Entry points when undergraduate research mentors reflect on their role: a qualitative case study

Abstract

Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers are increasingly taking on mentoring roles in undergraduate research (UR). There is, however, a paucity of research focusing on how they conceptualize their mentoring role. In this qualitative interview study, we identified three entry points that mentors reflect on to define their role: (1) What are the goals of UR? (2) What do the students expect from me? and (3) How should I use my expert knowledge? We discuss how academic developers can use these entry points together with a set of reflective lenses to stimulate critical reflection on the mentoring role and help the mentors to define their role and help the mentors to define their role.

Keywords:

• Undergraduate research
• mentoring role
• partnership
• critical reflection
• entry points

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the mentors that took part in this study and shared their views on being a mentor. We would also like to thank Julie Gold and Paul Gatenholm who have been running the tissue engineering course for many years. Finally, we would like to thank Liselott Aarsand for constructive discussions and comments on early drafts of this article.