Special Issue: Mentoring Students in Course-Embedded Undergraduate Research (Fall 2021)

Course-embedded research models are becoming a widely used pedagogical strategy across academic disciplines, but few have examined the unique opportunities and challenges of these instructional practices as it relates to mentoring undergraduates. Such models have the potential to involve large numbers of students in authentic research experiences and create fulfilling mentoring relationships among students and faculty.

In the PURM 2021 Special Issue on Mentoring Students in Course-Embedded Undergraduate Research, we invite pieces from mentors and students that explore models such as course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), inquiry-based research, and others as rich mentoring opportunities. Submissions may have a student author or co-author, and they should address mentoring of students in the context of course-embedded research models, either through a theoretical, empirical, review, experiential dialogue, or viewpoint perspective. We also welcome other submissions related to mentoring that are not explicitly linked to these pedagogical models.

Topics might include:

• Exploration of mentoring models within course-embedded research
• Opportunities for mentorship in interdisciplinary course-embedded research
• Examination of the impact of mentoring students in such courses on faculty development
• Description of the unique challenges of whole-class mentorship
• Exploration of how Salient Practices of Undergraduate Mentoring (Shanahan, Ackley-Holbrook, Hall, Stewart, & Walkington, 2015) intersect with course-embedded research
• Analysis of the process of working with community organizations or external clients as partners of such courses
• Sharing the outcomes of such courses outside of the classroom: public presentation, publication of results, and other dissemination methods
• Discussing the impact of COVID-19 on mentoring students in course-embedded research

PURM is an open-access, multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed online journal supporting the mission of undergraduate research and the programs that strive to provide undergraduate students opportunities to participate in scholarly activities with faculty mentors. PURM’s unique focus on the process of undergraduate research and mentoring, rather than the products of these activities, provides a space for the growing undergraduate research community to share experiences, opportunities, concerns, and challenges in a rigorous, professional venue.

For more information about the types of articles accepted by PURM, please visit the website at: https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/undergraduate-research/purm/for-authors/.

To be considered for the Special Issue of Mentoring Students in Course-Embedded Undergraduate Research, to be published in Fall 2021, manuscripts must be received by June 15, 2021 (extended from April 15). Full submission guidelines may be found at https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/undergraduate-research/purm/for-authors/. Any questions regarding PURM, the submission and review process, or article inquiries for the Special Issue may be directed to Dr. Jessica Merricks (jmerricks@elon.edu), Dr. Jennifer Hamel (jhamel2@elon.edu), or Dr. Vanessa Bravo (vbravo@elon.edu). All other inquiries may be directed to Dr. Qian Xu, Editor-in-Chief of PURM (qxu@elon.edu).

Reference

Shanahan, J. O., Ackley-Holbrook, E., Hall, E., Stewart, K., & Walkington, H. (2015). Ten salient practices of undergraduate research mentors: A review of the literature. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 23(5), 359-376. doi:10.1080/13611267.2015.1126162