Mentor Guidelines

28 March 2025

Phase 1: Mentors

No role

Phase 2: Mentors

Expected time commitment

Phase 2 typically runs from June to early August. Mentors meet with their team at a team-determined frequency, length, and format. Meetings may be synchronous or asynchronous depending on schedules. Mentors will also spend a few hours outside of meetings to review the design solution drafts and provide feedback.

Mentor’s role

At your first meeting, find out more about each student’s work experience. Many instructional designers come to graduate school with existing experience. As a mentor, you will use your academic or industry experience and knowledge to help the graduate students make the transition from graduate school to real-world instructional design work. They are not writing a paper for a professor; they are writing a proposal to persuade a client. Your role is to provide advice and serve as a sounding board.

Recommended steps

Review these guidelines and the student guidelines.
Refer to the information posted on: https://aect.connectedcommunity.org/aectnatoactdesigndevelopmentcompetition/aect-dd-competition/home.
Familiarize yourself with the problem statement and the timeline.

Information and questions

You may contact the Competition Coordinating Committee with any questions about your mentoring role. Please do not ask questions on behalf of your student team. Please direct the team to use the official competition question mechanisms.

Phase 3: Mentors

Expected time commitment

Phase 3 typically runs from late-August/early September until mid-October. Mentors meet with their team at a team-determined frequency, pace, and format. Meetings may be synchronous or asynchronous depending on schedules. Mentors will also spend a few hours outside of meetings to review the design solution presentation drafts and provide feedback.

Mentor’s role

Continue to use your academic or industry experience and knowledge to help the graduate students make the transition from graduate school to real-world work. At this phase, they may need some additional guidance on being persuasive and making a good professional impression when presenting to a non-academic client.

Costs

Mentors are invited, but not required, to attend the finalist presentations at the AECT Annual Convention. Mentors that choose to attend the AECT convention are responsible for paying for the convention registration fee and any travel costs.