Before you become too entranced with gorgeous gadgets and mesmerizing video displays, let me remind you that information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, and wisdom is not foresight. Each grows out of the other and we need them all. Arthur C. Clarke Dr. Harris includes this quote at the end of her e-mails. Read the full text of Dr. Clarke's address on the role of information technology, telecommunications, and entertainment in K-12 education. One of the first things our research showed was that merely introducing a telementor to a classroom teacher and arranging for an exchange of e-mail addresses wasn't enough to ensure a successful telementoring relationship.
Online communication is largely text based, and that led to some misunderstandings.
Many of the telementors work with Internet access available on their desktops on demand, and are likely to be savvy to the ways of the web and e-mail. We found, for instance, that telementors sometimes mistook a slow response to one of their e-mails for a lack of interest when the delay was actually caused by limited net access. To help the process work better, we added facilitators, who watch over and support the communications flow between the telementor and the class. The ideal facilitator is skilled both as an Internet communicator and as an educator. Most of our facilitators are graduate students here in the College of Education at the University of Texas in Austin.