Getting Set Up
After you complete the Mentor Contract, Redemption Administration will set you up with access to the Redemption Logos library, create your Populi account, and provide you with a Moodle login so you can browse through the course instructions students see, including links to Mobile Ed videos, readings, and other learning activities they will be doing in Logos. You are not expected to work through all of the course content. The student's Course Portfolio will be what you assess in your mentor sessions. However, you are encouraged to explore the content in the LMS as needed, and your feedback on the curriculum is important and welcome.
Please make sure that your contact information is up to date in our system, including a personal email address. You can verify this by logging into your Populi account and viewing the contact information saved in your “My Profile” tab. We will also provide you with a Redemption Seminary Gmail account (the typical format is firstname.lastname@redemption.edu). We recommend that you use your @redemption.edu account as your primary email address for everything you do related to Redemption—student and staff correspondence, document sharing, etc. We also ask that you set up the .edu email account to send you push notifications. This is to ensure that emails reach you in a timely manner without you needing to remember to log in to webmail to check for messages. Being personally responsive to students and each other is one of our priorities.
Scheduling Mentor Sessions with Students
Two to three weeks prior to the start of a new term, Student Services (Registrar@Redemption.edu) will begin connecting you with the students who have selected you as their mentor-professor.
You will receive an email asking you to contact your students. You will see your list of courses and students in Populi, and you will find instructions for the preliminary tasks you need to complete under the “Lessons>Week Zero” section of your courses in Populi. These preliminary tasks should be accomplished as soon as possible after you receive your list of students. They include (1) ensuring the student has shared their Program Journal and Course Portfolio documents with you, and (2) scheduling your regular meeting times for the seven weekly mentoring sessions. Here is a video tutorial explaining how to track these preliminary tasks in Populi: Using Populi for Preliminary Tasks (Note: the video mentions a “get acquainted” meeting that is no longer required). More details are given in the next section, below.
Please reply to the email from Student Services with an acknowledgment that you received the information, then use Populi’s comment and grading features to confirm completion of your preliminary tasks.
BEFORE THE FIRST MENTORING SESSION
Use Populi to contact your students for the upcoming term, within the same week you receive the email notifying you that courses are set up and ready. The Comment box for each assignment is the best way to do this. It will automatically email the student and keep a record for everyone to see the communication process.
Use the Scheduling assignment in Populi to contact the student and offer your scheduling link or offer available times for your regular weekly sessions. Be sure to record the day and time that you schedule for the term’s weekly meetings by commenting on the appropriate task in Populi. Mark the “Comment” field as “Visible to Student,” so that Populi will email the comment to the student and record it for administrative purposes. If you find that you and a student have difficulty with scheduling, you can also note this as another “Comment” on the appropriate assignment page in Populi, so that administrators and students can see the current status of the scheduling process.
Remind the student that they need to have Unit 1 completed in their Course Portfolio by their first regular mentor session, and if this is their first course they should also have completed a draft of their Program Journal, including Appendix 1 and Appendix 2.
Use the Document Sharing assignment in Populi to ask students to share their documents with you. Before you meet with the student, they will need to share two Google Documents with your “@redemption.edu” email address, (1) their Program Journal (which documents their spiritual health and growth throughout the program) and (2) their Course Portfolio (which is their work product for the course, organized into seven units which correlate to your seven sessions). Some students may forget to do this, which is why this step is important. Either you or the student can post the links to these documents as a “Comment” on the appropriate task in Populi, so they are easily accessible in the future.
Before your first meeting, look through the student’s Program Journal and get familiar with their background, personality, and spiritual life.
Before the student joins the Zoom meeting, review their Course Portfolio work for Unit 1. Feel free to leave a comment in the Google Doc if there is anything specific you want to acknowledge or mark for further discussion in your meeting. You can do this review a few minutes before the session begins, or much further in advance. Spend at least 5 minutes on this task before each session (more if possible), and make sure you acknowledge and engage with the student’s written work as you talk with them in the live session.
During the Mentoring Term
Students may record their own mentor session but mentors do not record the meeting unless instructed by the administration for a specific time and purpose. Such instances are rare, and students’ informed consent is required. Such a recording is not kept beyond its immediate use. Not recording students is our standard practice. Budget 45 minutes per student for each week of the term in which you have mentor sessions.
Five minutes prior to the mentor session (minimum), review the student’s written work in their Course Portfolio (you will continue reviewing it as you interact in the session). You are also welcome to add specific comments and suggestions directly in their Course Portfolio document using the appropriate Google Docs features.
During the 30-minute mentor session, allow the student 10-15 minutes to present their work for the unit to show that they have met the learning objectives for that unit. This does not need to be a monologue on the student’s part, and you are free to ask them clarifying questions if tied to the Unit Learning Objectives (ULOs). Avoid asking the student to respond to things they were not asked to prepare for, or which are not required by the ULOs. If you have a recommendation for a change to the curriculum, please email the academic dean. Allow another 10 minutes for the student to ask you questions and provide individualized guidance. Use the last five minutes for wrap-up, prayer, and confirming your next meeting time.
Take ten minutes after the meeting to fill out the grading rubric and record a “Comment” with personalized, formative feedback in Populi. The following video shows how to complete weekly grading tasks in Populi: Using Populi for Weekly Assessment and Feedback
After the final mentor session of a course (Unit 7) you will need to ensure that all of the assignments in the Populi gradebook for the course have been completed (no Incomplete or blank assignment grades). A student must demonstrate all competencies—for each unit and the course as a whole—at a passing level of B or above to receive credit for the course. You will also use Populi to (1) fill out holistic growth feedback and copy it to the student’s Program Journal, (2) fill out the Course Completion Rubric, and (3) add a final summative comment regarding the course as a whole. When every item in the Gradebook is filled in, all rubrics are complete and your final comment is recorded, you will then finalize the course in Populi. Finalizing the course means it is ready for administrative review and you will not be able to make any more changes to the course unless an administrator unfinalizes the course for you. It is best to complete all of your final grading steps directly after your last mentoring session with the student, to allow time for review. All final grading tasks must be finished by the end of the eighth week of a term at the latest. This video explains how to use Populi to complete your final grading tasks: Using Populi for Final Grading
Once the grades are reviewed, mentor payments are processed (normally during the week following the eighth week of a term).