Hi everyone,
For my post this week I'm going to pose a question in hopes that some (or all!) of you respond with ideas.
Jeff & I are in the process of creating a list of objectives for the lab. Since many undergraduates spend a large portion of their semesters doing research in this space, we'd like to have a concrete list of tools, theories & knowledge that alumni of the lab can walk away with. Think of it like a syllabus of sorts; we'll have key articles that should be read, theories to teach & skills to instill. By the end of the "class" (er, research), the student can say "I know that!"
You're all smart undergrads. And though none of you are doing your current work for credit, many of you have, or know others that have. So tell me, why would a student choose to participate in research instead of a class? When you applied for the position that you have now, why did you? What were you expecting to get from this experience?
And along similar lines, after a couple weeks in, have your expectations been met?
What are some guidelines or procedures (using syllabus lingo here) that may make the experience better? More educational?
In the coming weeks we'll be laying out goals & expectations for the students that receive credit for research. Any ideas that you have for the design & implementation are much appreciated.
(feel free to comment on this post, or create your own post in response)
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I'm not sure if anyone will see this, but I think one thing new undergrad RAs should keep in mind is to always know what the goals of their project is, what it is that the project really wants to study. It's easy to get caught up in daily routines and random tasks and lose sight of what the big picture is. It happened to me a little bit and I feel like my tasks would have been clearer if I had been more mindful of what the final outcome of the study was supposed to be. Just a thought!
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