Promoting an Promoting an Undergraduate Research Undergraduate Research

CultureCultureKerry K. Karukstis 2007-2008 President, Council on Undergraduate Research Professor of Chemistry,

Harvey Mudd CollegeAn Inside Higher Ed Audio Conference

December 12, 20072:00 p.m. EST

Copyright © 2007

OutlineOutline

• Establishing Reasons to Advance Undergraduate Research on Your Campus

• Seven Key Steps to Building an Undergraduate Research Culture on Your Campus

• Programs and Services of CUR to Assist in Promoting an Undergraduate Research Culture

Establishing Reasons to Advance Undergraduate

Research on Your Campus

A Generally-Accepted Definition of

Undergraduate Research

• Includes scholarship and creative activities• Employs a “teacher-scholar model” for faculty members• Insures that both student and faculty member have a

vested interest in the research experience

Undergraduate research is an inquiry or investigation conducted by an

undergraduate in collaboration with a faculty mentor that makes an original

intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline.Statement developed at a CUR Dialogues workshop in 1997:

Wenzel, T. J., “What is Undergraduate Research?,” Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly, 1997, 17, 163.

Undergraduate Research –

An Effective Pedagogical Tool

Participation in undergraduate research has been

demonstrated to achieve:

• Greater gains in learning – science/math/logic, problem solving, literature/language/context mastery, and personal initiative and communication skills

• Disciplinary learning beyond traditional classroom settings

• Increased connection to and retention within the major

• Stronger enrollment in graduate education and increased employment in major-related fields

• Greater participation in campus intellectual activities

• Integration into the culture and profession of discipline

Faculty Benefits of Undergraduate

Research Participation

• Intellectual invigoration, increased enthusiasm, improved teaching

• Personal satisfaction working with undergraduates

• Advances in research program

• Effective means of staying current in one’s field

Institutional Benefits of Supporting

Undergraduate Research Endeavors

• Enhances intellectual vitality of the institution• Attracts talented individuals to join a faculty,

improving the overall program • Attracts engaged students• External funding brings new equipment and

facilities• Leads to more innovative curricula, particularly

collaborative and interdisciplinary courses and programs

• Increases opportunities for engagement in national discussions of trends in higher education and new research directions

Organizational Change Models

There is ample evidence that, for organizations to initiate and sustain

change, members must have a shared vision, use a systems approach that recognizes the interrelationships among

participants, and learn as a team particularly through personal

commitments made to each other.

Seven Key Steps to Building an Undergraduate Research

Culture on Your Campus

Seven Key Steps to Building an

Undergraduate Research Culture on

Your Campus

• Begin with your mission statement• Start with a core group of committed

individuals• Start small• Seek the advice and effective practices

of others• Build research into your curriculum• Celebrate achievements and milestones• Design effective assessment measures

Seven Key Steps to Building an

Undergraduate Research Culture on

Your Campus

• Begin with your mission statement• Start with a core group of committed

individuals• Start small• Seek the advice and effective practices

of others• Build research into your curriculum• Celebrate achievements and milestones• Design effective assessment measures

Crafting Change Agenda to Fit an

Institution’s Culture

• Your institution’s mission statement articulates its guiding principles and shared aspirations

• An undergraduate research program must be crafted to mesh with an institution’s goals, vision, and practices

• Creation or enhancement of an undergraduate research culture on campus will require a rethinking of both the teaching and learning processes.

• A research culture does not happen spontaneously - sustainable change will require time for ideas to be shared openly and to gain momentum to flourish.

Seven Key Steps to Building an

Undergraduate Research Culture on

Your Campus

• Begin with your mission statement• Start with a core group of

committed individuals• Start small• Seek the advice and effective practices

of others• Build research into your curriculum• Celebrate achievements and milestones• Design effective assessment measures

Survey the Landscape for Undergraduate

Research Champions• Identify passionate advocates in key areas of the

institution

• Offer a range of ways faculty members can participate in building a research culture

• Provide support for faculty members at all career stages

• Many different constituencies have key roles to play to help establish a campus-wide UR program.

• Over time, new leaders will be necessary to address the next set of issues.

Seven Key Steps to Building an

Undergraduate Research Culture on

Your Campus

• Begin with your mission statement• Start with a core group of

committed individuals• Start small• Seek the advice and effective practices

of others• Build research into your curriculum• Celebrate achievements and milestones• Design effective assessment measures

Select a Few Key Select a Few Key Parallel Initiatives to Parallel Initiatives to

Set the StageSet the Stage Include:

• A “high visibility” activity– To generate support and to show the community where

the UR initiative can take the campus in the future

• A curricular connection– To integrate research into the curriculum and to support

the teacher-scholar model for faculty

• A focus on a key element of infrastructure– To provide an environment where UR can be sustained

and excel

• A mechanism to expand the program– To enable more undergraduate research activity to

occur to enhance student learning outcomes

Seven Key Steps to Building an

Undergraduate Research Culture on

Your Campus

• Begin with your mission statement• Start with a core group of committed

individuals• Start small• Seek the advice and effective

practices of others• Build research into your curriculum• Celebrate achievements and milestones• Design effective assessment measures

