TY - JOUR
T1 - How Do We Do This at a Distance?! A Descriptive Study of Remote Undergraduate Research Programs during COVID-19
AU - Erickson, Olivia A.
AU - Cole, Rebecca B.
AU - Isaacs, Jared M.
AU - Alvarez-Clare, Silvia
AU - Arnold, Jonathan
AU - Augustus-Wallace, Allison
AU - Ayoob, Joseph C.
AU - Berkowitz, Alan
AU - Branchaw, Janet
AU - Burgio, Kevin R.
AU - Cannon, Charles H.
AU - Ceballos, Ruben Michael
AU - Cohen, C. Sarah
AU - Coller, Hilary
AU - Disney, Jane
AU - Doze, Van A.
AU - Eggers, Margaret J.
AU - Farina, Stacy
AU - Ferguson, Edwin L.
AU - Gray, Jeffrey J.
AU - Greenberg, Jean T.
AU - Hoffmann, Alexander
AU - Jensen-Ryan, Danielle
AU - Kao, Robert M.
AU - Keene, Alex C.
AU - Kowalko, Johanna E.
AU - Lopez, Steven A.
AU - Mathis, Camille
AU - Minkara, Mona
AU - Murren, Courtney J.
AU - Ondrechen, Mary Jo
AU - Ordoñez, Patricia
AU - Osano, Anne
AU - Padilla-Crespo, Elizabeth
AU - Palchoudhury, Soubantika
AU - Qin, Hong
AU - Ramírez-Lugo, Juan
AU - Reithel, Jennifer
AU - Shaw, Colin A.
AU - Smith, Amber
AU - Smith, Rosemary
AU - Summers, Adam P.
AU - Tsien, Fern
AU - Dolan, Erin L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 O. A. Erickson et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education.
PY - 2022/3/1
Y1 - 2022/3/1
N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic shut down undergraduate research programs across the United States. A group of 23 colleges, universities, and research institutes hosted remote undergraduate research programs in the life sciences during Summer 2020. Given the unprecedented offering of remote programs, we carried out a study to describe and evaluate them. Using structured templates, we documented how programs were designed and implemented, including who participated. Through focus groups and surveys, we identified programmatic strengths and shortcomings as well as recommendations for improvements from students’ perspectives. Strengths included the quality of mentorship, opportunities for learning and professional development, and a feeling of connection with a larger community. Weaknesses included limited cohort building, challenges with insufficient structure, and issues with technology. Although all programs had one or more activities related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, these topics were largely absent from student reports even though programs coincided with a peak in national consciousness about racial inequities and structural racism. Our results provide evidence for designing remote Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) that are experienced favorably by students. Our results also indicate that remote REUs are sufficiently positive to further investigate their affordances and constraints, including the potential to scale up offerings, with minimal concern about disenfranchising students.
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic shut down undergraduate research programs across the United States. A group of 23 colleges, universities, and research institutes hosted remote undergraduate research programs in the life sciences during Summer 2020. Given the unprecedented offering of remote programs, we carried out a study to describe and evaluate them. Using structured templates, we documented how programs were designed and implemented, including who participated. Through focus groups and surveys, we identified programmatic strengths and shortcomings as well as recommendations for improvements from students’ perspectives. Strengths included the quality of mentorship, opportunities for learning and professional development, and a feeling of connection with a larger community. Weaknesses included limited cohort building, challenges with insufficient structure, and issues with technology. Although all programs had one or more activities related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, these topics were largely absent from student reports even though programs coincided with a peak in national consciousness about racial inequities and structural racism. Our results provide evidence for designing remote Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) that are experienced favorably by students. Our results also indicate that remote REUs are sufficiently positive to further investigate their affordances and constraints, including the potential to scale up offerings, with minimal concern about disenfranchising students.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123230062&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85123230062&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1187/cbe.21-05-0125
DO - 10.1187/cbe.21-05-0125
M3 - Article
C2 - 34978923
AN - SCOPUS:85123230062
SN - 1931-7913
VL - 21
JO - CBE life sciences education
JF - CBE life sciences education
IS - 1
M1 - ar1
ER -