Mentoring Template 
Design Document

   

 
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Table of Contents 
 
Project Description 2 

Project Goals 2 

Learning Outcomes 3 

Success Criteria 3 

Key Users 4 

Assessments 5 

Content 7 

High Level Workflow 9 

To Consider 11 

Appendices 12 

Appendix 1 12 

Appendix 2 12 
 

   

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Mentoring Template 
 

Project Description 

The mentoring template is a generic mentoring program that can be used/adjusted to fit as 
many mentoring programs as possible over a range of durations.  
The goal setting and refinement framework used in the program is called GROW and both 
students and mentors will respond to this framework throughout. GROW is an established and 
popular coaching tool in order to elicit a structured and participant driven approach to goal 
setting.  
 
Additionally, Mentoring supports the growth of important 21st Century Skills for the mentee 
participants. This learning can enable students to close the skill gap widely seen in graduates 
entering into employment in our rapidly changing and technology-centred world. From The 
World Economic Forum (WEF) list of sixteen 21​st​ Century skills (​Appendix 1​) in ​New Vision for 
Education​ (2015), the following skills are self-assessed and developed throughout the 
mentoring program: ​Initiative, Communication, Persistence/Grit, Adaptability, Critical 
Thinking/Problem Solving. 
 
The program design is structured according to Kolb’s theory for Experiential Learning 
(​Appendix 2​); the program guides them through the cyclical planning, execution, reflection 
and feedback elements that typify this experiential learning cycle. Supported by learning 
content, participants apply a series of reflection activities throughout this program, which is an 
essential building block of experiential learning (Kolb, 1984). By embedding this pedagogical 
approach into the learning design, this program provides an integrated learning experience 
for participants that not only addresses essential 21​st​ Century skills but also facilitates reflective 
and feedback-informed practice. 
 
Project Goals 

The aim of this project is to facilitate and support the participant-mentor relationship and 
experiential learning with reflection over the period of mentorship. Mentees can set goals and 
evaluate their performance and progress supported by their mentor and in-built learning 
content. They also apply critical feedback in order to reflect and refine their goals. 
 
 

   

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Learning Outcomes 

Number  Learning Outcome 

 
1  Develop and refine personal and/or professional goals utilising the GROW framework 
This program aims to support and scaffold the difficult task of setting and achieving 
goals. Participants will be required to set and refine their goals throughout the 
program utilising a mentoring/coaching framework. 
2  Engage with a mentor, applying critical feedback to reflect on and refine goals 
This program allows participants to engage with a mentor to both set and achieve a 
set of goals over the timeline of the program. Participants will develop reflection skills 
and be capable of implementing critical feedback to refine and develop their goals 
and skills. 
3  Demonstrate and apply experiential learning, including reflection 
This program includes the GROW framework and select Project Learning content that 
supports participants through the experiential learning cycle, complete with critical 
reflection on both successes and failures. This framework runs throughout the duration 
of the program and allows participants to apply and reflect on the learning from 
real-world activities and the meaningful interactions they are experiencing.  
 

Success Criteria 

Success  Description  Measurement  Goal 

Criteria  Mechanism 
Practera  Students and industry mentors will fill out  Final Reflection &  8+ 
Feedback  a feedback survey at the end of the  Mentor 
Survey  experience   Feedback Survey 
Students have sustained participation  Reflect & Refine  5 x Reflection 
and interest in the program,  1-5  Videos and 5 x 
Student 
demonstrated by having completed all  GROW plan 
Progress 
Reflect & Refine assessments.  refinements 
completed 
Students have recorded improvements  Self-Assessment  Improved in at 
Improved  in Initiative, Communication,  & Final Reflection  least 2 
Competencies  Persistence, Adaptability & Critical  competencies by 
Thinking.  at least 1 level. 
 

   

