Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice Queensborough Community College (QCC)’s Model for Integrating Research Into the Curriculum Dr.
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Undergraduate Research as a High Impact Practice Queensborough Community College (QCC)’s Model for Integrating Research Into the Curriculum Dr. Maria Mercedes Franco Coordinator for Undergraduate Research & Associate Professor, Mathematics CCRI Winter Workshop - January 7, 2015 About Queensborough (QCC) Member institution of the City University of New York (CUNY) –the largest urban, public university system in the USA (11 senior colleges, 7 community colleges, 1 honors college, 4 graduate & professional schools. Founded in 1847, the university now enrolls over 270,000 undergraduate students). Located in one of the most diverse counties of the nation, Queens. Only 18% of our students commute from outside this borough. QCC students come from 143 countries, and nearly 44% of them speak a language other than English at home. They speak 84 different languages, 26% were born outside the USA. About Queensborough (QCC) Over 16,000 students: 30% Hispanic 25% Asian or Pacific Islander 25% Black 19% White 1% American Indian or Native Alaskan Among all associate degree seeking students the average age is 23.2 years (only 21% of our degree students 25 or older), 53% are female. Among first-time freshmen: average age is 19.5 years, 50% are female. Certificate students are primarily female and significantly older than associate degree seeking students. About Queensborough (QCC) Over 70% of the incoming freshmen require at least one remedial course and 64% of all first-time full-time freshmen and 48% of all degree students receive some form of financial aid. Tuition for 2013-2014 was $4,200. The four-year graduation rate for the Fall 2009 first-time, full-time freshman cohort was 23.5 % -the highest in the last decade. The six-year graduation rate for the Fall 2007 first-time, full-time freshman cohort was 28.7%. QCC Fact Book 2013-2014 About Queensborough (QCC) Committed equally to open-admission access and to academic excellence, QCC supports student learning in innovative ways. This commitment has led, over the years, to the creation of several Academies and to the integration of seven High Impact Practices (HIPs) into the fabric of the college. The Academies: STEM, Liberal Arts, Visual and Performing Arts, Health Related Sciences, and Business. Intrusive Advisement (Freshman Coordinators). High Impact Practices (HIPs) HIPs are teaching and learning practices proven to be beneficial to college students from all backgrounds, but more so to students from historically underserved populations (Kuh, 2008). Kuh identified ten HIPs. Seven of those have been implemented and institutionalized at QCC: Writing Intensive Courses (WI), Learning Communities (LC), Academic Service Learning (SL), Common Intellectual Experience, Collaborative Assignments and Projects, Global/Diversity Learning (GDL) & Undergraduate Research (UR). UR as a HIP “The goal is to involve students with actively contested questions, empirical observation, cuttingedge technologies, and the sense of excitement that comes from working to answer important questions.” High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter, by George D. Kuh (AAC&U, 2008) as reported in https://www.aacu.org/leap/hip.cfm UR as a HIP Student, process centered Outcome, product centered Student initiated Faculty initiated All students Honors students Curriculum based Co-curricular “Making Explicit the Implicit: Defining Undergraduate Research” by M. Beckman & N. Hensel UR as a HIP Collaborative Individual Original to student Original to discipline Multi-or interdisciplinary Discipline based Campus/community audience Professional audience “Making Explicit the Implicit: Defining Undergraduate Research” by M. Beckman & N. Hensel History of UR at QCC There is a strong history of involving undergraduate students in research: Research courses Independent Studies courses Research projects assigned as Honors Contracts to students in a regular class Paid or unpaid research internships Grant-funded (summer) research programs History of UR at QCC The college has received numerous grants to support UR, including an NIH Bridges to the Baccalaureate program, the first NSF REU awarded to a community college for physics research and several DOE MSEIP grants. All in all Queensborough has received over 3.4 million dollars to engage undergraduates in quality peer-reviewed science research and another 1.6 million to indirectly support such efforts. This commitment to undergraduate research has resulted in numerous publications and presentation at national conferences, as well as student awards. Over 100 students participate in UR each year throughout the various departments at the college. QCC annual Report 2013 Institutionalizing UR as a HIP at QCC In the Fall of 2013, the college decided to increase and diversify the opportunities for undergraduates to participate in meaningful research by institutionalizing UR as a HIP. The time was right: IOM “Future of Nursing Report: Leading change, advancing health” (2011). Report to the President “Engage to Excel” (Olson and Riordan, 2012). CUNY’s “Integrating Research into the Curriculum” initiative, led by Dr. Avrom Caplan, Associate University Dean for Research. Institutionalizing UR as a HIP at QCC A Faculty Inquiry Group, now known as the “UR Team”, was formed: Dr. Cheryl Bluestone, Social Sciences (Coord. UR in Fall 2013) Dr. Georgina Colalillo, Nursing Dr. Nidhi Gadura, Biological Sci. & Geology Dr. Jun H. Shin, Chemistry Dr. Mercedes Franco, Mathematics & CS Institutionalizing UR as a HIP at QCC The UR Team • Developed student learning outcomes for UR • Developed a professional development plan to enable faculty to teach courses that utilize research as a teaching & learning strategy (“research intensive” course: a research component or project is embedded into a regular course) • Designed an evaluation plan for UR at the college (to be implemented in 2015-2017) Student learning outcomes for UR LO1 - (Collect and Analyze data) Students will be able to follow protocol in order to gather appropriate data & evaluate and analyze data accurately to provide a solution to a problem and complete a project LO2 - (Create a product) Students will present the data in an appropriate format (particularly: correctly make and label relevant figures, tables, or graphs) to submit an analytical product to support/refute different points of view on a topic LO3 - (Present