Rethinking How We Discuss the Guidance of Student Researchers in Computing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a facet framework to dissect the plural roles faculty members play in guiding computing student researchers, moving beyond the overloaded term advising. It inventories six distinct facets—Advisor, Mentor, Manager, Collaborator, Coach, and Sponsor—and discusses how their interplay clarifies responsibilities, mitigates role conflation, and reveals conflicts between pedagogical and productivity objectives. The framework supports building robust guidance networks across faculty, institutions, and students by enabling transparent, role-specific discussions and decisions. By applying this taxonomy to practice, the work aims to improve training, policy, and the design of mentorship ecosystems in computing education.

Abstract

Computing faculty at research universities are often expected to guide the work of undergraduate and graduate student researchers. This guidance is typically called advising or mentoring, but these terms belie the complexity of the relationship, which includes several related but distinct roles. I examine the guidance of student researchers in computing (abbreviated to research guidance or guidance throughout) within a facet framework, creating an inventory of roles that faculty members can hold. By expanding and disambiguating the language of guidance, this approach reveals the full breadth of faculty responsibilities toward student researchers, and it facilitates discussing conflicts between those responsibilities. Additionally, the facet framework permits greater flexibility for students seeking guidance, allowing them a robust support network without implying inadequacy in an individual faculty member's skills. I further argue that an over-reliance on singular terms like advising or mentoring for the guidance of student researchers obscures the full scope of faculty responsibilities and interferes with improvement of those as skills. Finally, I provide suggestions for how the facet framework can be utilized by faculty and institutions, and how parts of it can be discussed with students for their benefit.

Figures (1)

• Figure 1: A Venn diagram showing guidance as a broad concept that includes many overlapping but differing roles that faculty provide to student researchers.