ICPSR Summer Program

Many of you already know about the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) If you don't, you need to check out their website because it's one of the best places to find a variety of data associated with education research.

But this post is more for your grad and doc students since it's about the ICPSR Summer Program. The program is recognized throughout the world as a leading program providing basic and advanced training in a wide range of methodologies and techniques for research across the social, behavioral, and medical sciences. The courses emphasize the integration of quantitative methodological strategies with the theoretical and practical concerns that arise in research on substantive issues. Their unique and supportive social environment facilitates professional networking and encourages the exchange of ideas about research theory and practice. 

The program is designed for students, faculty, researchers & policy-makers. Topics include beginning to advanced levels in statistics, data analysis, methodology, research design and more. Courses range from 3 days to 4 weeks and participants will be engaged in hands-on analysis of actual research datasets. All courses are offered on a noncredit basis. However, program can provide official documentation of classroom performance to assist participants in receiving credit at their home institution. The courses are reasonably priced, and fees are lower for those affiliated with an ICPSR member institution and we are a member. For more information go to www.icpsr.umich.edu/sumprog.

From DNA to Beer Exhibit Comes to Atkins!

The Akins Library is hosting a National Library of Medicine exhibit called, From DNA to Beer: Harnessing Nature in Medicine and Industry, from February 8th to March 20th. In addition to the exhibit, we are planning activities such as student and faculty lectures, book displays, a special collections display, a photography exhibit, and hopefully (fingers crossed) a beer tasting event with several local breweries. Literature about the exhibit and complementing activities will be published on our website and on posters and flyers very soon. I encourage you all to consider bringing your students to the library to see the exhibit. You can contact me (amoor164@uncc.edu) for more information or take a look at the exhibit website. 

 
Last year I wrote a brief post about our recently resurrected Popular Reading & DVD collection. The collection, including a New Books section, is located in the library’s atrium near the security offices. Take advantage of the comfortable seating near the shelves and browse our newest and most popular titles. The collection is always changing so stop by regularly to see the newest additions.

New ways to Assess Students

Heading for Tomorrow Land!

Hope everyone had a great winter break. It's hard to believe another semester has begun.

This post is a bit late because I am currently at the Future of Educational Technology Conference (FETC) [formerly the Florida Education Technology Conference] in Orlando. It's a great place to see what teachers are doing with technology in the classroom. I am feeling a bit overloaded from all of the informative and thought provoking sessions.

One of my favorite presenters, Leslie Fisher, talked about two relatively new assessment apps Quizizz and GoFormative.  Quizizz is similar to Kahoot! in that it's an online, multiplayer, timed game, which can be accessed via any device. One major difference is the students can see the question and the answer on their device. The students also see a point total for each question which diminishes as time passes. Leslie had us take a Dr. Seuss quiz to see how it worked. I found it a bit easier than Kahoot since I didn't have to remember the color and/or shape of the answer.

GoFormative is more like a traditional way of assessing students with a few great twists. It's difficult to explain verbally how this app works, so here's a very quick video -

This app appears to be a blank slate for creating a wide variety of assessments, which teachers can easily grade and provide feedback. You aren't limited to multiple choice questions like Quizizz,  Kahoot or Plickers. Students can type responses to open ended question and even draw answers. Hopefully the developers will add the ability to dictate answers. What's really cool is you can actually watch the students as they respond.

I will be discussing other apps and gadgets I learned at about FETC in future posts. I don't want to overwhelm anyone. So take a look at these two promising apps and try them out on your students!