A free resource for nonprofit organizations, NGOs, civil society organizations,
charities, schools, public sector agencies & other mission-based agencies
by Jayne Cravens
via coyotecommunications.com & coyoteboard.com (same web site)


My experience as an online volunteer blog mentor
for the Young Caucasus Women Project - February 2006


Published March 1, 2006

If a URL no longer works here, type it into archive.org to view an archived version of the web page.

In addition to researching and compiling information online mentoring (the most comprehensive information on such, in fact), and helping to create numerous online mentor programs, including this one for an Austin, Texas elementary school, I have also had the pleasure of serving as an online volunteer mentor on several occasions. In 2005 and 2006, I was an online volunteer blog mentor for the Young Caucasus Women Project. Recruited from current Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program students, young women from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia currently living in the USA are being trained in citizen journalism, and part of the training includes learning to publish their own blogs. Once they learned the basics of blogging, then the student's own blogging bagan. Now, at the start of the week, an online volunteer mentor posts a suggestion for the week's blog topic, and each student posts a blog of her own on that topic, as well as comments on each other's blogs. The students may post on other topics throughout the week as well. This continues until the student leaves the USA. After the students return to their home countries, they will receive a monthly blog assignment, but they may post to their blogs as often as they like. The volunteer mentors are experienced adult bloggers from around the world, with a particular focus on bloggers from developing countries who are having an impact on the dissemination of news from their countries.


The purpose of this Project is to:



Mentor's suggested topics that students have been asked to write blogs on include:


I can't speak to how well the program will meet its stated goals -- that's for someone else to measure and report on. But I can speak to what it's been like to be an online mentor. In this most recent experience, from my point of view, what's been important to remember as a volunteer for this project is:


As with all online mentor experiences, the hardest part is when my role is over, and the young person moves on -- I will wonder what different I made, if any, if the young people are doing well, how their interests and planned activities have manifested, and if there is more I could do. But various issues -- most especially safety and logistics -- keep such continued relationships from happening.

If you are interested in creating an online mentoring program, for young people or adults, see the Virtual Volunteering Project's information online mentoring -- still the most comprehensive information available.

 
Also:

 

Return to my volunteer-related resources

 


  Quick Links 

 my home page
 
 my consulting services  &  my workshops & presentations
 
 my credentials & expertise
 
 my research projects
 
 my book: The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook
 
 How to Support This Web Site & My Work

 contact me   or   see my schedule
 
 Free Resources: Community Outreach, With & Without Tech

Free Resources: Nonprofit, NGO & other mission-based management resources

 Free Resources: Technology Tips for Non-Techies

 Free Resources: Web Development, Maintenance, Marketing for non-Web designers

 Free Resources: For people & groups that want to volunteer
 
 linking to or from my web site
 
 Coyote Helps Foundation
 
 me on social media (follow me, like me, put me in a circle, subscribe to my newsletter)

support my work how to support my work & this web site

       

Disclaimer: No guarantee of accuracy or suitability is made by the poster/distributor. This material is provided as is, with no expressed or implied warranty.

See this web site's privacy policy.

Permission is granted to copy, present and/or distribute a limited amount of material from my web site without charge if the information is kept intact and without alteration, and is credited to:


Jayne Cravens & Coyote Communications, www.coyotecommunications.com

Otherwise, please contact me for permission to reprint, present or distribute these materials (for instance, in a class or book or online event for which you intend to charge).

The art work and material on this site was created and is copyrighted 1996-2020
by Jayne Cravens, all rights reserved
(unless noted otherwise, or the art comes from a link to another web site).