New Ways of New Ways of Thinking Require Thinking Require Engagement with Engagement with

New IdeasNew Ideas• Create the time and space needed for crucial

institution-wide conversations

• Foster dialog and the exchange of ideas with teams that cross departments, rank, and level of research involvement

• Invite external speakers to campus to challenge current practices

• Encourage attendance at conferences and visits to other institutions to examine other’s best practices and innovations

Seven Key Steps to Building an

Undergraduate Research Culture on

Your Campus

• Begin with your mission statement• Start with a core group of committed

individuals• Start small• Seek the advice and effective practices

of others• Build research into your curriculum• Celebrate achievements and milestones• Design effective assessment measures

Establishing a Establishing a Research-Research-Supportive Supportive CurriculumCurriculum

• At the level of an individual faculty member:– Construct a laboratory experiment or classroom

exercise to guide students in the development of a spirit of inquiry and sound experimental design.

– Encourage intellectual inquiry by placing students in a central position in the educational process

– Infuse pedagogies that mimic the research process (inquiry- or problem-based learning, cooperative learning, learning communities, active learning)

– Expose students to the design of experiments and the analysis and interpretation of data.

– Integrate information literacy skill development throughout courses

Establishing a Establishing a Research-Supportive Research-Supportive

CurriculumCurriculum• At the department level:

– Include a component in courses throughout a major program (‘vertical integration”) that seeks to enhance a research skill such as oral or written communication skills

• At the institutional level:– Agree on core classes that emphasize valued

research strategies (e.g., interdisciplinary perspectives or active learning)

– Provide institutional infrastructure that facilitates the development of research-supportive curricula

– Develop administrative perspectives that encourage a research culture

Facilities and Facilities and Resources that Resources that

Promote a Research-Promote a Research-Supportive CurriculumSupportive Curriculum

• Design of spaces to support active learning, encourage gathering of colleagues, and permit presentations in a variety of formats

• Efforts to make research visible

• Use of research-grade instrumentation in intermediate instructional laboratories

• Placement of major instrumentation in resource rooms for maximum availability

Engagement in Collaborative

Curriculum Design to Foster Undergraduate Inquiry and Research

Benefits to the Curriculum• The multiple perspectives and collective academic experience of

faculty yield rich ideas for changing courses and the classroom environment.

• The collective approach provides an opportunity to design a cohesive and consistent program rather than just a collection of courses.

The Power of Numbers• Students sense the importance and value of a particular pedagogical

approach when it is applied in many different settings.• The combination of faculty and administrative action creates a

powerful environment for change.

Why is a collaborative approach desirable?

The Impact on Individual Faculty• Faculty who act as individuals and attempt to introduce

productive changes are often discouraged by student resistance, particularly when students view their role as receivers of information.

• Individual faculty who encounter difficulties in changing their courses feel unsupported and isolated. On most campuses there are generally few mechanisms or opportunities to communicate with colleagues the value of productive curricular innovations.

Engagement in Collaborative

Curriculum Design to Foster Undergraduate Inquiry and Research

Why is a collaborative approach desirable?

Seven Key Steps to Building an

Undergraduate Research Culture on

Your Campus

• Begin with your mission statement• Start with a core group of committed

individuals• Start small• Seek the advice and effective practices of

others• Build research into your curriculum• Celebrate achievements and

milestones• Design effective assessment measures

Celebrations and Recognitions are

Powerful Motivators

• Create a sense of community by taking every opportunity to reinforce progress

• Recognize milestones along the journey as a valuable means of re-energizing the campus

• Reward those who take risks despite the outcome

• Celebrate accomplishment and achievements

Seven Key Steps to Building an

Undergraduate Research Culture on

Your Campus• Begin with your mission statement• Start with a core group of committed

individuals• Start small• Seek the advice and effective practices of

others• Build research into your curriculum• Celebrate achievements and milestones• Design effective assessment

measures

Initiate an Initiate an Assessment Assessment

ProgramProgram• Start small

– Design small-scale assessment projects that bring quick and effective results to build enthusiasm

• Start with successes– Encourage faculty to focus initially on the

strongest aspects of their programs

• Know why you are assessing– Make goal identification a collaborative effort

• Minimize the burden of assessment– Seek resources and support to make the

assessment process manageable

Promote an Promote an Assessment Assessment

CultureCulture• Focus on teaching and learning rather

than assessment– Frame assessment as a tool for bringing about

better teaching and learning

• Make assessment relevant – Use assessment to answer the questions in which

faculty and administrators are most interested

• Emphasize the transformative potential of assessment– Use assessment to enable goals to be achieved

Undergraduate Research that is:

