WCER - Wisconsin Center for Education Research

ABOUT WCER NEWS Events Feature Stories WCER News International Research Press WHAT'S THE RESEARCH ON...? PROJECTS Active Projects Completed Projects PUBLICATIONS LECTURE SERIES PEOPLE Staff Directory Project Leaders ERG - EVALUATION RESOURCES GROUP GRANT SERVICES GRADUATE TRAINING SERVICE UNITS Director's Office Business Office Technical Services Printing & Mail EMPLOYMENT CONTACT INFO MyWCER WORKSPACE LOGIN


FEATURE STORIES CIRTL Launches MOOC-Supported Learning Communities to Train Future STEM Faculty The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) has received a National Science Foundation grant to launch two massive open online courses (MOOCs) aimed at the group’s core mission of preparing graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to be future faculty who are both excellent researchers and excellent teachers. The NSF awarded the three-year, $750,000 Widening Implementation and Demonstration of Evidence-Based Reforms (WIDER) grant with the goal of increasing the use of evidence-based teaching and learning practices of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) faculty members at institutions of higher education. CIRTL’s successful proposal will leverage its national network of research universities to prepare future faculty in STEM disciplines to use evidence-based, high-impact instructional practices with their students. Read more. Learning English Isn’t Enough By Timothy Boals , Director, World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) ELL support programs should provide three things: input that students can comprehend in English, the native language, or both; early access to the same academic content and standards as English-speaking peers; and, long-term academic support. Read more Money to Ease the Way for Students Pursuing STEM Degrees Hundreds of college students across Wisconsin will receive $1,000 per year for up to five years as part of an experimental study that aims to determine how financial aid affects the academic pathways of undergraduate students, particularly those pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). A recent report from the Department of Education revealed that 48 percent of bachelor’s degree students and 69 percent of associate’s degree students who enter STEM majors leave college without a degree in those majors. Read more.
	EVENTS & PRESS Events Wednesday, Dec. 11 Noon-1:30 p.m., Room 259 of the Educational Sciences Building Nation Building as an Institutional Orientation for Graduate Education Dr. Bryan Brayboy Read more. Friday, Dec. 13 2:30-4 p.m., Wisconsin Idea Room, 159 Education Building African American Parental Engagement in Low-Income Schools Dr. Ruth L. Greene Read more. Press Sara Goldrick-Rab says the Federal work-study program should be more politically popular than it is (USA TODAY, 13 Nov.) VARC's Brad Carl discusses NAEP results and the state' achievement gap (The Cap Times, 9 Nov.) Kurt Squire says game developers foresee a time when students won't have to take tests; teachers will know from their learning and game play how they're doing (TIME.com, 6 Nov.) Jeremy Fiel, an Interdisciplinary Training Program (ITP) Fellow, says the factors driving segregation have increased in scale in the past several decades (The Atlantic, 5 Nov.) Richard Halverson discusses 'flipped schools' (WBUR-FM, 5 Nov.) Jerlando Jackson discusses the International Colloquium on Black Males in Education, of which he (and his colleagues at the Wei LAB) are co-hosts (Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 24 Oct; St. Thomas Source 25 Oct).	CENTER SITES Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning Center on Education and Work Children, Families & Schools Culturally Responsive Positive Behavioral Interventinos and Supports Consortium for Policy Research in Education CoMPASS Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning Culture, Cognition, and Evaluation of STEM Higher Education Reform Epistemic Games Group Exploring the STEM Skills Gap Formative Language Assessment Records for ELLs in Secondary Schools Interdisciplinary Training Program in the Education Sciences Investing in Family Engagement Longitudinal Study of Future STEM Scholars Mobilizing STEM for a Sustainable Future Minority Student Achievement Network ONPAR Assessment Strategic Management of Human Capital Surveys of Enacted Curriculum System-wide Change for All Learners and Educators Talking About Leaving, Revisited Tracking the Processes of Data Driven Decision-Making in Higher Education Transana Value-Added Research Center WIDA Consortium Wisconsin's Equity and Inclusion Laboratory
WCER NEWS Developing Innovation Capacity through Virtual Internships Can the use of an immersive learning environment (an epistemic game) help engineering students to develop innovative product designs? David Williamson Shaffer, Naomi Chessler, and their team are evaluating a virtual work environment that allows engineering students to participate in a product design company, interact with group design members, complete tasks for their virtual manager, and gain input from consultants and end-use customers. This project will provide an opportunity for the team to learn more about qualitative and quantitative research techniques in education and how these can be applied to measure innovation within product design. More news from the Epistemic Games Group: http://edgaps.org/gaps/blog/