Today, new or reinvented mentoring programs have sprung up all over the country, giving both students and prospective mentors more opportunities to connect with each other. But Clinton's program and increased media coverage have not been the only things giving this age-old idea a shot in the arm. Today, technology is helping make mentoring a more accessible and effective tool than ever before. One example of how technology may aid mentoring is the Hewlett-Packard online mentoring program. The difference here is that busy HP employees no longer have to trek to a campus once a week to mentor students.
Students use e-mail from the school to communicate with mentors at their home or office.
This is also one of the first educational programs where an employee clearly understands how a student has benefited from his or her help. In its first year, Neils' program provided mentors for 350 students. That year he expanded the program to serve 1,500 students from all over the United States, as well as Australia, Germany, Canada and Japan. Using e-mail, mentors can reach students wherever they are. Part of the reason his program is so effective, he said, is that it allows for so much more interaction than previously possible.