Are Students Ready for College Research?
Teresa Diaz Benjamin Harris Eisenhower Middle School Trinity University
Region 20 Round Up September 21, 2012
Are they college-ready?
What do we know about entering college students?
students technology
students are confident
students are very very confident
students manage time
students are digital natives
73% “info from search engines is trustworthy”
66% “info from search engines is fair and unbiased”
41% “unsure if info from search engines is correct”
students are digital natives
students are assessment natives
What do we know about the expectations of college faculty?
enhancing student learning
#1: addressing the gaps
“left it up to the students”
“underwhelmed by the final products”
“less credible sources are chosen”
#2: prepare for future courses
“a process guided by questions”
“evaluating individual works”
“using sources properly”
#3: learn content-area-specific research habits
“understanding the ancient world”
“becoming themselves interpreters”
“integrate findings”
“construct a more coherent understanding”
#4: prepare for lifelong learning
“evaluate the validity of information in other areas
of their lives”
“design a system to meet desired needs”
What do we know about teachers’ approaches to course design?
What do we know about the impact on student learning?
“students genuinely interested”
“topics this semester were creative”
“not sure they understand ‘why’”
“more developed sense of which sources were best”
“not as consistently skillful at piecing together a coherent analysis”
Alignment Brainstorming
1. pick a challenge
2. align outcomes for research skills development w/course/content goals
3. invent an activity or assignment
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