Archive for ‘College of Education and Human Services’

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

College of Education and Human Services

Abilene Christian University

Department Goals aligning with the QEP

1.     Utilize research literacy skills to locate and use seminal literature in the field. Students in CSD programs will be required to use reliable databases to search journals and other peer reviewed literature for seminal resources pertaining to topics in the field of speech-language pathology and audiology.  Students will then use this information to write research papers, determine the efficacy (EBP) for assessment/treatment strategies, and/or formulate a literature review to support a research question/hypothesis.

2.     Develop and carry out a research proposal with a faculty mentor. Select undergraduate students and all graduate students in CSD will develop a research proposal investigating a topic of interest.  The students will work closely with a faculty mentor during the execution of the research proposal.  The students will write up the results of the proposal in preparation of disseminating the research study in a public setting.

3.     Submit research project for presentation in a peer reviewed forum. Students who participate in faculty mentored research will submit their project for presentation in a peer reviewed forum.  Traditionally, this forum is the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association Annual Convention held each spring.  Other forums are available depending on the nature of the research project.

The ACU School of Social Work equips undergraduate and graduate students in an evidence-based approach to practice. We prepare students to access, appraise, use and generate research as a tool for the student’s professional performance and the strengthening of human service delivery systems. The structure builds research based on students’ internships and the specified need of the organization.

It is our goal that students:

• Experience individual faculty consultation on research in which they engage. It is our understanding that students need opportunity to conceptualize their research topic one-on-one with experts in their field. Additionally, students should benefit from direct feedback on structure, methodology, and analysis, as well as details of writing research.

• Produce research that adds to the practice knowledge on the individual, group, organizational and community levels of practice. Students engage in a research process with their internship to discover the needs of the organization (intervention effectiveness, needs assessment, program evaluation, best practices). Students are held accountable to both the School and the agency to produce new knowledge that benefits the organization and reflects the standards of academic scholarship.

• Effectively disseminate that research in arenas appropriate to the research. The School promotes the distribution of student research through three avenues.

o   Each organization in which students intern will have access to that research for the purpose of aiding in organizational effectiveness.

o   Students will be encouraged to enter research in the university-wide research festivals.

o   Students will be given opportunity to disseminate exceptional research in professional settings such as regional and national conferences and submission to publication.

What does it mean to mentor students through the research process in Teacher Education?

Mentoring students through research means walking them through the entire process. Not only how to form research questions, choose a methodology, collect and analyze data, and present findings, but a focus on ethical research practices is extremely important. Students need to be exposed to the IRB process, not only as a required step in the research process, but also as the right thing to do in terms of protecting participants’ rights, especially those of children. Value also needs to placed on children’s consent to participation, not just as another step, but as an ethical, caring practice.

I think the students also need to be introduced to the world of scholarship as both consumers and producers. Learning the language of research, understanding how conferences work, and walking through a proposal submission process.

Teacher Education Research Goals:

1. Raise funds for student travel to research conferences. The experience of attending a research conference is a powerful part of preparing students to think as scholars. It demystifies it for them, making it an attainable goal to present their own work at future conferences.

2. Develop a Teacher Education Research Handbook  for faculty mentors and undergraduate researchers to have available as a resource. Will include things such as IRB history and processes, tips for constructing research questions, instructions for writing an abstract, templates for proposals or papers, etc.

3. Our hope is that 15 undergraduates per year will participate in substantive research projects beyond what is required in professional education courses.

QEP Thoughts Teacher Education.docx