product) Students will accurately present his/her product at an appropriate venue. The venue may be a class meeting, a club, a departmental conference, a QCC conference or any regional or national conference Professional Development Plan for UR For faculty across HIPs, offered by CETL: 1. Backward Course Design 2. Reflection For UR faculty, offered by UR Team: 3. Designing a research intensive course: Our premise: faculty members are well equipped to conduct research in their disciplines. FIG assists in developing and embedding research into a regular class in a manner that is pedagogically sound & executable within the timeframe of a semester. Professional Development Plan for UR Stipends recognize time and effort spent on PD activities UR Team members mentor UR recruits after workshop Blackboard site serves as repository of course design documents, reading materials, templates UR Team members review and approve UR course designs First Cohort of UR Faculty Spring 2014: Dr. Nidhi Gadura – BI 356 Principles of Genetics Dr. Areti Tsimounis – BI 421Human Physiology Lab Dr. Mercedes Franco – MA 336 Computer Assisted Statistics Dr. Rommel Robertson – PSYC 240 Social Psychology First Cohort of UR Faculty Fall 2014: Dr. Monica Trujillo – BI 461 General Microbiology Dr. Lakersha Smith – PSYC 230 Abnormal Psychology Drs. Georgina Colalillo, Regina Cardaci & Barbara BlakeCampbell – NU 204 Nursing and Societal Forces MA 336 Computer Assisted Statistics Intro to probability & statistics for non-majors (class size: 24). Mandatory Research “Examining Human Rights with the Lens of Statistics” aligns with other HIPs: Common Read, SL and WI. Students work in groups; collect quantitative data about a human right issue of their choice; design and conduct correlational analysis with the data (Hypothesis testing). Students present to a general audience (High School & QCC students, faculty, staff) and write an statistical analysis report. CH 115 Introduction to Nanoscience • Students will review the literature on a nanoparticle of choice. They will note the applications of this nanoparticle, whether composites have been synthesized with carbon nanotubes and what synthesis procedures have been reported. • They will then propose experimental procedures to synthesize either 1) a novel carbon nanotube- nanoparticle composite utilizing a previously reported method or 2) a reported carbon nanotube-nanoparticle composite utilizing an unreported method. They must present a justification of their choice, which could be related to using better environmental and health friendly procedures. • They will submit an abstract (400-500 words) at the end of the semester and do a presentation in class and at the Honors Conference. Aligned with WI. CH 106 Chemistry and the Arts • Students will characterize fabrics, pigments, and other materials used by the Queensborough Community College Theater Department using methods and instrumentation of analytical chemistry, such as light microscopy, scanningelectron microscopy, elemental analysis, and spectroscopy. • Product: 5–8 page laboratory report, partly assembled from inclass scaffolding assignments • Presentation: 15-minute oral presentation with slides suitable for a mixed audience of high-school and college students, faculty, and staff at the QCC Honors Conference. • Aligned with SL. CS 203 Algorithmic Problem Solving II Student groups will find numerical problems in their science courses including mathematics and develop the software to solve their problems. Product: 200-300 lines of code, a design report. Presentation: Each research group will deliver a 10-15 min. presentation in the classroom. PSYC 240 Social Psychology Students will work on groups. Each group will be given access to a large data set file containing data on a wide variety of social and psychological factors. Each group will identify four variables that they would be interested in designing a set of research questions to further explore and investigate. Groups will generate meaninful and plausible hypothesis about the perceived relationship among the variables. These hypotheses will serve as the focus of each group’s research project. Students will summarize their work on a paper and will deliver a PPT presentation. PSYC 230 Abnormal Psychology In an effort to strengthen students’ understanding of psychological research design, each student will conduct a project titled “Psychology in Motion (PIM). PIM is a semester long project which endeavors to introduce students to the research planning process. At the end of the semester each student will have a structured outline of intended research. BI 356 Principles of Genetics Join CSHL DNA Barcoding Project (Honors) Students work in teams of 3 to come up with a testable hypothesis. Students extract Genomic DNA, PCR amplify barcoding region, send out for sequencing, use DNA Subway to analyze the sequence and identify species, make phylogenetic trees to understand evolutionary relationships Make a presentation at the end of the semester. NU 204 Nursing and Societal Forces Students will frame a researchable question and gather evidence to answer the question. •Collect quantitative data on the teen pregnancy rates in NYC by zip code utilizing appropriate resources. •Research and review the literature on teen pregnancy reduction interventions. •Hypothesize (question) possible causes for persistence of problem despite intervention. •utilize the PICOT framework to conduct evidence-based research •Develop a poster presentation and research paper (WI, SL, GDL). Assessment Plan for UR Self-reported benefits collected from UR students via (pre & post) surveys. Assessment of student work (papers and oral presentations) using a rubric developed by the UR. The rubric recognizes 5 levels of performance (0 through 4; 1 is not passing) for each one of the UR LO. In addition, the college will assess impact of UR on retention and graduation rates, enrollment in STEM programs, and student satisfaction across gender, race and at-risk factors. Expected outcomes…. LONG TERM GOALS: •Increased number of faculty engaged in research. •Increased number of courses with UR component built in. •Increased number of students engaged in research. •Increased number of student presentations at conferences. •Increased retention rates and transfer rates to higher education degrees. Thank you! [email protected] Acknowledgements: Dr. Paul Marchese, Interim VP of Academic Affairs, QCC Dr. Jane Hindman, Director of The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), QCC Dr. Avrom Caplan, University Associate Dean for Research, CUNY