How can telementoring assist students' learning and teachers' teaching?

We have learned that students and teachers exploring real world, many-faceted, curriculum-based topics need to actively build deep and sophisticated understanding. One of the most effective ways to do this is by engaging in ongoing dialogue with knowledgeable others, as the students form, refine, and expand their comprehension. Classroom teachers typically serve as the subject matter experts with whom students interact in such complex areas of inquiry. Yet when the issues being explored are multi-disciplinary, technically and conceptually sophisticated, or dependent upon current and highly specialized research and theory, additional expertise must be made directly available to students, teachers, and parents/guardians longitudinally, and on an as-needed basis. This is what telementoring can offer learners and educators today, and what the Electronic Emissary brings to students and teachers worldwide.  more