Building an Online Undergraduate Research Community

By: Elizabeth A. Donovan, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Murray State University & Lesley Wiglesworth, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Centre College

We never anticipated the changes 2020 brought us. We quickly learned how to teach online, complete our service virtually, and now are thinking about how to maintain our research productivity. Similarly, our students' lives changed. They had to adapt to learning virtually, and many lost their summer internships and research opportunities. Some faced illness, economic hardship, and new caregiving responsibilities. To provide our students with opportunities, we opened up a voluntary, unpaid research group for students from different institutions. 

Conducting undergraduate research virtually may seem daunting, but you can do this! Several aspects of online research can even make it better than the traditional face-to-face meetings. Most importantly, we are casting a wider net and welcoming students that may not have been able to previously participate in summer research groups. 

In the past, research has taken place on a college campus. Oftentimes, one faculty member pairs with a very small group of students, working with them on an intense schedule. However, many students have familial and work obligations that don’t allow them to stay on campus, and funding is often very competitive. By forming online research groups, faculty or students that struggle with childcare and other personal responsibilities during the summer may also be more willing and able to engage in the research groups. The virtual meetings have allowed us all to create flexible schedules that can accommodate all those participating, and we are now working with our most diverse group of students to date! Students see how most research is done – collaboratively and at a distance using today’s technology.

So, what are some tips for leading an online research group?  

• Do your best to have everyone meet together once a week and have a fun introduction.  Before the first meeting, students and faculty can upload a brief video telling a little about themselves (FlipGrid is just one platform for this). It’s a great way to see everyone’s creativity shine in ways that a typical introduction may restrict. Once everyone gets together, play a game to help everyone learn a bit more. Several great Zoom Ice Breakers can be found here. 

• Communicate expectations early and often, and do not be scared to set the bar high.
  We recommend that the entire group meet at least once a week with subgroups meeting together more often. We require our students to email their subgroups at least twice a week and participate in an online message board regularly.

• Check-in regularly.
  Students (even those used to success) will get discouraged, stuck, and experience failure, and they need reassurance. The article “Crossing Paths: Tips for Undergraduate Research” was recently written by students to help other undergraduates as they engage in their own research experiences. You may consider assigning this article as well as portions of Living Proof to students early in the research experience.  

• Be enthusiastic and optimistic about this working!
  There will be setbacks and issues along the way, particularly with technology. Just keep going. Emphasize what the students have already accomplished and learned, both in terms of their results as well as the new soft-skills they have developed. Creating and maintaining a positive environment will increase productivity and provide the students with a better experience. Roll with the hiccups and adapt accordingly. 

• Use the group’s diversity as a strength.
  Your group of students will most likely come from a variety of backgrounds, especially in terms of their mathematical training. Use this to your advantage. Each student will have a unique perspective on the problem at hand, and allowing them to teach each other will increase confidence in their abilities and strengthen their community bond. Highlighting these accomplishments verbally during meetings is key – all successes, no matter what the size, should be celebrated. 

• Utilize the many technology resources that already exist—there is no need to reinvent the wheel. 
  Some ideas are:

  • Slack:  Slack can essentially work as a chat room or discussion board for the entire research group. It allows you to organize communications by channels for group discussions and allows for private messages to share information, files, and more all in one place.

  • Coauthor: Coauthor was created by Erik Demaine as a collaboration tool for multi-author collaboration on unsolved problems in theoretical computer science. Co-author also acts as a discussion board in that students are able to record notes, ideas, and results that are updated in real time.  One of the great benefits of Co-author is that it supports LaTeX, R Markdown, and HTML.

  • Overleaf: Overleaf is an online LaTeX collaboration tool that allows for real-time editing and collaboration. It allows students to formalize their work in a written format, solidifying ideas into theorems and proofs.

Engaging undergraduates in research via online groups may become the new norm – at least for the next few years.  We need to embrace it, not shy away from the idea. Though it may be uncomfortable at first, consider this discomfort a growing pain, not a setback. It’s time to think: how will you embrace today’s research challenges?

References:

Hayes A., E. Hoard, Y. Lyu, J. Pack and K. Sutton (2020).  “Crossing Paths: Tips for Undergraduate Research”, Math Horizons, 27:3, 10-12.

Henrich, Allison K., Emille D. Lawrence, Matthew A. Pons, David George Taylor, Eds.  Living Proof:  Stories of Resilience Along the Mathematical Journey.  American Mathematical Society, 2019.