Group items tagged

Every interview subject conducted some sort of a literature review as part of any research project

Every researcher described some strategies for keeping up with new developments in their area of expertise, all of which involved some scanning of new publications and some personal contact with individuals exploring the same territory.

For most, presenting research at conferences was a common part of bringing their research to completion. For all, writing up results for publication was an important final step, and they seemed acutely aware of the pecking order for publication venues in their field.

(In contrast, undergraduates mostly encounter articles within databases, called up by key words, not as artifacts within a particular journal which carries clout.)

One thing the students all gained through these interviews was an appreciation that research is not a matter of finding answers in other people’s publications. Every scholar interviewed described how they had asked a question that nobody had asked before, a question they couldn’t answer themselves until they had completed the research. It struck me that so much of what undergraduates experience as “research” is very nearly the opposite, a process of uncovering answers others have already arrived at.

I’m also thinking about what these interviews said collectively about how real research is conducted. It makes me a little crazy when students abandon a truly interesting question because they can’t find sources to quote that provide the answer, or when they change their topic based on what they can find easily. Or (shudder) when they say they've written their paper, but need help finding five sources to cite. Clearly, they are not learning how to do research; they aren't even learning what research is.  What I would really, really like is to figure out how to give every student the experience of not worrying so much about getting the right answers, but learning how to ask a really good question. The kind they won't find answered in the library.

(Part of Assessment Report) http://www.uncw.edu/cas/assessmentplanandreport.html

Assessment Checklist 1. What are our research questions? (What are we trying to discover about student skills, knowledge, abilities, etc.; and what evidence do we have already?) 2. What is the expected level of performance? 3. When in the students‟ career do we assess this outcome? (entry, end of sophomore year, senior, etc.) 4. In which course(s) or venue? 5. What student work/artifacts are collected? 6. How is the student work evaluated? (criteria/rubric) 7. Who evaluates the student work? 8. Who analyzes the results? 9. Where do recommendations for action go? 10. Who takes action? (And how do we ensure changes are evidence‐based and data‐driven?) 11. How is the process documented? 12. Where is the documentation kept? 13. What is the timetable/schedule for determining which outcomes are assessed Developed by the General Education Assessment Committee for designing assessment of a learning when? outcome.