Nearly 200 faculty members and graduate students from Michigan State University are expected to participate in the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association this year in Philadelphia. The meeting runs from April 3-7, 2014.
Researchers from all over the world converge at AERA to share and discuss research across numerous education disciplines. Here is a look at the key events and honors involving MSU scholars.
Barbara Schneider
Presidential Address
For the past year, MSU faculty member Barbara Schneider has been serving as president of the 25,000-member organization and will be giving a presidential address during the meeting. Schneider is the John A. Hannah Chair and University Distinguished Professor in the College of Education and Department of Sociology at MSU.
Her talk, titled “Aligned Ambitions: What’s Behind the College Mismatch Problem?,” is scheduled for 4:35 to 5:35 p.m. Saturday, April 5 followed by a Champagne Reception in the Convention Center, Terrace Level – Terrace I. The address will explore the hot-button issue of “undermatching,” the tendency for low-income and minority high school students to enroll in colleges that are “less selective than their grades, test scores and aspirations predict.”
Schneider will share findings from the College Ambition Program (CAP), a whole-high school invention designed to help students fulfill their ambitions. After four years in the field, working with over 3,000 students, results demonstrate that there are concrete strategies that change college plans and enrollment with the potential for scale-up at a national level.
The session Twitter hashtag is #AERAPres and will be livestreamed April 5.
- Ann Austin and James Fairweather, professors of Higher, Adult and Lifelong Education, are participants in a Presidential Session focusing on improving undergraduate education in STEM (science, technology, engineering and technology). The session, which is co-chaired by Austin, will be held from 8:15 to 10:15 a.m. Sunday, April 6 in the Convention Center, 200 Level, 201A. The symposium features ways in which newer theoretical frameworks can inform innovative change projects—and how efforts to implement change can help refine theory as well as approaches to research. This includes the AAU STEM Undergraduate Education Initiative, of which Fairweather is co-principal investigator, and the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL), of which Austin is leading research and evaluation.
- William Schmidt is participating in a Presidential Session focused on the 2012 PISA Results: Why We Should Care About International Comparisons, to be held from 10:35 a.m. to 12:05 p.m. Saturday April 5 in the Convention Center, 200 Level, 201B. The presenter is Andreas Schleicher of OECD.
- Ken Frank, professor of Measurement and Quantitative Methods (MQM), is participating in a Presidential Session on social network analysis as a way to study school improvement. The session will be held from 4:05 to 5:35 p.m. Sunday April 6 in the Convention Center, 200 Level, 201A. Min Sun, an MSU doctoral graduate, is serving as session chair.
- As the 2013 recipient of the Early Career Award for AERA’s Division C (Learning and Instruction), Christine Greenhow, assistant professor of Educational Psychology and Educational Technology (EPET) will present an invited address at this year’s meeting. Her talk, “Leveraging Social Media to Create Opportunities for Learning and Scholarship,” is scheduled for 12:25 to 1:55 p.m. Friday, April 4 in the Convention Center, 100 Level, 103A. Greenhow is an assistant professor in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology (EPET). Fellow EPET Professor Rand Spiro, who nominated Greenhow for the award along with Gail Sinatra of USC, will serve as discussant for the session.
- Two MSU scholars are receiving association-level awards from AERA. University Distinguished Professor Mark Reckase is recipient of the E. F. Lindquist Award. Dorinda Carter Andrews, associate professor of teacher education, is receiving the AERA Scholars of Color Early Career Contribution Award. Read more on both awards.
- Three faculty members will receive the Award for Exemplary Research in Teaching and Teacher Education from AERA’s Division K (Teaching and Teacher Education). Samantha Caughlan, Mary M. Juzwik and Jodene Goldenring Fine are being honored for their efforts to build English teacher candidates’ capacity to engage in dialogic teaching practices. In particular, the award recognizes a February 2013 paper published in Research in the Teaching of English, which outlines findings from their study of 87 pre-service teachers in field experiences. Sharing in the award as additional co-authors on the paper are Carlin Borsheim-Black, MSU graduate and faculty member at Central Michigan University, and Sean Kelly of the University of Pittsburgh.
- The researchers have been developing methods for teaching future teachers how to better engage their students in class discussions through the Video-Based Response and Revision (VBRR) Project. They have also just published a related book: Inspiring Dialogue: Talking to Learn in the English Classroom. The book is co-authored by Juzwik, Caughlan, Borsheim-Black and Anne Heintz, a College of Education alumna and adjunct professor in the Master of Arts in Educational Technology program at MSU.
- Ann Austin, professor of higher education, will receive the Exemplary Research Award Award from Division J (Postsecondary Education). The honor is reserved for scholars whose published research has made an outstanding contribution to knowledge and understanding in the field of higher education.
- Terah Venzant Chambers, assistant professor of educational administration, was elected secretary of AERA’s Division A (Administration, Organization and Leadership).
- Recent graduate Hsuan-Yi Huang has received the 2013 Outstanding Dissertation Award from Division B (Curriculum Studies). Faculty members Lynn Fendler and Jeff Bale were co-directors for her dissertation, titled “Hanwen and Taiwanese Subjectivities: A Genealogy of Language Policies in Taiwan, 1895-1945.” Huang is a 2013 graduate of the Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education (CITE) PhD program, and she is now a postdoctoral research associate at National Taiwan Normal University.
Also, plan to attend the College of Education’s AERA reception, from 8:30 to 11:55 p.m. on Saturday, April 5, in the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Terrace II, 400 Level. This event is an opportunity for alumni and friends to reconnect while enjoying great food and entertainment from the college band, Against School Violence.
Visit aera.net for full details.