ABSTRACT
Extant research on STEM graduate education discusses mentorship as doctoral students being mentees of faculty members. However, fewer scholars have considered how STEM doctoral students may serve as mentors to undergraduates—one important type of “stage-ahead” mentorship. Guided by Griffin’s (2020) equity-minded mentoring model, this study uses qualitative methods to explore how doctoral students in computing disciplines consider social identities and organizational context in their mentoring approaches. Empirical findings will be part of a research-practice partnership, that will be shared and discussed in a focus group with members of the participating departmental graduate student association. The study will collaborate with doctoral students to co-construct “A Toolkit for Graduate Student Mentors” as a guide that can be adopted by the computing department (and other STEM departments) to structurally facilitate the ways that graduate students learn and reflect on equity-minded stage-ahead mentorship.
Project Lead
Annie M. Wofford
Florida State University
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. How are the characteristics of mentoring relationships between computing graduate students and undergraduate students reflective of and shaped by social identities?
2. How are the characteristics of mentoring relationships between computing graduate students and undergraduate students shaped by organizational structures and dynamics?
THEORITICAL PERSPECTIVES
Griffin’s (2020) equity-minded mentoring model
METHODS
Using narrative inquiry and a critical constructivist lens, this study collected data with 10 doctoral students in computing-related disciplines in fall 2020. The study makes use of data from education journey maps (Annamma, 2017) and two semi-structured in-depth interviews to (re)tell the stories that graduate students constructed about their experiences providing mentorship to undergraduate students in computing. Analyses discuss the knowledge, skills, and attributes of graduate student mentors in computing as well as how the characteristics of stage-ahead mentoring relationships are underscored by the social identities of mentors/mentees and organizational or societal power dynamics
CONTRIBUTION TO PROJECT GOALS
Given the pressing need for equity-minded structures of support within the current and future landscape of STEM graduate education, the dissemination of this research and production of intervention materials for STEM doctoral programs will be invaluable to partnering academic departments and the STEM graduate education community.
FOCUS AREA WITHIN GRADUATE EDUCATION
Mentoring & Advising
INVESTIGATORS
Annie M. Wofford, Florida State University