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This work presents the research methods and preliminary results from a pilot study that assesses mentoring approaches used to support racially minoritized students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. There is a national imperative to broaden participation of racially minoritized undergraduates in STEM fields as evidenced by reports and the recent calls for social justice and equity in these fields. In STEM, mentoring has been recognized as a mechanism that can help to support racially minoritized student populations (e.g., persons who identify as Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and American Indian/Alaskan Native). Yet for mentors in higher education, minimal examples exist that detail effective mentoring approaches, strategies, and competencies that support the persistence and success of minoritized mentees in STEM. In better understanding mentoring approaches, we can make visible how to better mentor these populations and help to employ more equitable mentoring participation. The research question guiding this study is: What approaches are used by mentors who help racially minoritized undergraduate mentees persist in STEM fields? Mentoring literature and two theoretical frameworks were leveraged to situate these mentoring experiences. Intersectionality theory is used to explore the role of compounding minoritized identities within the power contexts (i.e., structural, hegemonic, disciplinary, and interpersonal) of higher education. Community cultural wealth is also used as a lens to examine six forms of capital (i.e., family, social, navigational, aspirational, resistant, and linguistic) that may be used in mentoring practices with minoritized students. This paper will present the methods and findings from the pilot study, centering on the development of the team’s interview protocol. This work will provide insights about the piloting process of a larger study as well as initial emergent themes about the approaches and experiences of mentors who mentor minoritized undergraduate students in STEM.
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The Role of E-Mentoring in the African American Higher Education Experience (Work in Progress)
In this work in progress paper, we discuss the utility of electronic mentoring also called e-mentoring. E-mentoring is mentoring that occurs via electronic mediums such as email, phone, Skype etc. as a means of engagement and development. E-mentoring is not a new phenomena. For years, mentors and mentees have used electronic means to connect with each other while bridging geographical, social, racial, gender and cultural gaps. A more recent advance is the use of chatbots as emotional or intelligent agent mentors, specifically embodied conversational agents (ECAs). ECAs are computer-generated representations that have human-like appearances and mannerisms, and are designed to have a human-like relationship with the user. The challenge and goal that accompanies using ECAs is how to deliver mentoring that promotes skill building, academic and career development, and psychosocial support. In this literature review, we provide a brief overview of e-mentoring and its relationship to African American students’ experiences. In particular, we discuss the characteristics, uses, benefits, and disadvantages of e-mentoring and the use of ECAs. We also provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities of e-mentoring uses for minoritized populations such as African American undergraduate students. In addition, we propose that e-mentoring and ECAs should implement culturally sustaining practices, especially when engaging with minoritized populations. In this paper, we explore the feasibility for using e-mentoring as a more contemporary technique for assisting African American students.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1831964
- PAR ID:
- 10296096
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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