From Theory to Practice : Educational Research Symposium
Learning Domains:
Leadership
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Social Advocacy and Justice
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Education
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Assessment and Evaluation
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Personal Development
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X
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Description:
This entry describes my experience attending the 2012 Educational
Research Symposium presented by the California State University Fullerton,
Education College, Ed.D Program and the Center for Research on Educational
Access and Leadership (CREAL). I sought
out this event as an enriching opportunity to broaden my overall awareness of
the current trends in education. I had
hoped to expand my overall knowledge in the field of higher education by
learning about various issues that are noteworthy of research. I also perceived
the symposium as a networking opportunity by enabling me to connect with other
student affairs professionals and educational leaders.
Learning Outcomes:
SWiBAT: Engage in
meaningful conversations with 4 or more student affairs professionals and
identified at least 2 of them as sources of potential research guidance.
SWiBAT: identify
at least 4 current topics in student affairs that I would like to explore
further as a possible research topic for my personal research
Advanced
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Competent
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Basic
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Needs Improvement
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SLO # 1
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I engaged in meaningful conversations with 4 or more student affairs professionals and
identified at least 2 of them as sources of potential research guidance
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I engaged in meaningful conversations with 3 student
affairs professionals and identified at least 2 of them as sources of
potential research guidance
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I engaged in meaningful conversations with 1-2 student affairs professionals and identified at
least 1 of them as a source of potential research guidance
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I
did not engage in a meaningful conversation
with any student affairs professionals
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SLO # 2
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I identified 4 or more current topics in student
affairs that I would like to explore further as possible topics for my
personal research
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I
identified 2-3 current topics in student affairs that I would like to explore
further as possible topics for my personal research
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I identified 1 current topic in student affairs that I
would like to explore further as a possible topic for my personal research
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I
was unable to identify any current topics in student affairs that I would
like to explore further as a possible topic for my personal research
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Evidence:
Reflection:
I had hoped that
the research symposium would serve as a successful networking opportunity to
enable me to expand my professional contacts. However, I did not account that
the poster session duration was rather short, which prevented me to spend more
time engaged with other professions. Although I had briefly talked to several professionals
about their research, I was only able to engage in a meaningful conversation
with one scholar, Dr. Martha McDonald, who
conducted research on veteran students. I
was drawn to research on veterans because I am currently working on an a qualitative
research group project addressing veteran students for the Student
Sub-Populations graduate course, EDAD 522. When I asked Dr. McDonald if she has
identified any existing gaps in the literature about veteran students, she
replied that more research should be done to investigate the experience of
female veteran students. Therefore, my group members and I decided to use her
insight as a guide to narrow down our research question by exploring whether
female veteran students feel that their higher education institutions are
meeting their unique needs. I also e-mailed Dr. McDonald after the symposium to ask her a few additional questions that pertain to veteran student issues. As a result, I achieved the first learning outcome at the basic level by engaging in a meaningful conversation with one student affairs professional and identified her as source of potential research guidance. The second learning outcome pertained to identifying relevant research topics that were of interest to me as potential issues to explore. Although, there were many fascinating and important issues covered at the event, the two that stood out to me included the Supplemental Instruction in Stem-Related Disciplines by Eric Rabitoy and the Engagement of Community College Student Veterans by Marta McDonald. I met the second learning outcome by identifying two current topics in student affairs that I would like to explore further as possible topics for my personal research.Reflecting on the overall event, I will use better time-management skills when attending another research symposium or a similar conference by deciding ahead of time on the amount of time I will spend on networking alone and use the rest of my time to learn about a few research issues in detail. Overall, I am glad that I had an opportunity to attend the symposium as I now feel more informed about the current trends in higher education (The complete journal reflection can be accessed here).
