Table 1
Common CAM mentoring strategies.
| STRATEGY NAME* | DEFINITION | EXAMPLES INSPIRED BY OUR STUDY OF NSF RIEF TEAMS |
|---|---|---|
| Articulation | An expert asks their mentee questions so the mentee can explain their problem-solving process. | A mentor asks their mentee to explain the steps they used to analyze some survey data. |
| Coaching | An expert directly observes their mentee and provides guidance and instruction. | A mentor sits in on a mentee’s practice interview and gives feedback and tips. |
| Exploration | An expert helps their mentee to pursue their own goals, potentially providing some structure. | A mentor asks their mentee to find an appropriate framework for their project’s research questions. |
| Modeling | An expert directly demonstrates a task so it can be learned by the mentee. | A mentor provides an example of a funded EER grant to help prepare their mentee. |
| Reflection | An expert compares their problem-solving or knowledge with a mentee; similar to articulation, but shared. | A mentor and mentee co-review an EER paper and compare what they observed. |
| Scaffolding | An expert provides support based on their mentee’s current knowledge and gradually reduces support while the mentee gains expertise. | A mentor provides a few example questions for an interview protocol to be drafted. |
[i] *This list of strategies is drawn from an overview of CAM-related literature by Dennen & Brunner (2008).
Table 2
Summary of study sample demographics.
| STUDY SAMPLE (TOTAL N = 18) | ||
|---|---|---|
| NSF RIEF Grantee Position | ||
| Mentee | 10 | |
| Mentor | 8 | |
| Number of NSF RIEF Grants Represented | 14 | |
| Academic Rank | ||
| Tenured/Tenure-Track | 14 | |
| Non-Tenure Track, Teaching | 3 | |
| Non-Tenure Track, Research | 1 | |
| Gender Identity* | ||
| Man | 6 | |
| Woman | 12 | |
| Ethnicity | ||
| Hispanic/Latinx | 1 | |
| Not Hispanic/Latinx | 17 | |
| Race* | ||
| Caucasian | 12 | |
| Asian or Pacific Islander | 4 | |
| Black/African-American | 2 | |
[i] *For each option, only one option could be selected. All demographic information collected was optional. Options from the demographic questionnaire with no responses have been omitted from this table.
Table 3
Summaries of projects from the interview pool.
| PSEUDONYMS PER PROJECT | PARTICIPANT ROLE(S) | YEAR SINCE AWARD DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Mimi | Mentee | 1st |
| Nancy | Mentee | 2nd |
| Ashley | Mentee | 1st |
| Ellen, Mark, and Tiffany | Mentee and 2 Mentors | 2nd |
| Rose | Mentee | 3rd |
| Abbie | Mentee | 1st |
| Caitlyn | Mentor | 3rd |
| Michael | Mentor | 2nd |
| Zach | Mentor | 2nd |
| Beth | Mentee | 1st |
| Alex | Mentee | 1st |
| Aimee and Ted | Mentee and Mentor | 1st |
| Jack and Ramona | Mentee and Mentor | 1st |
| Marie | Mentor | 1st |
Table 4
Summary of codes arranged by theme, with exemplar quotes.
| THEME AND ASSOCIATED RESEARCH QUESTION | CODE NAME* | DEFINITION | EXAMPLE QUOTE** |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mentorship Mechanics RQ1: What structural elements support a successful mentee-mentor relationship between engineering faculty and engineering education researchers? | Project Structure | General discussion of project structure: e.g., mentors and their expertise, team personnel, advisory board, proposal design and funding outcomes, task assignment, etc. | I love the advisory board that we have … I like to think of it as sort of an apprentice model, especially in this occasional research. |
| Mentoring Location | Participants discussing institutional distance as a factor impacting the relationship between mentor and mentee | I don’t regret leaving the institution, but I regret that we weren’t in the same place. I think the project would have looked a lot different if we could have met weekly, in person. | |
| Power Dynamics | Participants pointing out the ways in which power and position inform the unique mentorship relationship of the NSF RIEF grant (e.g., mentoring an administrator) | Having this kind of relationship with somebody who’s much further up the food chain than I am, that has made me develop an increased awareness of the way that may influence our interactions […] Mentoring a graduate student is different than mentoring a school head for sure. | |
| Mentorship Roles RQ2: How were mentoring strategies or roles typically described by NSF RIEF grantees? | Technical Needs of Mentees | Participants identify concepts, lessons, research methods, literature, etc., which the mentee must learn to proficiently conduct engineering education research | The idea of having a theory or a theoretical framework and then choosing that and the ways in which that becomes operationalized and the methodology and then the research questions …is more new to her than all of this other stuff. |
| Technical Mentorship | Mentee participants identify resources, lessons, etc. provided by their mentor, or mentor participants discuss their intentional mentoring strategies | I know I can go back to the resources that we shared and look through it and refresh our memory. But before, I wouldn’t even have known where to look. | |
| Mentoring Relationship | Participants discussing their mentoring relationship: its origin, its successes or shortcomings, its outcomes or effects of the relationship, interpersonal dynamics, etc. | I think that they’ve helped me become a little bit more disciplined in how I think about how we’re going to study this, and how we’re going to talk about it, and how we’re going to present results in a way that is, you know, sound: methodologically sound. | |
| Characteristics for Successful Mentorship RQ3: What individual characteristics support a successful mentee-mentor relationship between engineering faculty and engineering education researchers? | Mentee Trajectories | Mentor participants discussing their mentee’s motivation for pursuing work in EER and how mentees have developed in terms of EER soft skills and perspectives towards EER | She felt like, “Ah, I’m an old dog. Can I learn new tricks?” … And now I think she feels very confident. |
| Mentorship Views | Participants’ personal views of mentorship: philosophies, orientations with their research goals, and how their project has impacted these views | There’s that recognition of making sure that I am both training them and allowing them to do their own thing. I don’t want to handhold them all the time, right? | |
| Mentor Motivation/Background | Mentor participants’ motivation for pursuing work in EER, including discussions of passion/curiosity, previous research work, EER skills | I try to be a good colleague, a good citizen, a positive influence on those around me. |
[i] *Code names appear in text in italics, while superordinate themes appear in plain text.
**Quotes are not transcribed verbatim in this table, e.g., filler sounds like “um”, “uh”, stammering, repeated words, and other verbalizations have been edited for clarity.