This year the AERC Education Committee is focusing on how we can more effectively deliver services to the AERC membership. The first step in that process is to assess how well current programs are doing. Terre O'Brennan is leading the assessment of the AERC mentoring program. Based on what we are learning we will implement new ideas to serve you better.

Please send your ideas to Terre (tobytrot@telus.net) and other members of the committee. And take advantage of the AERC education resources (see the "Education" tab at www. aerc.org. Here is Terre's first report. ÐStagg Newman, Education Committee Chair

This fall, the AERC Education Committee undertook a review of how our mentoring program is working. Every registered AERC mentor was e-mailed a questionnaire; Karen Chaton also kindly created an online web-based version. The questionnaire asked a number of questions and invited comments. This is a brief summary of the responses to that survey and the conclusions reached.

In reality, we do not so much have a "mentoring program" as we do a list of volunteers who have agreed to be mentors. Historically, this list was initially posted on Endurance.net by Steph Teeter; later it was updated by Karen Chaton and added to the AERC website with the addition that mentors could declare their interests or areas of expertise.

There has never been any formal mechanism for keeping the information current. The first and most obvious conclusion to draw from the survey is that the list was woefully out of date. It needed to be updated and a process put in place to keep it current.

Secondly, it is apparent that the mentors would appreciate (and certainly deserve) some kind of formal support from the organization. Almost everyone contacted expressed gratitude for the opportunity to discuss their mentoring experience. We would like to develop some tools to help them continue in this valuable work more easily.

Many respondents felt that there should be some kind of qualification required to be a mentor, or at least a mechanism to categorize mentors based, perhaps, on experience or formal training. We will certainly investigate this; something like the certification program currently offered to ride control judges springs to mind.

Additionally, clarification is needed on an individual basis as to what the mentor can offer and what the mentee is seeking. Almost all mentors contacted reported that they offered extensive advice and support via e-mail or telephone. Most also referred their mentees to other educational resources.

What most mentees want the most, however, is for a mentor to actually ride and train with them -- and this is not always possible. Many mentors managed to do this at least once, and several actually took their mentees to rides and stayed with them throughout; however, this is simply not possible in every case. It might be useful to advocate that mentors do as much as they can "long distance" and then facilitating a meeting between their mentee and other competent riders closer to their home.

When asked whether they considered their mentoring efforts to be successful (Did the mentees attend a ride? Achieve their goals? Continue in the sport?), the answer -- as you might expect -- boiled down to sometimes "yes," sometimes "no," and "too soon to tell!" In other words, some students did quickly do all the above, others are still working on it, some have dropped out. Not a surprising response in a sport like ours.

One thing that several mentors mentioned was that many of the newbies contacting them had unrealisitic expectations, both positive and negative. In other words, some newbies underestimated the commitment necessary to participate in this sport, while others were inappropriately fearful of the risks involved. Perhaps we need to work on the public perception of our sport in general!

A detailed report has been sent to the AERC Education Committee, the AERC Board of Directors, and the mentors themselves. The Education Committee looks forward to working on this valuable asset, and thanks the mentors for their tireless efforts to assist new riders in our sport.