UMES Action Grant Program Documenting a Student’s Experience

1. Undergraduate Students’ Research Skill Development through Student-Faculty Research CollaborationConference Presentation at University of Michigan

2. UMES Action Grant ProgramDocumenting a Student’s Experience

3. Presentation By Reginald Asare (Undergraduate Student-Sophomore) Supervisor: Dr. Okeleke Nzeogwu University of Maryland Eastern Shore

4. Activities Schedule • Proposal Announcement • Proposal Submission • Student Selection • Contract & Work Arrangement • Survey Questionnaire Development • Literature Review Write-up • IRB Protocol Requirement (human subjects) • Survey Sampling • Survey Administration Activities

5. Activities Schedule Cont. • Survey Coding & Data Entry (Excel) • Survey Data Analysis (SPSS) • Report Preparation • Hawaii International Conference on Education (Abstract Submission) • Power Point Slides (Conference Presentation) • My Experience Report I

6. Activities Schedule Cont. • Conference Trip (Paper work & planning) • Conference Travel & Presentation • My Experience Report II • Enriching The Academic Experience of College Science Students—2007 Conference at University of Michigan (Abstract Submission) • Power Point slides preparation & documenting overall experience

7. Proposal Announcement • Math & Natural Sciences • Attract minorities into the sciences • Develop an undergraduate research infrastructure • Institutionalize research • Enhance student’s research-related learning

8. Project Title: Are UMES Instructors Providing Their Science Students Opportunity for Learning Teamwork/Collaborative Skills

9. Proposal Submitted • included: • Statement of Problem • significance of proposed work • background of study • project timeline and budget • results • references

10. Survey Questionnaire Development • Generated the initial draft of student and teacher survey questions • The final student survey consisted of 11 questions, and the faculty’s 21 questions. • Survey responses range from Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly Agree (5) (Likert scale). • Survey instructions and demographic questions were included.

11. Writing the Literature Review • Read 10 articles on teamwork use in science and math classes. • Summarized the literature about teamwork use in science and math classes. • Developed a reference list.

12. Certification & IRB Protocol Requirement • Visited NIH website and completed a short course on “The Goals and Principles of Human Participant Protection”. • Answered questions & received certificate. • Submitted certificate, survey questionnaires, and other materials to UMES IRB board. • UMES IRB approved study.

13. Faculty Survey Sampling • Got list of math and science faculty members by department (fall 2005) • Planned to administer survey to all faculty. • Chose mail survey (instead of phone or web survey) • Administer survey through departmental administrative assistants.

14. Faculty Survey Sampling Cont. • The departments surveyed are: • Agriculture • National Sciences • Physician Assistant • Engineering & Aviation Science • Math & Computer Science • Rehabilitation Services • Technology.

15. Student Survey Sampling • Printed out all classes in the 7 department from the catalog online. • Eliminated all graduate classes, labs classes, and lower level classes (100/200). • Got the class list of student headcount, and eliminated all classes with less than 7 students.

16. Student Survey Adminstration • Visited classes and administered students’ survey, using a matrix with: • course prefix • course id • current enrollment • time of class • day of class • room number • building • instructor.

17. Survey Administration Management • Wrote up a letter informing all science faculty members about the survey. • Divided the classes up among research team members. • Classes were visited and the surveys were administered and collected over a two week period. • One faculty team member handled the faculty survey administration.

18. Survey Coding & Data Entry (Excel) • Assigned each survey question a variable name and specified the response input. • Survey returns were assigned to the student team members. • Survey returns were coded and inputted into Excel spread sheets.

19. Survey Data Analysis (SPSS) • Completed some readings on the use of SPSS to analyze data. • Imported survey data and used SPSS to organize and screen the data for errors. • Frequencies was the first statistic that were reviewed. • Response were further analyzed and interpreted.

20. Survey Data Analysis (SPSS) Cont. • Initial statistics studied: • mean • standard error of mean • Mode • standard deviation • Variance

21. Survey Analysis Write-up and Final Report Preparation • Review of sample journal paper reporting survey data. • Preparation of tables summarizing survey results. • Student’s initial rough draft of various sections of project paper write-up (survey sampling, administration, results and discussion). • Repetitive revisions, between students and faculty.

22. Survey Analysis Write-up and Final Report Preparation Cont. • Merging of both summaries: student and faculty reports. • Submitting an abstract to Hawaii International Conference on Education • Layout of final paper. • Responding to survey sampling issues and other research concerns. • Polishing the paper.

23. Final Paper Report Outline • Headings • Purpose of Study • Research Questions • Significance/Importance of the Study • Study 1: Faculty Perceptions of CCL Techniques • Faculty Demographics • Instrument

24. Final Paper Report Outline Cont. • Headings cont. • Procedures • Faculty Survey Results • Study 2: Student Perceptions • Student Demographics • Instrument • Procedures • Student Survey Results • Discussion and Conclusions

25. My Experience Report I • A summary of my experience and all the activities, steps, and procedure to complete the research. (written in essay form)

26. Conference Presentation Activities • Received letter of acceptance from the Hawaii International Conference on Education. • Submitted final paper to the conference. • Filled out Registration form & received information for the conference. • Completed request for off-campus trip, booked flight and hotel.

27. Preparing Outlines for Conference Presentation • Topics covered: • Rationale for the study • Significance/importance for UMES • Literature Review • Study Design & Methodology • Survey Design & Sampling • Survey Administration • Faculty Survey Questionnaire • Students Survey Questionnaire • Demographic Statistics • Survey Result • Discussion

28. Practicing for Conference Presentation • Articulating the reason for the research. • Summarizing the literature on collaborative/cooperative learning. • Discussing the instruments and procedures on how research was conducted. • Comparing the responses of students and faculty. • Discussing the interesting findings and major limitation from the results.

29. My Experience Report II(Personal Highlights) • The feeling of being recognized for doing research on an important topic that may be published someday. • Research project became exciting because of: • Being able to conduct research to find an answer to an important question • Able to distribute surveys to students • Coming up with survey questions • Analyzing the data using SPSS

30. My Experience Report II Cont. • One of the few undergraduates at the conference. • Honored by other students and able to advise my peers to find and take advantage of such opportunities. • Benefits for working with teachers and doing research: • Gaining more experience and knowledge • Being able to travel and learn from other cultures. • Enhancing • Communication skills • Interpersonal skills • Time management • Being independent • Taking responsibility

31. THANK YOU THANK YOU