Worcester Polytechnic Institute – ITP Mentoring Project – Weeks 3 & 4

Week 3

In week 3 we started developing materials and schedule for the mentoring scheme and continued our visits to ITP UK partner museums. We went to Manchester, and got to visit the Manchester Art Gallery, National Football Museum, Old Trafford and to explore the city. It was great meeting with Ronan Brindley,  Head of Learning at Manchester Art Gallery, and Adam Jaffer, Collections Officer at the People’s History Museum, formerly at Birmingham Museums Trust. They gave us insights and ideas on the mentoring scheme as well as the training week. We’ve also been interviewing more ITP fellows with the aim of tailoring the mentor scheme to their interests and needs. We finished our online survey to gather feedback and suggestions from all ITP alumni. We are very excited to gain more input from each of you regarding mentoring and the ITP!

We have also started developing materials for a week long training programme for the potential mentors. We have made a preliminary schedule for the week ITP fellows would spend in London as a mentor-in-training along with presentations and the beginnings of a mentoring handbook. More work on the mentoring training programme will be developed soon. Part of this training would also involve some fun role-playing scenarios where you would get to practice actually being a mentor! We hope that all the materials we build for you will help make the ITP experience better and give you the opportunity to grow as a professional and leader within the network and your sectors.

Week 4

We cannot believe it, but our time in London is already half over! It has been so amazing, and we can see why you all had a great experience here at the British Museum. We would like to update you on the status of the mentoring programme.

This week, we have been quite busy with our development of one-week training materials. We have created role-playing scenarios that you and the other mentors will get to discuss and deal with these real-life situations. This should be a fun, interactive activity. We’ve also put together some presentations to be a part of the training week. We think the programme is coming together well, and we hope you, the potential mentors, develop more skills to improve your confidence professionally and personally, and to help your peers in the best way possible.

We would also like to thank everyone who has completed the survey on the mentoring programme. Your feedback will not only help us with our project but also help us tailor the mentoring programme to what you would all like to see. If you haven’t taken the survey yet, there is still time, and your opinion is very important to us!

Also this week, we had the opportunity to meet with Sue Giles on a trip to the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. Sue was very helpful and gave us a few tips that we hope to implement into the mentor training. The museum itself is beautiful and has a diverse set of galleries which were fun to explore. Juan was excited to see the Mexico gallery, and he was impressed with the story of Adela Breton. Amanda and Patrick had a chance to explore M Shed, which displays the history of Bristol and its communities. Miguel and Juan walked around the city, and they were really impressed by the amount of parks in the city, relaxing and enjoying the day at Castle Park in particular. Miguel and Juan also walked along the River Avon which was beautiful. Overall, it was a very fun day trip!

We’ll keep you updated on our progress over the next two weeks.

The WPI team