Challenges and Opportunities for Digital Mentorship Programs in ICT

Abstract: The covid-19 pandemic required an emergency transition to digital education all over the world and led to a huge learning loss in most countries. Informal learning programs teaching children digital skills were stopped or digitalized due to the pandemic. Studies show that just having access to remote education does not ensure that children absorb knowledge in the same way as face-to-face education (UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank and OECD, 2021) and indicates that there are new challenges that appear in digital education compared to face to face education. This thesis is investigating what problems and opportunities mentors face in a digital informal learning program compared to a face-to-face informal learning program. It also aims to find pedagogical and technical solutions to the problems faced by the mentors. The study is interviewing mentors from the Ericsson programs Digital Lab and the learning program Technovation Girls. It also surveys mentors to generalize the findings and evaluates what are the most important challenges. The logistical advantages are one of the main opportunities for digital mentoring. Mentors experience flexibility and time efficiency and more mentors can join the learning programs. The digitalization of the program makes it possible to reach children in rural areas and mentors and mentees can connect all over the world. The study shows that many mentees have a lack of access to ICT which is a big problem as not all children get the opportunity to participate in digital education. Motivation is a bigger challenge for mentees in the digital environment than in the physical environment, and the mentor has a bigger role in helping motivate the mentees in digital environments. The learning outcome differentiates from different environments and physical and digital education might be more or less effective depending on the skills that should be learned. Mentors also struggle with not having free and accessible tools that are adapted to helping mentees with programming, answer questions and have video call meetings. As an example of a solution to this problem, the features of a selection of commonly used communication tools are compiled and a prototype is developed of a selection tool that could help mentors choose the most efficient digital communication tool fit for purpose. The study highlights challenges and opportunities common to mentors in a digital environment, teaching skills in ICT and the results could be used for further studies to investigate what reasons there are for the learning loss in digital education.