The DETA Research Center has worked to secure opportunities to learn more about our research efforts for attendees at conferences this fall. Moreover, we will be hosting several sessions for the DETA Community (that’s you!) to come together and share research and discuss challenges and opportunities in conducting research. One of our goals is to build a community to increase awareness of research being conducted, build collaborations in research and funding, and support each other in conducting rigorous research. You’ll notice repetition, and this is purposeful to ensure we give attendees who only have access to a limited number of conferences the opportunity to participate in this developing community. Also, we hope that for folks who attend multiple conferences, we can keep the conversations going throughout the year, in-person and online.

If you are interested in attending our sessions, helping facilitate a session, or presenting at one of the sessions, check out the details below.

DETA will be present at the WCET Annual Meeting, OLC Accelerate, EDUCAUSE, and Online EDUCA Berlin. Follow @UWMDETA, #DETAResearch, or @tjoosten for more information.

Thanks,
Tanya

WCET Annual Meeting

October 12th-14th, Minneapolis, MN

Goal: How do we turn research findings into practice?

Title: Creating & Diffusing Online Instructional & Institutional Practices From Data & Evidence
Date/Time: Wednesday, October 12th, 2016, – 9:00AM – 12:00PM
Format: Pre-conference workshop
Room: Excelsior + Lafayette
Your role: Come ready to brainstorm, talk, and listen!

The session is formatted as round table brainstorming discussions that takes findings from a cross-institutional study (10+ institutions) on distance education (blended, online, and CBE) and challenges the participants on determining how to interpret these findings, turn them into practice, and develop diffusion processes across the institution. We often hear people discuss data-driven decisions or evidence-based practices, yet many times the data and evidence that is driving our decisions and our practices within our educational institutions lacks the rigor of empirical research. The DETA Research Center spent two years designing research models and conducting rigorous research in higher ed across a dozen institutions (2-year and 4-year) to help us identify effective instructional and institutional practices in blended and online courses and programs. The research models including guides to research, survey instrumentation packet, data codebooks, shared definitions, and operationalizations of variables were shared in the DETA Research Toolkit. The data from student surveys and institutionally warehoused data allowed us to gather empirical findings as to what actually works for the students, in particularly underrepresented students, rather than administrators, instructors, or instructional support staff deciding on anecdotal, experience, or assumptions based on partial or inaccurate data. This sessions brings those cross-institutional findings in blended and online learning and ask the participants — what do we do next? It is round table brainstorming discussions that takes these finding from this large on distance education (blended, online, and competency-based education) and challenges the participants on determining how to interpret these findings, turn them into practice, and develop diffusion processes across the institution. Results alone are useless.

Let’s talk about how to interpret these results and determine what they mean for us and our institutions.
Let’s talk about whether or not we can turn these results into practices in our organizations, and if so, what practices would we develop.
Let’s talk about how we would diffuse these innovative practices across our institutions for students, instructors and faculty, support staff, and administrators.

Preconference workshops are free for WCET Members and $75.00 for non.

Goal: What research is being conducted in distance education (online, blended, and CBE)?

Title: Research in Distance Education and Technological Advancements (DETA) (Part 1/2)
Date/Time: Friday, October 14th, 2016, – 9:15AM – 10:15AM
Format: Presentation session
Room: St. Croix 2
Your role: Come ready to listen OR come with a brief presentation of your research (5 minutes/5 slides max)

Interested in hearing about research in blended, online, and competency-based education? Looking to find a support network and resources to help you design and administer high-quality research studies? Desire to collaborate with other institutions on funding opportunities and research? Come join our community! Part 1: Research Project Lightning Round Through rigorous, cross-institutional research, the National Research Center for Distance Education and Technological Advancements (DETA, pronounced data) strives to improve student access and success in distance education, in particular for underrepresented students. Launched at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), we released the DETA Research Toolkit in October of 2015, which contains research guides, pertinent survey instruments, data codebooks, shared definitions, and operationalizations of variables. Alongside the release of the toolkit was a request for research proposals that align with DETA’s goals. Through a competitive process, institutions and faculty across the country were awarded grants to conduct quasi-experimental, survey, and meta-analytic studies. The objective of this session is to hear from awardees and other collaborators who are conducting research in distance education at their respective institutions. Each researcher will briefly describe their study in a lightning round format of 5 minutes and 5 slides per presenter.

