Illinois State University

Click here for the October 2008 SoTL Research Update from Illinois State University as presented at the CASTL Student Voices Convening preceeding the 2008 ISSOTL Conference in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (Oct. 16-19).

Student Voice through Faculty-Student Collaborative SoTL Projects on Learner Autonomy

At Illinois State University, student voices are brought out through faculty-student collaborative SoTL projects on Learner Autonomy (see the Illinois State SoTL website and the Learner Autonomy website). For more information, contact Kathleen McKinney.

Recent Research Projects

Each research team has at least one student researcher. To see web snapshots for some of the recent SoTL projects, visit http://www.sotl.ilstu.edu/examples/KEEPShots.shtml.

• "Forcasting Changes in Learner Autonomy -- A Longitudinal Investigation" - Gary Creasey, Patricia Jarvis, and Daniel Gadke, Psychology
• "Exploring the Effect of Team Leaders who are Autonomous Learners in Enhancing Team Learning within Construction Management Classes" - Mohamed El-Gafy and Keith Rahn, Technology
• "Employing Active Learning Strategies to Promote Autonomous Learning in Criminal Justice Research Methods Courses: An Assessment" - Donna Vandiver, Jeffery Walsh, and Carrie Grotts, Criminal Justice
• "Developing Learner Autonomy by Linking Classroom Theory to Applied Research: A Pilot Project in Food Animal Curriculum" - Byron Weigand, Rob Rhykerd, Kathleen Blubaugh, and Addie Meteer, Agriculture
• "Documenting Learner Autonomy in an Ethnographic Field School" - Gina Bessa and Joe Marino, Sociology and Anthropology
• "The Development of Learner Autonomy: The Importance of Classroom Goal Structure, Teacher Immediacy, and Student-Instructor Relationships" - Patricia Jarvis, Gary Creasey, and Denise Faigao, Psychology
• "Autonomous Learning in a Large Lecture Hall: POGIL and 'Clickers'" - Guang Jin, Tom Bierma, and Lucy Loftus, Health Sciences
• "Developing and Assessing Student Autonomy in the First-Year Experience of Psychology Majors" - Dawn McBride, Corinne Zimmerman, and Derek Herrmann, Psychology
• "A Comparative Analysis of Student Engagement, Satisfaction, Success, and Learning in Lecture Hall and Online Learning Settings" - Cara Rabe-Hemp, Criminal Justice Sciences, and Susan Woollen, Educational Administration and Foundations
• "A Longitudinal Investigation of the Development of Sociology Majors" - Kathleen McKinney and Dan Finn, Sociology

Sharing the Work/Making Public

• Project brief reports are shared in ISU SoTL Newsletter.
• All grant recipient teams present at the ISU Teaching-Learning Symposium.
• Reports or Keep Tool Kit Web Snapshots are placed on the ISU SoTL website.
• Students will be encouraged to do posters or presentations at the ISU Undergraduate or Graduate Research Symposia.
• Some students will co-author papers for external presentation or publication.
• Work with our teaching center to offer programming and conversations for faculty and students on learner autonomy.

Application of results to improve teaching and learning

• We are conducting a study of past and current faculty grant recipients about if/how/when they have used the results of their SoTL grant study to improve teaching and learning.
• Grant recipients are encourages to highlight applications they make in all their presentations and publications.
• Add practical ideas to our Learner Autonomy website.

This page is under construction. More coming soon!