Undergraduate Mentorship and Training in STEM

Mentorship in is a multi-pronged form of teaching that spans various domains of knowledge (e.g., technical skills, soft skills, background/conceptual knowledge, lab norms and culture etc.). Mentorship is a unique form of teaching given its often close relationships and mutual benefit for all parties within the mentoring relationship. Graduate students across disciplines are often tasked with training and mentoring undergraduates, despite having no formal training in this type of pedagogy. This workshop aims to fill this gap by undertaking the following topics and/or exercises: 

• Reframing undergraduate mentorship as a form of active learning rather than traditional job training.  
• Articulating your mentorship goals, identifying your student’s needs, and developing a mentorship framework accordingly.
• Building a toolbox of strategies for undergraduate mentorship derived from pedagogical and organizational behaviour research. 

By the end of this workshop, participants will be more prepared to develop plans for a productive working relationship with undergraduate mentees in their discipline.