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A Mentor is someone dedicated to helping other amateurs expand their knowledge and skill in Emergency Communications and other technical subjects important to the amateur community. The Emergency Communications training courses cover a wide range of material on the use of radio communications technologies, communications techniques and emergency management skills necessary when helping served agnecies deal with and overcome disasters. Other courses deal with such topics as Radio Frequency Propagation, HF Digital Communications, Antenna Design and Construction and many other topics of interest to radio amateurs.
Technical course mentors must first complete the courses they will mentor. Mentors for Emergency Communications course must complete ALL levels of the ARRL Emergency Communications training as a prerequisite. Mentors are also expected to keep themselves current with the course material as it is updated over time, but this doesn’t mean that you have to be an expert. When a student asks a question, you can look up the answer in your own course material or ask for assistance from other mentors to make sure you’re delivering the right answer.
Teachers have known for years that the best way to learn something is to teach it. Mentoring is the next best thing since you get questions about the material you may never have thought about. Mentoring is sure to stretch your knowledge in ways you never expected.
What does a Mentor do?The ARRL’s online program is made up of self-study courses. All of the necessary material and practice quizzes are included in each Learning Unit so students can get the information, test their knowledge, and get immediate feedback about how well they understand it. No self-study course is perfect though, so it’s necessary to have mentors available to help students go beyond the material and to clarify concepts, create perspective, and provide assistance where needed.
True understanding is never the result of just reading and taking multiple choice test questions, so most courses include student activities that emphasize practical application of the knowledge they’ve gained. A computer cannot review student activities. A person, a mentor, needs to review what the student submits to determine if it really demonstrates understanding. Sometimes a very simple error or oversight in a submitted activity will become an obvious teaching point that helps the student learn more about what they are studying.
Mentoring requires a commitment to spend some time every day so that you can be responsive to your students. As a general rule, when a student asks a question or submits an activity, the mentor should respond within 1-2 days so that the student gets feedback while the topic is still fresh his or her mind. Mentors usually spend 15 minutes a day per student on average reviewing student questions and activities and following up on student progress. A small stipend helps to offset the cost of phone calls, equipment maintenance, or other expenses a mentor may have.
Would you like to become a Mentor?To become a mentor, send a request to the Continuing Education Program Administrator at cce@arrl.org. Tell us which courses you would like to mentor and provide a list of your qualifications. If we are accepting additional mentors for the courses you are interested in supporting, we will send you a short Mentor Familiarization Course that will prepare you for the responsibilities involved. You will need to read our Mentor Training Guide and successfully complete this training under the direction of our Mentor Training Coordinator, Stan Kaplan WB9RQR, to be added to our mentor roster.
For further information, e-mail your questions to cce@arrl.org.