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Key Users 

User  Objective  Values  Experience 

Employ  ● Setting and striving for  Real World 
experiential  goals  ● 6 x meetings with 
learning including  ● Structured framework,  mentors 
  meaningful  making goal setting  ● Action goals and make 
  reflective  manageable, measurable  connections/network  
  practice to  and achievable  Practera App 
  evaluate  ● Insight and feedback from  ● Upload GROW plan 
  performance and  professional Mentor  (refinements) 
Students   progress during  ● Networks and contacts   ● Receive feedback 
  experiential  ● Supportive environment  ● Access learning content 
learning with the  and clarity of expectations  ● Submit self-assessment 
support of a  ● Improve reflective practice  on key competencies 
mentor.  and understanding of how  ● Practise self-reflection 
  to use reflection on  through written and 
  experiences to reevaluate  video individual 
goals.    submissions 
    ● Provide “fast-feedback” 
  when prompted 
● Feedback Survey in Final 
Reflection 
Support students,  ● Engage in participant  Real World 
provide  support by following a  ● 6 x meetings with 
feedback.  goal-setting model  mentors 
  (GROW) and providing  Practera App 
    feedback to mentee   ● Opt-in mentoring 
Mentor  ● Develop coaching &  content 
management skills and  ● Review mentee’s 
experience  submissions for reflective 
● Engage with student ideas  videos and GROW plan 
and aspirations  (refinements 
  ● Give back to the  ● Providing structured 
community  feedback to students 
  ● Provide “fast-feedback” 
  when prompted 
● Feedback Survey 
Program  Ensure program  ● Drive a structured,  ● Practera Web for 
Manager  success and  consistent, high quality  monitoring student 
monitor teams  experience and outputs  teams, mentor 
progress  ● Analytics for real time  feedback and overall 
  monitoring, efficient  success/progression 
  support / intervention and  ● Garner actionable 
reporting  insights  
  ● Undertake targeted 
  interventions 

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Assessments 

Assessment  Description  Learning  Format 

Outcomes 

Self-assessment  Students answer the following questions to  3  Reflection, 

prepare for their Mentoring program:  written + 
Describe a time when you set a goal and  multiple 
didn't reach it. What were the obstacles?  choice 
What would you change if you were to do it 
again? What skills do you need to work on in 
this mentoring program in order to 
successfully attain your goal? 
Students then complete a self-assessment of 
the following competencies, rating 
themselves as Expert, Proficient, Competent, 
Advanced Beginner or Novice: 
- Initiative, Communication, 
Persistence/Grit, Adaptability, Critical 
Thinking/Problem Solving. 

Introduce  Students need to upload a Video introduction  1, 2  Moderated 

Yourself  for their mentor (introduce self, explain initial  with 
goal and timeline).  optional 
  feedback, 
Optional Mentor video response.  video 
upload. 

GROW Plan:  Develop 1st personal GROW plan according  1, 2, 3  Moderated 

Develop &  to framework: lay out the Goal, Current  with 
Commit  Reality, Obstacles and Way Forward/Will, in a  feedback, 
concise, clear and measurable fashion.   written. 
 

Reflection 1-5  Students complete 5 Reflections, one ​before  1, 2, 3  Moderated 

every Mentor Meeting.  with 
Student need to reflect on progress toward  feedback, 
their goal(s) in a reflective video. They then  video 
articulate in a textbox below whether they’re  upload + 
on track and what they want the discussion  written. 
points for the next mentor meeting to be. 

GROW plan:  Students complete 5 GROW plan  1, 2, 3  Moderated 

Refine 1 - 5  Refinements, one ​after​​ every Mentor Meeting.  with 
Students refine their goal (if necessary),  feedback, 
outline any further obstacles/options, and  written. 
outline the Way Forward to their goal. 

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Final Reflection  This is the accompanying assessment to  3  Reflection, 

Self-Assessment. Students reflect on whether  written. 
they have accomplished what they set out to 
achieve, how they did it, with what support, 
and how this will impact their future. 
They then assess the Key Competencies for a 
second time to note any progress. 
 
 

   

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Content 

The following are the major components of the program with increased detail in the tables: 

● GROW Framework: The GROW framework is a tried and tested model to structure 
coaching/mentoring sessions. 

The power of the GROW model is that it leads to a clearly defined end result through 
four phases: Goal, Current Reality, Obstacles/Options, Way Forward/Will. The coachee 
is personally active in identifying problems and generating ideas for solutions.  

The GROW coaching model stands for learning through experience: reflection, insight, 
making choices and pursuing them. 

Practera supplies supportive GROW content for both mentors and mentees. 
 
● Collaborative Project Learning (Self & Learning) content (Practera supplied) 
This content can be provided in multiple videos that are open source and feature 
Practera CEO, Beau Leese. All transcripts are available if you would like to reshoot or 
repurpose the material.  
 
Element  Description  Models 

Self  Help learners develop self awareness to be able to  Self Awareness, 
identify strengths, weaknesses and blind spots of their  Self Management, 
professional personality, then apply self management  Leading Self 
to proactively develop their knowledge, skills and 
abilities. 

Learning  Help learners understand the value of and apply the  Kolb’s Experiential 
experiential learning cycle to deepen knowledge, skill  Learning cycle. 
and ability (KSA) acquisition from an applied learning  Bain’s 5R’s 
experience.  Reflection 
Framework 

Goal  This is the stage where participants are coming up with  The GROW Model 
the outcome they will ideally achieve by the end of the 
project. This is driven by questions such as: 
● What do you want to get out of this program? 
● What behaviour do you want to change? 
● What outcome do you want to see? 
● What is the ideal situation? 
This topic is supported by content about SMART targets, 
encouraging mentees to set goals that are Specific, 
Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Based. 

