mentoring platform, the learning gains, as well as their perceptions of the ways in which the online mentoring experience contributed towards the effective completion of their social entrepreneurship project. Emerging themes include the benefits of the intervention in building discipline-specific knowledge and social entrepreneurial competence, as well as in enhancing communication and team work skills. As for the challenges faced by the students during their online mentoring experience, these included difficulty in composing interesting and creative questions addressed to the mentors, lack of confidence in posting video questions on the platform, and delayed responses from the mentors.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. http://www.battelleforkids.org/networks/p21 (2009). Accessed 15 May 2022
Lee, V. S.: Teaching and learning through inquiry: a guidebook for institutions and instructors. Stylus Pub LLC (2004)
Spronken-Smith, R., Walker, R., Batchelor, J., O’Steen, B., Angelo, T.: Enablers and constraints to the use of inquiry-based learning in undergraduate education. Teach. High. Educ. 16(1), 15–28 (2011)
Spronken-Smith, R., Walker, R.: Can inquiry-based learning strengthen the links between teaching and disciplinary research? Stud. High. Educ. 35(6), 723–740 (2010)
Spronken-Smith, R., Bullard, J.O., Ray, W., Roberts, C., Keiffer, A.: Where might sand dunes be on Mars? Engaging students through inquiry-based learning in geography. J. Geogr. High. Educ. 32(1), 71–86 (2008)
Chen, R.H.: Fostering students’ workplace communicative competence and collaborative mindset through an inquiry-based learning design. Educ. Sci. 11(1), 17 (2021)
Buchanan, S.M.C., Harlan, M.A., Bruce, C., Edwards, S.: Inquiry based learning models, information literacy, and student engagement: a literature review. Sch. Libr. Worldw. 22(2), 23–39 (2016)
Banchi, H., Bell, R.: The many levels of inquiry. Sci. Child. 46(2), 26 (2008)
Chin, C., Osborne, J.: Students’ questions: a potential resource for teaching and learning science. Stud. Sci. Educ. 44(1), 1–39 (2008)
Levy, P., Aiyegbayo, O., Little, S.: Designing for inquiry-based learning with the learning activity management system. J. Comput. Assist. Learn. 25(3), 238–251 (2009)
Stokhof, H., Meli, K., Lavidas, K., Grammenos, D.: Why answer this question? Experts’ behaviors on educational community question-answering platforms. Electronic J. e-Learn. 20(2), 87–100 (2022)
Herrera, J., Parra, D., Poblete, B.: Social QA in non-CQA platforms. Futur. Gener. Comput. Syst. 105, 631–649 (2020)
Neshati, M., Fallahnejad, Z., Beigy, H.: On dynamicity of expert finding in community question answering. Inf. Process. Manage. 53(5), 1026–1042 (2017)
Crisp, G., Baker, V.L., Griffin, K.A., Lunsford, L.G., Pifer, M.J: Mentoring undergraduate students: ASHE higher education report, vol. 43, no. 1. John Wiley & Sons (2017)
Asgari, M.: Students’ evaluation of success in an online mentoring program. Asian Assoc. Open Univ. J. 5, 1–9 (2010)
Shrestha, C.H., May, S., Edirisingha, P., Burke, L., Linsey, T.: From face-to-face to e-mentoring: Does the “e” add any value for mentors? Int. J. Teach. Learn. High. Educ. 20(2), 116–124 (2009)
Kokotsaki, D., Menzies, V., Wiggins, A.: Project-based learning: a review of the literature. Improv. Sch. 19(3), 267–277 (2016)
Pedaste, M., et al.: Phases of inquiry-based learning: Definitions and the inquiry cycle. Educ. Res. Rev. 14, 47–61 (2015)
Sevilla-Pavón, A., Nicolaou, A.: Artefact co-construction in virtual exchange: ‘Youth Entrepreneurship for Society’. Computer Assisted Language Learning, pp. 1–26 (2020)
Council of the European Union, Proposal for a Council Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning (2018). Accessed 10 Apr 2022
Stokhof, H.J., De Vries, B., Martens, R.L., Bastiaens, T.J.: How to guide effective student questioning: a review of teacher guidance in primary education. Rev. Educ. 5(2), 123–165 (2017)
Levy, P.: Inquiry-based learning: a conceptual framework. Centre for Inquiry-based learning in the arts and social sciences. Unpublished Manuscript, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/content/1/c6/09/37/83/CILASS%20IBL%20Framework 20 (2009)
Jeong, K.O.: Facilitating sustainable self-directed learning experience with the use of mobile-assisted language learning. Sustainability 14(5), 2894 (2022)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Nicolaou, A. (2022). Implementing Inquiry-Based and Online Mentoring in a Social Entrepreneurship Project. In: Meiselwitz, G., et al. HCI International 2022 - Late Breaking Papers. Interaction in New Media, Learning and Games. HCII 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13517. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22131-6_27
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22131-6_27
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-22130-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-22131-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)