Supporting Undergraduate Research for Globally Distributed Students and Mentors

Undergraduate research is widely viewed as a high-impact practice. However, participation in undergraduate research among students completing degree programs exclusively online may be impeded due to barriers such as access limitations, time poverty, and adequate institutional support. Through an NSF I-USE project (#2021221), we formed a framework of support, including a research independent study course and a mentoring program, where we deliberately separated and defined the roles of research supervisor and research mentor. In this session, we will discuss interview data on the experiences of faculty and students in both the credit-bearing active research as well as the non-credit-bearing research mentoring program, highlighting both successes and growth areas. We will also share our ideas for moving forward with undergraduate research support for fully online students and our plans for navigating the hurdles we know are coming.