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Effects of Scaling Up Apprentice-Style Research: Perceptions from Mentors and Mentees

Published: 20 July 2023 Publication History

Abstract

Access to undergraduate research is limited. One approach to broaden access is scaling up the mentee-to-mentor ratio (e.g., course-based undergraduate research experiences have a classroom of student mentees being led by one professor mentor). However, some mentors and mentees may prefer apprentice-style research, which is defined as research with a small mentee-to-mentor ratio. Pulling influences from non-scaled and scaled approaches, we implemented and evaluated the Community College to PhD (CC2PhD) Scholars Program, which was a community college research program. CC2PhD was designed to scale up non-personalized aspects of apprentice-style research while maintaining personalized one-on-one mentoring. The scaled non-personalized aspects of CC2PhD included the predefined mentoring curriculum and the research methods workshops. They were "scaled" in the sense that few people were involved in curriculum development and workshop instruction. These scaled resources can then be used by a large number of mentor-mentee pairs. We interviewed and surveyed seven mentor alumni and six mentee alumni to understand the effects of the scaled aspects of CC2PhD. We identified four themes: (1) improved time-related issues by saving time and facilitating time management, (2) influenced meeting content, (3) helped beginner mentors and mentees, and (4) increased mentors' willingness to volunteer. Future researchers can further scale-up and digitize our scaled research-apprentice model. For example, the mentoring curriculum and workshops can be adapted into a MOOC, which mentor-mentee pairs can reference from.

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  • (2023)Community College to PhD Scholars Program: Short-Term Outcome Evaluation of an Undergraduate Research and PhD Preparation ProgramCommunity College Journal of Research and Practice10.1080/10668926.2023.222826048:11(714-726)Online publication date: 16-Jul-2023

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  1. Effects of Scaling Up Apprentice-Style Research: Perceptions from Mentors and Mentees

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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    L@S '23: Proceedings of the Tenth ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale
    July 2023
    445 pages
    ISBN:9798400700255
    DOI:10.1145/3573051
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

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    Published: 20 July 2023

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    Author Tags

    1. apprentice-style research at scale
    2. community college to PhD scholars program
    3. mentoring
    4. undergraduate research

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    L@S '23: Tenth ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale
    July 20 - 22, 2023
    Copenhagen, Denmark

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    • (2023)Community College to PhD Scholars Program: Short-Term Outcome Evaluation of an Undergraduate Research and PhD Preparation ProgramCommunity College Journal of Research and Practice10.1080/10668926.2023.222826048:11(714-726)Online publication date: 16-Jul-2023

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