Integrating, Initiating, and Sustaining Interdisciplinary Undergraduate

Research A Report on the CUR Institute

May 25-27, 2011

Howard University Team Mission and Goals

• Bring Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research to Scale– General Education Curriculum Revision and Integrate

Research Component into our Divisional Requirements [core competencies that all Howard students should have] as a gateway to the major requirements and electives• Globalization• Ethics• Quantitative Reasoning• African American Cluster

Interdisciplinary UG Research Goals

Lessons Learned

• Review and Enhance our University Strategic Plan on Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research [Vision, Missions, Goals, Strategies, Actions]– Vision– Mission– Goals– Strategies– Actions

ASSESSMENT: OBJECTIVE/STRATEGY/METHODOBJECTIVE STRATEGY ASSESSMENTS INDICATOR USE OF RESULTS

1. To engage students in interdisciplinary ways of thinking critically about

research.

Have students generate research questions by analyzing a problem from more than one disciplinary perspective.

infer what researchers from two or more disciplines would need to know to solve a problem.

integrate into their projects research approaches from two or more disciplines, etc.

Pre and Post Tests

Student Power Point presentations

Electronic Portfolios

Average Lickert score should be higher than 3 [What proportion of students would be able to answer this question?]

Score the Power Points using the value rubrics

Develop more integrated interdisciplinary courses (e.g. team-taught, common meeting times, cross-section projects, presentations, etc.)

2.

3.

Vision

Howard University, a culturally diverse, comprehensive, research intensive and historically Black private university, to establish a pervasive undergraduate research experience in order to provide students with an educational experience of exceptional quality as mandated in the University’s mission statement

Challenges• Bringing UG Research Initiatives to Scale

– Exposure to Research (e.g. steps in project, soft skills awareness, etc.)– Focus on higher-level UG research (e.g. sequential, scaled structure

over multiple years, one-on-one mentoring, etc.)• Administrative Buy In

– Release Time for Course Development• Counter-argument: If you hire an adjunct or graduate student, you’ll save

money and actually increase retention as a result of these learning-community oriented courses

– Common Time for Shared Courses– Demonstrating how interdisciplinary undergraduate research

improves retention (helps the bottom line). • Rewards System Integration

– Training for Faculty• Coordination and Logistics [Smart Rooms, etc.]

Solutions• Create a Center for Undergraduate Research to Coordinate with General

Education – Coordinate Existing UG Research Programs [e.g. McNair, Center for Pre-

professional Research, etc.] and confederation network with other initiatives [e.g. CASHA, et. al.]

• Conduct Workshops on Helping Students Understand the Research Process

• Create a Tiered System of Research From Freshman Year– Scholarship Students Converted to Fellows and Paired with Faculty– Track options available only to certain categories of students (e.g. those who

will go on to be high school teachers are apprenticed as undergraduate teaching assistants in their subject fields)

– Freshman Seminar with Basic Introductions to Research• Intensive and Focused Research Should Begin Sophomore Year• Build out the Learning Community Model as one that improves retention

(cost-effective)

Conduct Workshops on Helping Students Understand the Research Process

• Help faculty understand how to integrate a component or more of the research project into student learning– E.G. take a data set and have students approach it

from their various disciplines [with a guiding theme] and have the students work on communicating information from that data set or common reading from their particular field]

Implementation• 3-5 Year Plan [Extending Mellon/COAS IWG Best Practices, 2006-

Present]– Year One:

• Clarify University Process for Developing UG Research• Establish an Office of Undergraduate Research

– Outline duties of the Office of UG Research» Common Calendar» Facilitate and Coordinate Communication Among » Logistical Problems

• Build on and/or Develop Spring 2012 Classes [CETLA Workshop = kickoff]• Survey and Create Compendium of UG Research

– Create calendar of UG Research Events (e.g. COAS and SoC UG Research Symposia)

– Year Two– Year Three– Year Four– Year Five