Note: If you are interested in presenting, please contact DETA via email: deta-staff[at]uwm.edu. We encourage all folks conducting research no matter how big or how small to come share. We will have time for 7 presentations.

Goal: What support is available to help do research?

Title: Research in Distance Education and Technological Advancements (DETA) (Part 2/2)
Date/Time: Friday, October 14th, 2016, – 10:30AM – 11:15AM
Format: Discussion session
Room: St. Croix 2
Your role: Come ready to ask questions, pose problems, brainstorm solutions, share opportunities for funding or collaboration, and more!

Interested in hearing about research in blended, online, and competency-based education? Looking to find a support network and resources to help you design and administer high-quality research studies? Desire to collaborate with other institutions on funding opportunities and research? Come join our community! The DETA Research Center seeks to engage a community of individuals interested in or currently conducting research on distance education. After the presentation of research studies, participants will gather in small groups to discuss a.) challenges in conducting research and needs of the research community, b.) possible solutions or resources to meet needs and overcome challenges, and c.) opportunities for funding and collaboration. In previous DETA community discussions, we identified some of the top challenges in conducting research; these included a lack of standardization in the research process, difficulty with adequately incentivizing participation, reliance on self-reported data, absence of a collaborative culture despite the necessity of a team-based approach, and problems accessing individual level data. One key recommendation was to build a community to proffer and provide support. We hope to expand on previous efforts to increase each individual’s and institution’s capacity to carry out DETA Research by building community and implementing solutions. For more, view these posts: Challenges in Conducting DETA Research and Recommendations for DETA Research Support.

OLC Accelerate

November 16th-18th, Orlando, FL

Goal: How do we turn research findings into practice?

Title: Creating and Diffusing Online Instructional and Institutional Practices From Data and Evidence
Date/Time: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 – 12:00 PM to 12:45 PM
Format: Express Workshop
Room: Oceanic 6
Your role: Come ready to brainstorm, talk, and listen!

Come discuss turning evidence into practice using findings from a large cross-institutional distance education study conducted by the National Research Center for Distance Education and Technological Advancements (DETA) and funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

We often hear people discuss data-driven decisions or evidence-based practices, yet many times the data and evidence that is driving our decisions and our practices within our educational institutions lacks the rigor of empirical research.

The DETA Research Center spent 2 years designing research models and conducting rigorous research in higher ed across a dozen institutions (2-year and 4-year) to help us identify effective instructional and institutional practices in blended and online courses and programs. The research models including guides to research, survey instrumentation packet, data codebooks, shared definitions, and operationalizations of variables were shared in the DETA Research Toolkit.

The data from student surveys and institutionally warehoused data allowed us to gather empirical findings as to what actually works for the students, in particularly underrepresented students, rather than administrators, instructors, or instructional support staff deciding on anecdote, experience, or assumptions based on partial or inaccurate data.

This sessions brings those cross-institutional findings in blended and online learning and ask the participants — what do we do next? This working groups will takes these finding from this large on distance education (blended, online, and competency-based education) and challenges the participants on determining how to interpret these findings, turn them into practice, and develop diffusion processes across the institution. Results alone are useless.

Let’s talk about how to interpret these results and determine what they mean for us and our institutions.

Let’s talk about whether or not we can turn these results into practices in our organizations, and if so, what practices would we develop.

Let’s talk about how we would diffuse these innovative practices across our institutions for students, instructors and faculty, support staff, and administrators.

Goal: What research is being conducted in distance education (online, blended, and CBE)?