Faculty-drivenStudent-centered, and

Institutionally-supported

Provides the combination of factors necessary for:

pedagogical effectiveness, enhanced learning outcomes,

research productivity, and research program sustainability

A Confluence of Essential

Components

Programs and Services of CUR to Assist in Promoting an

Undergraduate Research Culture

Council on Undergraduate Research• A national organization of individual (≈ 3000) and

institutional members (≈ 550) representing all disciplines and over 900 institutions of all types

• Seven disciplinary divisions: Biology, Chemistry, Geo-sciences, Mathematics & Computer Science, Physics & Astronomy, Psychology, Social Sciences

• Two multidisciplinary divisions: At-Large and Under-graduate Research Program Directors

• National office in Washington, D.C. with Executive Officer Dr. Nancy Hensel and 24 councilors per division

The mission of the Council on Undergraduate Research is to support

and promote high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research

and scholarship.

CUR’s Focus : Faculty DevelopmentTo promote and support undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship

MEETINGS

National Conference

CUR Dialogues

Institutes

Posters on the Hill

CCLI Regional Workshops

SERVICES

Consulting Service

Mentor Network

CUR Fellows Awards

CUR Listserve

Washington Partners

PUBLICATIONS

CUR Quarterly “How To” Series Specialized Volumes

Upcoming Events for CUR

INSTITUTES

Initiating and Sustaining Undergraduate Research ProgramsFebruary 15-17, 2008, University of Arizona

Beginning a Research Program in the Natural Sciences at a Predominantly Undergraduate Institution

June 6-8, 2008, Davidson College

Mentorship, Collaboration and Undergraduate Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities

July 18-20, 2008, Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin

Proposal Writing Institute July 20-24, 2008, Baldwin-Wallace College

CUR NSF-CCLI Regional

WorkshopsMid-Atlantic Region September 28-30, 2007 - Penn State Delaware County, Media (PA)

Southeast Region October 26-28, 2007 - Spelman College, Atlanta (GA)

South Central RegionJanuary 18-20, 2008 – University of Texas, El Paso (TX)

West RegionFebruary 15-17, 2008 – University of California, Northridge (CA)

Northwest RegionFebruary 29 – March 2, 2008 – Lewis & Clark College (OR)

Northeast RegionSeptember 26-28, 2008 – Buffalo State College (NY)

Great Lakes Region October 10-12, 2008 – Hope College (MI)

Central RegionOctober 24-26, 2008 – Truman State University (MO)

12th CUR National

Conference• “Frontiers and Challenges in Undergraduate Research”

• Hosted by the College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, MN June 21-24, 2008

• Conference sub-themes include:– Undergraduate research and scholarship in Arts and

Humanities

– Assessment of research outcomes

– Beyond the academy: Real-world applications of research results

– Early involvement in research

– Research in a global environment

– Undergraduate research in the interface of disciplines

References• Abraham, Neal B.. Facilities and Resources that Promote a Research-Supportive Curriculum. In:

Kerry K. Karukstis and Timothy E. Elgren, eds. Developing and Sustaining a Research-Supportive Curriculum: A Compendium of Successful Practices. Washington, D.C.: Council on Undergraduate Research; 2007, Chapter 27.

• Crowe, M. and Brakke, D., Assessing the impact of undergraduate research experiences: a review of the literature. Available at http://www.aacu.org/meetings/undergraduate_research/documents/crowebrakkeannobib507.pdf

• Eckel, P., Green, M., & Hill, B. (2001). Riding the Waves of Change. American Council on Education.

• Hakim, T. M. How to Develop and Administer Institutional Undergraduate Research Programs. Washington, D.C.: Council on Undergraduate Research; 2000.

• K. K. Karukstis. THE MERIT OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH: A Confluence of Student, Faculty, and Institutional Rewards, National Academies Partnerships for Emerging Research Institutions Workshop, September 2007

• Kerry K. Karukstis and Timothy E. Elgren, eds. Developing and Sustaining a Research-Supportive Curriculum: A Compendium of Successful Practices. Washington, D.C.: Council on Undergraduate Research; 2007.

• Malachowski, M. 2006. Undergraduate Research as the Next Great Faculty Divide. Peer Review

8(1): 26-27.

• Wenzel, T. J., “What is Undergraduate Research?,” Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly, 1997, 17, 163.

• National Science Foundation Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) Phase 2 Expansion Award – “Regional Workshop Program on Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research”. Co-principal investigators Nancy Hensel, Mitch Malachowski, Jill Singer, Jeff Osborn, and Kerry Karukstis. NSF-DUE-0618535, 0618542, 0618548, 0618653, and 0618721.

Acknowledgments

For more information: www.cur.orgcur@cur.org

Kerry_Karukstis@hmc.edu

To cite this work: K. K. Karukstis, “Promoting an Undergraduate Research Culture”, An Inside Higher Ed Audio Conference,

December 12, 2007.