undergraduate research

Project Goals for 2020

arm38 Reflection, Undergraduate Research

Wrapping Up Fall 2019

Hi all, it’s Ally! I can’t believe the fall semester is already coming to an end. It really flew by! This was my last semester as an undergrad and I’m so happy Mapping the Student Engagement Journey was a part of it. I’ve already learned so much about research surrounding student engagement, libraries, and qualitative data. I can’t wait to see what the next few months will bring for Hailley and I as we continue our research. As I prepare for the spring 2020 semester, I have a clear to-do list for this project.

Kochstrasse™ cute illustration sweet job GIF

[“To Do” gif via Giphy]

Interviews

First, we need to finish up these student interviews! A few weeks ago, Hailley and I decided that we’re aiming to complete all 24 interviews by spring break, in March of 2020. I’ve definitely enjoyed interviewing students throughout the semester. It’s really interesting to learn how some student engagement journeys are similar to my own while others look entirely different. Right now we have eight interviews completed. Although students in our sample have had little availability in the past few weeks, I’m optimistic that students will have more free time to work with us at the beginning of next semester. I’m especially eager to hear from students in more STEM based colleges, such as engineering. I predict these student engagement journeys will look different from journeys in fields such as communications.

Qualitative Data Analysis

My next goal is to gain a stronger understanding of qualitative data analysis. This was one of my main learning objectives going into this project and I’m really eager to get to work on this in the spring. After we finish up our interviews, Hailley and I will be coding our data through NVivo. I’ve never worked with this software before so it’ll definitely be challenging at first. However, I’m eager to gain this new research skill and I’m sure with practice, the program will become more manageable.

I wanted to get a head start on learning NVivo so I’m ready to code in the spring when all our interviews are complete. I started this preparation process a few weeks ago when Hailley sent me some helpful NVivo tutorials. Additionally, we uploaded some practice material so I can get a feel for the program before next semester. So far, I’ve learned a fair amount of NVivo vocabulary (nodes, queries, classifications, etc.) I’m definitely getting more comfortable with the software but I know there’s still so much to learn! Hailley just received two books about NVivo from Penn State’s Interlibrary Loan and I’m hoping to use those books as a resource both this week and during the spring semester.

Presentations & Publications

Another goal of mine is to gain more presentation and publication experience in the spring. This semester, Hailley and I had the opportunity to present at Penn State’s Annual Student Engagement Summit, hosted by the Student Engagement Network. I loved sharing our progress and findings with the Penn State community and can’t wait for similar experiences next semester. Specifically, I’m eager to present our library related findings. Hailley and I did talk about libraries during our summit presentation, however, the main focus was on Penn State student engagement as a whole. In the spring, I’m hoping to gain experience presenting mainly on library research and the increased role libraries can play in student engagement opportunities. Hailley and I just submitted a presentation proposal yesterday for a library related presentation about student-centered research. Hopefully we’ll hear back soon and get to plan our presentation material in the upcoming months!

In addition to presentation opportunities, I can’t wait to do some writing about our results. Yesterday, Hailley and I brainstormed some academic journals that may be interested in our project results. We listed journals focusing on student engagement, library research, undergraduate research, and higher education as a whole. Next semester, we’ll probably start the publication process by writing about my role as an undergraduate research assistant. After we complete the 24 student interviews, we’ll start writing about our results. I think writing these results will be a really cool experience because there are so many different angles we can take with this project. For example, yesterday Hailley and I talked about writing an article strictly about students’ first two years of college and the student engagement opportunities they took advantage of during those two years. Overall, I think our presentations and publications will be incredible learning experiences and great opportunities to share our work.

See you in 2020!

In general, I’m feeling really optimistic about next semester. I’m already so proud of what Hailley and I have learned and accomplished from this project and I know it’ll only get better from here. I’m ready for a relaxing winter break but I also can’t wait to get started on my 2020 goals!

lets do it GIF by Denyse

[“Let’s do it” gif via Giphy]

 

Why I wanted an undergraduate research assistant

Hailley Marie Fargo Reflection, Undergraduate Research ,

It was probably a year ago when I started thinking about this research project. The call had just opened up for the Student Engagement Network Faculty Academy positions and I knew the IRDL applications would open in December. As I put together my various essays, CVs, and budget proposals, I knew I wanted to have at least one undergraduate student research assistant.

My motivation for having a student was multi-faceted. Continue reading →

Let the interviews begin!

arm38 Uncategorized
Hi all, it’s Ally. These past few weeks have been really exciting for Hailley and I as we progress farther with this project. Interviews have officially started! Our first interview was last week with an enthusiastic student from the College of Health and Human Development. This randomly selected student is actually a good friend of mine! Penn State really is a small world once you’ve been here for a while. 

Interview Reflections

I took the lead on the interview questions and I think the process went well overall. Our questions seem to flow really nicely and elicit the information we’re looking for from students. During these next few interviews, I’m hoping to improve my probing skills by asking more intentional, off-script questions. Although our scripted questions are important for data collection, I think it’s also crucial to talk with students about their unique experiences that may not fall into our prepared question categories. For example, last week’s interviewee was a transfer student from another university. Because of this unique characteristic, I adjusted some of our questions to investigate how transfer students may experience student engagement at University Park. I’m hoping to apply this spontaneous probing to my upcoming interview this Wednesday. 
Behind the scenes of last week’s interview! We ordered tons of stickers so we’re prepared for the next few weeks.
I’ve already noticed intriguing patterns in the interviews I’ve led, which is really exciting. Many students seem to take on student engagement opportunities for practical reasons such as resume building or hands-on experience in their fields. However, students also seem to have social motives like meeting new friends or making this large university feel smaller. Hailley and I are eager to see how these motivations differ between colleges. I predict that some colleges may promote exploratory student engagement while others strongly emphasize career-related opportunities. This difference among colleges could have really interesting implications for how students present their engagement opportunities and market themselves to employers. 