Title: Research In Distance Education And Technological Advancements (DETA): Part 1: Research Project Lightning Round
Date/Time: Wednesday, November 16th, 2016, – 2:45PM – 3:30PM
Format: Presentation session
Room: Asia 2
Your role: Come ready to listen OR come with a brief presentation of your research (5 minutes/5 slides max)

Through rigorous, cross-institutional research, the National Research Center for Distance Education and Technological Advancements (DETA, pronounced data) strives to improve student access and success in distance education, in particular for underrepresented students. Launched at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), we released the DETA Research Toolkit in October of 2016, which contains research guides, pertinent survey instruments, data codebooks, shared definitions, and operationalizations of variables. Alongside the release of the toolkit was a request for research proposals that align with DETA’s goals. Through a competitive process, institutions and faculty across the country were awarded grants to conduct quasi-experimental, survey, and meta-analytic studies. The objective of this session is to hear from awardees and other collaborators who are conducting research in distance education at their respective institutions. Each researcher will briefly describe their study in a lightning round format of 5 minutes and 5 slides per persenter.

Note: If you are interested in presenting, please contact DETA via email: deta-staff[at]uwm.edu. We encourage all folks conducting research no matter how big or how small to come share. We will have time for 6 presentations.

Goal: What support is available to help do research?

Title: Research In Distance Education And Technological Advancements (DETA): Part 2: Community Discussions
Date/Time: Thursday, November 17th, 2016, – 10:00AM – 10:45AM
Format: Discussion session
Room: Asia 2
Your role: Come ready to ask questions, pose problems, brainstorm solutions, share opportunities for funding or collaboration, and more!

The DETA Research Center seeks to engage a community of individuals interested in or currently conducting research on distance education. After the presentation of research studies, participants will gather in small groups to discuss a.) challenges in conducting research and needs of the research community, b.) possible solutions or resources to meet needs and overcome challenges, and c.) opportunities for funding and collaboration. In previous DETA community discussions, we identified some of the top challenges in conducting research; these included a lack of standardization in the research process, difficulty with adequately incentivizing participation, reliance on self-reported data, absence of a collaborative culture despite the necessity of a team-based approach, and problems accessing individual level data. One key recommendation was to build a community to proffer and provide support. We hope to expand on previous efforts to increase each individual’s and institution’s capacity to carry out DETA Research by building community and implementing solutions. For more, view these posts: Challenges in Conducting DETA Research and Recommendations for DETA Research Support.

EDUCAUSE Annual Meeting

October 25th-28th, Anaheim, CA

Goal: How do we do research?

Title: Seeking Evidence of Impact: Methodologies for Teaching and Learning
Date/Time: Thursday, October 27th, 2016, 2:40PM-3:30PM
Format: Panel session
Room: Ballroom C
Your role: Come ready to listen and ask questions!

Abstract
Benchmarking and collecting evidence of impact is important in any undertaking. In this respect, post-secondary teaching and learning presents a unique set of challenges and complexities, so the key is to identify those methods that will produce useful and actionable results. This session consists of overviews of evaluation and research techniques and methods in three important domains in teaching and learning: online and blended learning; classrooms and learning spaces; and the LMS. We’ll conclude the session with a discussion with our domain experts about the relative strengths of the approaches they presented and considerations with respect to implementing them.

Session Outcomes
1. Learn about evaluation and research methods in key teaching and learning domains
2. Discover new methods that will help you conduct evaluations at your campus
3. Understand how these methods could be used at your institution

Presenters
Adam Finkelstein, Teaching and Learning Services, McGill University
Tanya Joosten, Director of eLearning Research and the DETA Center, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Terry O’Heron, Director of Operations, Teaching and Learning w/ Technology at The Pennsylvania State University
Malcolm Brown, Director, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (moderator)

Note: I will be talking about the DETA Research Toolkit — The DETA Research Toolkit serves to guide research conducted across institutions and disciplines, including both experimental and survey studies. DETA is using the toolkit to gather data across institutions to better understand the key factors in distance education courses and programs that are impacting student success, in particular for minorities, first generation students, and students with disabilities. | https://uwm.edu/deta/toolkits/

---

If you are interested in DETA holding an event at your conference or institution, please feel free to contact us at deta-staff[at]uwm.edu.