Mentoring is a particularly powerful form of teaching. It is important to note that the opportunity for undergraduates to engage in research or creative projects with faculty members has been identified by American Association of Colleges and Universities as one of ten “high-impact” educational practices. Undergraduate research is a highly effective pedagogy for teaching course content, as well as interpersonal and trans-disciplinary skills such as creativity, problem solving, and communication skills.
Though the primary focus of undergraduate research is the student’s learning and development as a scholar, undergraduates can make important contributions to faculty members’ ongoing research projects. In my case, these two undergraduate students have definitely contributed to my ongoing research project related to increasing cultural competency of undergraduate students. Mentoring undergraduate research and creative activity has enriched my own understanding of the research processes and the most effective ways of teaching these processes.
Information about current undergraduate research possibilities are included on my page at ScholarBridge.
I periodically invite MSU Library staff members to provide instructional sessions for my classes, so students learn about research resources and skills within their academic programs.
I systematically improve student research practices through action research projects. The action research projects involve five collaborative steps: (a) identification of a question to be researched, (b) formation of a strategic plan of action in which to answer the question, (c) collection of data in various forms to study the effects of the strategic action plan, (d) reflection upon the results of the strategic action plan to make sense of the processes, problems, issues, and constraints, and (e) creation of new action steps to be taken based on what was learned. My practice is that each semester can encompass one cycle of action research.
The Fall 2012 issue of EDUCATE magazine included an article about my work with Erika Koenig, undergraduate research team member. The on-going research will provide valuable data about change in cultural competency among students and thereby pave the way for cross-departmental and cross-institutional comparisons. The results will inform and enhance the ability of Minnesota State Mankato faculty and staff members to design courses and experiences for undergraduates that extend students’ levels of intercultural competency.
The research team has focused its efforts on this specific study design and implementation. Notably, recent research team members have made presentations at the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 National Conferences on Undergraduate Research and at MSU’s 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 Undergraduate Research Symposium. Members of my research teams have made research presentations at the Minnesota System Conference on Undergraduate Research (2013, 2014, and 2015), at the Biennial Conference on Intercultural Development (in September, 2012), and at the National Honors Collegiate Conference (in Boston in November). Team members also made a research presentation at the Global Studies Conference in Moscow, Russia, in June, 2012.