ABSTRACT
Mentoring has been identified as an enabling strategy for the development of preservice physical education (PE) teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, facilitating learning and access to expert models of practice. Under a social network perspective, the launching of mentoring interactions through the use of technology is acknowledged as a more relevant form of support for today’s protean PE teacher careers. E-mentoring, although a promising strategy for teacher professional development, remains an under-researched topic within PE literature. The scope of this chapter is to review and synthesize literature relevant to e-mentoring and examine its relevance to the design of physical education teacher education (PETE) programs. The example of a PE practicum mentoring program is used as a point of reference for shaping the discussion around the role of technology in promoting community-based collaborative learning. Results indicate that, within digital mentoring contexts, the modeling of positive professional behaviors does not arise solely from the use of innovative technology. Rather, it requires pedagogical forethought and ongoing support aligned with PETE standards and participants’ life circumstances and learning needs.
