Christina Haas & Pamela Takayoshi

In our ongoing study of Instant Messaging (IM) discourse forms and functions, we have been supported through the Moulton Scholars program, the Department of English, and the National Council of Teachers of English. With this support, we have been able to accomplish several important aims:

our research team, including undergraduate students, has conducted ongoing basic research on IM discourse
we have co-presented (with students) our research findings at a national conference and we’re in the process of submitting two research-based articles, with student co-authors
we have developed a 12-minute multimedia presentation, “Engaging Undergraduates in Faculty Research,” introducing students and faculty to the scope and potential of faculty-undergraduate collaboratives for enhancing learning, teaching, and research. (The multimedia presentation is presented in more detail below.)

As we look back on our Moulton Scholar experience, we are struck by the myriad benefits of these faculty-undergraduate research collaboratives -- for the conduct of the research itself, for faculty, for student learning, and for student professionalization processes. Our own experiences, coupled with the AQUIP emphasis on undergraduate student research, leads to our proposal to build on and expand efforts already underway across the University to foster undergraduate-faculty collaboratives. In AY 07-08 we would like to serve as FPDC Faculty Associates in order to share our excitement and commitment to faculty and undergraduate research collaboratives with our colleagues across the University.

We see the FPDC’s Faculty Associates program – with its emphasis on enhancing the faculty’s own understanding and knowledge while contributing to the learning of the larger KSU community – as a perfect fit for this next phase of our work. As Faculty Associates, we will provide guidance and leadership for the development of new faculty-undergraduate research collaboratives across the university community. Specifically, we would like to capture the lessons we’ve learned about the nuts and bolts of faculty-student research collaborations, as well as draw upon existing knowledge and expertise at KSU, in order to develop, pilot, elaborate, and distribute knowledge about and practical guidelines for successful faculty-student collaborations.

Work Thus Far: Research
Our research team – composed, over the last two years, of two tenure-track Faculty, one graduate student, and three undergraduate students – has collected, coded, and analyzed transcripts of IM discourse. Undergraduates played a crucial role on the team, informing the shape of a taxonomy of IM features, sharing responsibility in the coding process, and analyzing a large corpus of IM discourse, a discourse that they knew much more intimately than the faculty researchers. Typically, undergraduate research assistants are just that – assistants who handle the drudgery of research (searching library sources, collecting data, managing data and information sources) rather than fully participating research team members. Given the nature of our research project as an inquiry into emerging discourse practices among college students, however, undergraduates were intellectually engaged and integral to our research project.

Work Thus Far: Multimedia Deliverable
Our work as a research team led us to identify some principles for practice in developing future faculty-undergraduate research collaboratives. Digitally produced, “Engaging Undergraduates in Faculty Research,” is a multimodal presentation using iMovie and Keynote to capture the results of the ongoing research project, multiple student and faculty perspectives on the process of research collaboration, and reflections on the myriad values of such research collaboratives. Just as undergraduates became pivotal contributors to the research itself, one of our undergraduate team members was primarily responsible for the composition of this multimedia presentation. This beginning sketch of the benefits for faculty, students, the research project, and professionalization processes will be the first in a suite of documents, group meetings, workshops and multi-media presentations that will guide the development and application of undergraduate-faculty collaboratives.

Proposed Work as Faculty Associates
Our overarching goal as Faculty Associates will be to provide examples, guidance, and leadership for the KSU community in developing and maintaining faculty-undergraduate research collaboratives. Specifically, we will engage in such activities as:

pooling existing knowledge and resources by locating and bringing together existing units and faculty already engaged in undergraduate-faculty collaborations (e.g., University Research Council, University Teaching Council, Committee for Undergraduate Research, and individual faculty/faculty research teams across the University).

presenting “Engaging Undergraduates in Faculty Research” to interested departments, programs, or groups; our first such presentation will be made to the English Department early in Fall 2007.

developing materials and exportable prototypes, such as:

the benefits for learning, teaching, research, professionalization, and outreach
guidelines for implementing research collaboratives
introducing research collaboratives to students
pitfalls to avoid in engaging undergraduates in faculty research
getting students “up to speed” on ongoing research projects

providing consulting for individuals and groups on how to develop working relationships at the department or program level, defining goals and expectations for students and faculty, providing guidelines for publishing with undergraduates
exploring possible funding sources, both from within and outside the University, for faculty/student collaborations at KSU.

Because of the principles of collaboration that underlie our project, we propose to work together throughout the academic year on the project; in order to maintain our commitment to our home Department, we will divide the workload equivalency. Our Department Chair, Ron Corthell, supports our proposal; he will be contacting you separately to indicate such.

email: chaas@kent.edu, ptakayos@kent.edu