Mentoring of Undergraduate Research Experiences in Engineering

Course Materials and Lecture Videos 

Developed and presented by Professor Gregory Pottie, this course is about how to effectively mentor undergraduate students in conducting meaningful research. 

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LECTURE VIDEOS

14 Lectures by Professor Pottie

Click on “Lecture Video” for each unit to open media file and view

Unit 1: VALUE PROPOSITIONS

  • What is research?
  • What is the value of research?
  • How to find the value in your research?

Lecture Video 1

Lecture Notes 1

UNIT 3: SAFETY

  • What culture should you create in your lab?
  • What equipment should you have?
  • What do you do if there is an emergency?

Lecture Video 3

Lecture Notes 3

UNIT 5: TEAM DYNAMICS

  • What benefits come from group work?
  • What downsides come from group work?
  • Mitigate the downsides of groupwork?

Lecture Video 5

Lecture Notes 5

UNIT 7: FOSTERING STUDENT LEARNING

  • What techniques help students learn?
  • What are some barriers to student learning?
  • What habits improve efficiency in learning?

Lecture Video 7

Lecture Notes 7

UNIT 9: LEARNING BY DOING

  • What does it mean to design for validation?
  • How to create relevant simulations and experiments?

Lecture Video 9

Lecture Notes 9

UNIT 11: FORMING AND TESTING HYPOTHESIS

  • What is causation vs. correlation?
  • What is causal analysis of experimental evidence?

Lecture Video 11

Lecture Notes 11

UNIT 13: RESEARCH DOCUMENTATION

  • Why is documentation important?
  • What are standards for archiving software?
  • How should you go about showing research group work to the broader public?

Lecture Video 13

Lecture Notes 13

UNIT 2: THE BASICS

  • What are the basics of being a mentor?
  • What qualities should a mentor have?
  • What should you prepare for a lab?

Lecture Video 2

Lecture Notes 2

UNIT 4: INCLUSION AND DECORUM

  • How to create an inclusive environment?
  • What is implicit bias and how can you keep it from affecting your mentorship?

Lecture Video 4

Lecture Notes 4

UNIT 6: STRUCTURE OF KNOWLEDGE

  • Why is it important to create a structure of knowledge in your lab?
  • How do you create this structure?

Lecture Video 6

Lecture Notes 6

UNIT 8: THE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

  • What do you consider when training students?
  • What are some ways to improve the experience of students in your lab?

Lecture Video 8

Lecture Notes 8

UNIT 10: THE TECHNICAL LITERATURE

  • What tools improve students’ understanding?
  • What considerations need to be taken when assigning academic literature?

Lecture Video 10

Lecture Notes 10

UNIT 12: ITERATIVE DESIGN

  • What are priorities in the design of an experiment?
  • What can you do to improve the design of an experiment?

Lecture Video 12

Lecture Notes 12