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This course focuses on a Traditional Format or Traditional Model for research mentorship, where a junior student researcher is paired one-on-one with a more experienced senior mentor. The experienced mentor may be a graduate student, lab manager, postdoctoral researcher, faculty member, or an employee if the mentorship is taking place in a corporate setting.
A Traditional setting allows for direct interaction to build relationships, gain instruction in research skills, and see the “hidden” or “untaught” competencies in navigating a research environment. The social skills gained from being socialized to the norms of a research team or learning how to communicate with a supervisor are an important part of this model.
A Traditional mentorship format also presents potential challenges or limitations. One-on-one relationships require more participating staff members, which may keep numbers limited. The power differential between mentor and mentee may create the potential for communication issues or lead to exploitation of the mentee’s time. A mentor’s approach, background, or expectations may not fit well with a particular student. These challenges require thoughtful work by the mentor and institutional structures to support the relationship.
Alternatively, research mentorship may take place through a Group Mentoring or Peer Mentoring format. Group mentoring pairs a cohort of students with one or several faculty members, while Peer mentoring creates a formal relationship between students working in similar experiences or in the same research group. These models address some of the challenges or limitations of a Traditional format for mentoring, but present their own limitations as well. See the References section for more information on how these formats might function, or details on other formats such as Remote Mentoring or Tiered Mentoring.
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