The role of a mentor in a learning environment is to have conversations with the learner. The extremely tight feedback loop of the conversation helps the learner make those important connections to other concepts in their own head.

The value of having a conversation about a subject - as opposed to being lectured about it - is the continued interest of the learner - Luhmann was never stuck. The learner guides the Chris Crawford conversation model, and therefore is continually asking the teacher/mentor exactly what they want to have elaborated on.

The learner is able to do the heavy lifting - grappling (Struggle in learning solidifies knowledge) with the hard concepts themselves - and the teacher/mentor is able to share anecdotal connections (Strong communication builds healthy connections) they made while grappling with the concepts when they first learned it.

The mentor's job is to actively listen (Active listening) to the learner's interests and elaborate as much or little as the learner wants. The focus should be on a collaborative, but learner driven, exploration of the concept.

Citations

T-Shaped Person Skills Graph Analogy Negative and positive feedback loops

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