Orientation This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Orientation

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant

#1836033

. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Basics of E-CURE

E-CURE is modified from

EvaluateUR

and intended for course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs)

Ideally, the research project should account for a substantial component of the course. Faculty are best determining if their course is considered a CURE.

E-CURE is implemented online and while students and faculty score the outcomes, the essential element of E-CURE are the conversations that take place following each assessment where students and faculty consider the reasons for assigning a particular score.

E-CURE benefits students by providing them with feedback about their progress and builds their metacognitive skills. E-CURE benefits faculty by identifying places where they might wish to provide greater guidance to students or give them more independence as they conduct the research. Data generated from E-CURE can be used to demonstrate the learning gains in the CURE and support department/institution assessment efforts.

Tell Students

(refer to document with suggested text for syllabus)

E-CURE is designed to help both you and your instructor assess how well you are doing on a wide range of skills that you should have in order to thrive in advanced academic work and/or employment. More than that, it is designed to help your instructor give you targeted guidance on how to achieve desirable skill levels.

E-CURE assessments of your work will focus on a set of student outcome categories. Each outcome category is defined by several more specific components that explain and illustrate what the category means.

E-CURE asks

both

the instructor and the student to complete these assessments. You will then be able to compare your self-assessments with your instructor’s assessments and discuss the reasons for any differences in your perceptions. These discussions lie at the heart of the E-CURE design. They are

aimed at helping you to understand your academic strengths and weaknesses

and become more aware of what learning strategies you have been pursuing and why, so that you can adjust as necessary.

Tell Students

(refer to document with suggested text for syllabus)

E-CURE is implemented online. After your name is entered into the system, you will receive an automated email message instructing you to set up a password-protected account. It is essential that you check your email frequently and follow the instructions included in automated emails generated by the E-CURE server.

Keep in mind that E-CURE is not used to determine your grade in the course, so you should not worry about the scores you assign yourself. An accurate appraisal will be far more useful to you than higher scores on the assessments.

10

Outcome Categories

Communication

Creativity

Autonomy

Ability to Deal with Obstacles

Intellectual

Development

Practice & Process

of Inquiry

Nature of

Disciplinary

Knowledge

Content

Knowledge

& Methods

Critical Thinking &

Problem Solving

Optional Outcome Categories

Teamwork/

Collaboration

Ability to Deal with

Obstacles

Is not discouraged by setbacks or unforeseen events and perseveres when challenges are encountered.

5—Always

4—Usually

3—Often

2—Seldom

1—Not Yet

Shows flexibility and a willingness to take risks and try again.

Trouble-shoots problems and searches for ways to do things more effectively.

5—Always

4—Usually

3—Often

2—Seldom

1—Not Yet

5—Always

4—Usually

3—Often

2—Seldom

1—Not Yet

10

Outcome Categories each defined by several components.

For example, ‘ability to deal with obstacles’ is defined by:

IMPORTANT: Explanation of Scores

Score your student’s frequency with which you observe the outcome component using the five-point scale as defined below:

5=Always4=Usually3=

Often

2=

Seldom

1=

Not yet

*No Opportunity to ObserveWhile your students will be using the 1-5 scale as defined above, you might not have had a chance to sufficiently observe the student at this point in the research project in order to determine how frequently he/she demonstrates the behavior or skill. In this situation, you can score the outcome component as “No Opportunity to Observe”. If you choose this option, your student will receive the following message for that outcome component:“Your instructor does not feel like they have had sufficient opportunity at this point in the research project to observe how frequently you demonstrate this behavior or skill. It does not imply anything about your performance and abilities.  If you have questions or concerns about this rating or any of the other ratings, your instructor invites you to contact them and start a conversation.”

Faculty introduce E-CURE

First week of course

E-CURE helps students

E-CURE not part of the course grade

Implementation

of E-CURE

First/Second week of course

Students c

omplete

initial assessment that includes all outcome categories

Students c

omplete

pre-research

o

pen-ended

questions

Class

Conversation

(Recommended)

Faculty member selects subset of outcomes

E-CURE Pre-Research Questions

Have you ever conducted research (independently or as part of another course)? If so, please briefly describe the experience.

Please describe what you know about the process of inquiry for the project you are about to undertake.What strengths do you bring to this project and what uncertainties, if any, do you have about undertaking the project?

What would you do if you encountered an unexpected problem or setback on your project and it was not obvious how to proceed?

E-CURE Pre-Research Questions

How might you assess the value of your project if you were unable to realize your project goals?

Why is ethical behavior essential in conducting a project like this? Please describe your current academic and work career plans. How will this project be relevant to those plans?Please use the space below to provide any additional thoughts you'd like to share with your course instructor.

After 3-4 weeks of research

Instructor

completes

a

ssessment

Students

access score

report

Review score

report

Conversations

Student

completes

a

ssessment

METACOGNITIVE

EXERCISES

SUPPORT E-CURE

OUTCOMES

DEVELOP

SKILLS

Using Metacognitive Exercises

Rationale

1

Instructions

2

Prompts

3

METACOGNITIVE EXERCISES

SELF-CONTAINED

GRADED AS COMPLETE OR INCOMPLETE

ASSIGNED SEPARATELY OR WITH OTHERS

1 week prior to end of research

Faculty c

omplete

end-of-research assessment for each student in the CURE

Access score

report

Review score

report

Conversations

Student

completes

end-of-research

assessment & post-research questions

E-CURE Post-Research Questions

Did the research process you undertook in the course generally fall within your expectations about how research is conducted? Please briefly explain your answer.

In your view, did you have all the knowledge and skills you needed in order to conduct your research project? If not, were you able to obtain the additional knowledge or skills you needed? Please briefly explain your answer.Did you encounter any unexpected problems or setbacks on your project? If so, how clear was the solution and what did you do? Please briefly explain your answer.

In your judgment, were you able to realize your project goals? If not, please briefly explain.

How would you assess the value of your project?

E-CURE Post-Research Questions

In the course of your work on the project did you encounter any ethical issues? If so, please briefly describe those issues and what you did about them.

Please describe your current academic and work career plans. How was this project relevant to those plans?Thinking about your research experience, did you gain any unique or unanticipated skills or perspectives?

Thinking about your research experience, what lessons will you take away that go beyond the research you conducted?

Thinking about your research experience, what has it taught you about how you learn?

QUESTIONS?

URL for E-CURE:https://serc.carleton.edu

/evaluateur/cure/index.htmlURL for Metacognition Exercises:

https://

serc.carleton.edu

/

evaluateur

/cure/

metacognition.html