What I Do
My research and scholarship focus on:
- How college students learn to be good scientific communicators
- How college students learn in STEM generally
- How to train graduate students to be effective teachers
- Using data science tools to inform teaching practices
Currently Open Projects
I am recruiting undergraduate researchers to help with two projects currently.
Project 1: Validating a Code Book for Classifying Instructor Comments
Use an existing code book to classify instructor comments on student reports. Reading and computer-intensive, but you work at your own pace.
This project could be expanded to a BIO391 research project by adding post-classification analysis with R. (Updated 8/1/21)
Project 2: Scoring Videos of Lab Instructors for Specific Behaviors
Watch videos of lab instructors, then use MaxQDA software to tag specific class activities. Computer-based, and you work at your own pace.
If you are thinking about doing audio or video-based data collection in the future, MaxQDA is a great tool to learn how to use. This would be a good BIO391 research project. (Updated 5/7/20)
General Requirements
For all of my projects, you must complete WFU’s Human Research Subject Protection training program (nicknamed “CITI“), which takes 3-4 hours. CITI certification is good for 10 years and is recognized by other institutions doing human subjects research.