Online Courses for Navigating Research Mentoring Relationships

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PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Research mentoring relationships are one of the most important means by which students acquire core research competencies, develop a strong sense of self-identity as a scientist, and prepare for careers. However, practical training for students in how to initiate and navigate these critical relationships is absent from most biomedical research training programs. In order to address this discrepancy in training, iBiology will partner with the authors of ​Entering Research​ at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to build, test, and evaluate a program of online instruction called “Navigating Research Mentoring Relationships.” This program will focus on students at the critical undergraduate to graduate transition, i.e., advanced research undergraduates and first year graduate students. “Navigating Research Mentoring Relationships” will provide instruction that can be integrated into the curriculum of an existing research training program or engaged with independently by students in programs that choose not to integrate it, as providing courses online allows the training material to be accessible regardless of personal or institutional resources. This program will address challenges that ​students ​from diverse backgrounds face as they transition from undergraduate to graduate school by (1) teaching them to cultivate mentoring relationships with intentionality and to leverage those relationships to benefit their education, research, and careers, (2) building a national community of students from diverse institutions and backgrounds to support their collective learning/training, (3) providing access to free evidence-based, in depth, just-in-time instruction in their research training, and (4) highlighting important cultural aspects of responsible conduct of research, reproducibility, and equity and inclusion. The program has four main aims. First, to develop the “Navigating Research Mentoring Relationships” online course content. Second, to develop evidence-based strategies to promote student engagement and learning through online communities. Third, to pilot test “Navigating Research Mentoring Relationships” with undergraduate and graduate students from diverse backgrounds. And fourth, to revise and disseminate the online courses to the public. The program will be evaluated using feedback from educational experts, as well as student testing of the courses and online learning communities at various stages. Evaluation data will include online surveys of students, course platform analytics, and pilot test site institutional data. The evaluation plan will allow for the assessment of program outcomes and whether the desired objectives have been met. The evaluation data will also allow for evidence-based revision and updating of the courses prior to release to the public, where the courses will be available to biomedical research trainees of all levels. The intended outcomes of this project are to build the critical interpersonal, communication, and collaboration skills students need to support positive mentoring relationships and, therefore, increase their persistence in a biomedical research career pathway.