April 21, 2021

Drs. Sochacka and Walther were recently invited to discuss the ProQual Institute for Research Methods at a virtual Lunch and Learn on Monday, April 19, 2021, at North Carolina A&T State University. The Lunch and Learn series is part of the NSF-funded ACE Implementation Project: Data Science and Analytics (DSA) Advancing STEM Education. This project seeks to develop and implement an innovative data science and analytics education and research program to train the next generation of undergraduate students to confront the challenges in computational and data-enabled science. One of the program goals is the engage faculty in various professional development activities that will transform research, pedagogy and institutional teaching and learning.

In their presentation, Drs. Sochacka and Walther described their rationale for developing the ProQual Institute for Research Methods. Funded as part of the EHR Core Research (ECR): Building Capacity in STEM Education Research, the purpose of the ProQual Institute is to broaden the pool of researchers who can conduct fundamental research in STEM education. The project comprises an 8-week program in qualitative educational research methods that builds on Dr. Walther’s prior PECASE/CAREER work on qualitative research quality. The project team, which also includes Drs. John Morelock, Dominik May, and Nathaniel Hunsu, recently completed the first offering of the ProQual course. They have just started accepting applications for the fall.

 

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