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Current  In the second stage of the GROW model, students  The GROW Model 
Reality  need to establish what the current reality is and the 
problem that they need to solve in order to achieve 
their goal. 
Mentees would answer such questions as: 
● What is happening now (what, who, when, and 
how often?) and what is the effect of this? 
● Have you already taken steps towards your 
goals? 
● Does this goal conflict with any other objectives? 

Options  In the third stage of the GROW model, mentees need  The GROW Model 
to establish possible options they can explore to 
achieve their goal. 
Mentees need to generate as many options as 
possible. In order to do this, their mentors will ask them 
questions such as: 
● What else could you do? 
● What are the advantages and disadvantages of 
each option? 
● What obstacles stand in your way? 
● What if this or that constraint were removed? 
Would that change things? 

Will  This is the stage at which mentees start committing to  The GROW Model 
what they’re actually going to do to achieve their goal. 
● What are you going to do now? What else and 
by when? 
● How can you keep yourself motivated? 
● When and how often will you review progress? 
● How will you get support if you need it? 

How to get  Content to advise students how to profit from their   

the most of  mentor-mentee relationship, guiding them to be 
our your  proactive, curious, open and respectful. 
mentor 
relationship 

 
 
   

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High Level Workflow  

Here’s a high-level overview of how this course design could flow on Practera: 

Milestone  Activities & Tasks  Assessments/ 

  Deliverables 
Welcome   
● Welcome to the Program   
● What you will learn   
● Program Overview   
● How does this Program Work? 
● Mobile Webpage 
1 
Introduction to Project Learning - Self  
Welcome  ● Introduction to Project Learning 
● Introduction to Self 
Self-assessment of Key 
● Emotional Intelligence 
Competencies 
● Leading Self 
● Skill Development Planning 
● Self-Assessment 
LOCKED ​until Self-Assessment​ published 
GROW 
● The GROW model 
Introduce Yourself 
● G - goal 
● Introduce Yourself 
Project Learning – Learn   
● Introduction to Learn  Meeting with Mentor 
● Feedback 
● Reflection 
● Reflective Writing 
2 
● How to get the most out of your mentor 
GROW 
relationship 
● Meeting with Mentor assessment (Have you 
met your mentor) 
LOCKED until Meeting with Mentor confirmed as   
attended   
GROW plan   
● R - Current Reality  GROW Plan: Develop & 
● O & W - Options & Will  Commit 
● GROW Plan: Develop & Commit 
LOCKED ​until GROW Plan: Develop & Commit ​submitted 
Reflect & Refine 1  Reflection 1 
● *PLACEHOLDER* Reflect on your GROW Plan   GROW Plan: Refine 
  ● Reflection 1 
3  ● GROW Plan: Refine 
Reflect &  LOCKED until GROW Plan: Refine submitted 
Reflect & Refine 2   Reflection 2 
Refine 
● Reflection 2  GROW Plan: Refine 2 
● GROW Plan: Refine 2 

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LOCKED until GROW Plan: Refine 2 submitted 

Reflect & Refine 3  Reflection 3 
● Reflection 3  GROW Plan: Refine 3 
● GROW Plan: Refine 3 
LOCKED until GROW Plan: Refine 3 submitted   
Reflect & Refine 4  Reflection 4 
● Reflection 4  GROW Plan: Refine 4 
● GROW Plan: Refine 4 
LOCKED until GROW Plan: Refine 4 submitted   
Reflect & Refine 5  Reflection 5 
● Reflection 5  GROW Plan: Refine 5 
● GROW Plan: Refine 5 
LOCKED ​until G
​ ROW Plan: Refine 5 completed 
Conclusion 
Final Reflection 
● Final Reflection 
Networking & Making Connections   
4  ● Introduction to Networking 
Conclusion  ● Great LinkedIn Profiles 
● Do’s and Don’t’s of LinkedIn Networking 
● How to Use LInkedIn to Start Your Career 
● Other Ways to Connect 
 

   

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To Consider 

● Which questions would you like to ask throughout the program and how often (fast 
feedback)? These can be configured to be any question with any answer that helps to 
“pulse check” and monitor progress throughout the cohort in the pie charts on your 
dashboard. Here’s an example: 
o Student - Are you on track to achieve your goal? (Yes/No) 
o Student - Have you met with your mentor in the past 7 days (Yes/No) 
o Student - Which stage to you think you are at? 
(Forming/Storming/Norming/Performing) 
o Mentor - Is your mentee on track (Yes/No) 
 
   

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Appendices 

Appendix 1 

World Economic Forum (2015). ‘21st-Century Skills’​, ​ibid. 

 
 

Appendix 2 

Practera’s Experiential Learning Cycle, adapted from Kolb (1984). 

 
 

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