This Week’s Plan

This week, Hailley and I have two interviews to complete. We’re also emailing students from our sample to schedule more interviews for October. On top of scheduling, Hailley and are preparing our presentation for the Penn State Student Engagement Summit. I’m so eager to share our research with the Penn State community. Hopefully we’ll gain some helpful feedback and new supporters for this project. We definitely have busy but exciting weeks ahead of us! 
happy full house GIF

Weekly Update

Hailley Marie Fargo Updates , , ,

Hello all! It has been a minute, but lots of exciting things are happening with our research project:

  • You might have seen our newest post from Ally, our undergraduate student research assistant for this project. I’m so excited that Ally is joining the team. She has a lot of great student engagement experiences to draw from and already has been a great addition to the team.
  • We got our sample! In August, I spoke with Leigh about how to pull a data set for us to sample from. It was more complicated than I naively expected, but also a good lesson on how institutions like Penn State think, track, and record student engagement opportunities. With this sample, we can begin recruiting, once we feel confident about our interview protocol. A blog post is forthcoming, explaining how we decide what students would fall into our sample.
  • A picture of a table with a laptop, snowball microphone, and paper
    Deep in interview mode

    Ally and I were so jazzed on Friday, we decided to pilot the interview protocol. I was able to interview Ally about her student engagement experiences. The interview was about an hour and fifteen minutes long. That means we’re in the ballpark with time, and we both learned a lot from the experience. This upcoming week, we’ll be tweaking the interview questions and then piloting the revised questions with some students we know.

  • We were offered our first presentation opportunity. Ally and I will be speaking on the progress of this project at the upcoming Student Engagement Network Summit, on November 13. More details on the Summit are forthcoming, but it will be a great chance to connect with other university colleagues and share some results of our first interviews.

As you can see, we’re moving and grooving. Stay tuned for more information and updates!

 

New Research Assistant on the Block

arm38 Undergraduate Research, Updates
Hi everyone! It’s Ally, the new Undergraduate Research Assistant with Mapping the Student Engagement Journey. This is my full first week working with Hailley on this project and I’m already so excited to see where it takes us. I’m senior year at University Park and the Penn State nostalgia is already setting in. This summer, I knew I wanted to do something special with my last year on campus. When I saw Hailley’s post for a Research Assistant, I knew this position and project had the exciting potential I was looking for. 

My Student Engagement Journey

This position also stood out to me because of my personal student engagement journey. I graduated from a Catholic, all-girls high school with about 130 women, so Penn State was definitely an adjustment for me. Everything seemed so big and busy all the time! I’m also not from a Penn State family so campus, downtown, and Beaver Stadium were all brand new and larger-than-life. Looking back on the past three years, student engagement is definitely why Penn State went from an overwhelming unknown to my second home. Freshman year, I jumped right into engagement opportunities by joining Lion Scouts, a THON committee, and a sorority. Sophomore year, I became a Research Assistant with the Psychology Department and went on my first service trip with Alternative Breaks. Junior year, I was elected onto my sorority’s Executive Board and became a Site Leader with Alternative Breaks. Now it’s senior year and my student engagement journey is coming full-circle. I now have the opportunity to think critically about my engagement experiences. Why did I chose those specific activities? Did one activity lead me to the next? What Penn State resources helped me navigate this process?

Looking Forward

I’m eager to reflect on my own student engagement journey, however, I’m even more excited to hear from other Penn Staters. In a few weeks, Hailley and I will interview current undergraduate students and have them map out their student engagement journey. I’m definitely looking forward to these interviews and can’t wait to learn more about the qualitative data analysis that follows. I think our findings will greatly inform Penn State leaders about how students experience engagement opportunities and what the university can do to support students along the way. I think this research could have a positive, long-term impact on Penn State’s student retention as well. After all, my connections to organizations, research, and service is what kept me at Penn State all four years. Thanks so much to Hailley and Library Learning Services for welcoming me this week. I’m so grateful to be a part of this project!
Ready Lets Go GIF

[ Gif of Tina Fey saying ‘Let’s Do This.’ via Giphy ]

Weekly Update

Hailley Marie Fargo Updates ,

Mapping the Student Engagement Journey has a few project updates:

  • The project is IRB approved. I’ll talk more about this throughout the project, but an immediate impact is that this allows us to start recording interviews as soon as I have students recruited.
  • A press release has gone out announcing the Faculty Academy cohort for this year. There’s a lot of great work going on, beyond this project.
  • My undergraduate student research assistant position has been posted! I am so excited to hire a student to assist throughout this process. If you’re a Penn Stater and know of a good student, please let them know about this position.

In the upcoming weeks, I hope to hire the student, test out my interview questions and technique, and talk a bit more on this blog about my methodology and what we mean by “student engagement.” Stay tuned for more information coming soon.