Happy New Year from Your OER Team!

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COE Accomplishments in 2016

Welcome Back! We want to congratulate the COE faculty for their accomplishments in 2016 and look forward to continued success in 2017. We are constantly on the lookout for opportunities for external funding to share. Contact us—we are here to help!

Listed below are some noteworthy statistics from the 2015 fiscal year:

  • COE faculty members in all schools and centers submitted 89 proposals, requesting over $79 million in external funding. This represents a 27.9% increase in the total dollar amount of proposals as compared to the prior fiscal year. Proposals were submitted to 43 agencies.
  • Research funding per faculty member totaled over $513,290, which is 14.7% higher than the previous fiscal year. Of the 189 COE faculty members eligible to submit proposals, 59 (31.2%) received external funding as Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI, and 53 (28.0%) submitted a proposal.
  • The total dollar amount of collaborative newly funded awards increased over nine times from the prior fiscal year, representing over $10 million in newly funded collaborations with PIs or Co-PIs outside COE.
  • COE PIs and Co-PIs received funding for 54 new awards totaling over $28.8 million. These new awards included three contracts from the US DOE – IES, two contracts from the US DOE (Office of Special Education Programs), three contracts from the NSF, and one contract from the US VA. Of the total dollar amount of newly funded awards, 63% was funded by federal agencies or organizations. The COE experienced an 81.1% increase in the total dollar amount of newly funded awards, nearly doubling its newly funded award total dollar amount for the second year in a row as compared to the previous fiscal year.
  • COE schools and centers have 106 currently funded projects totaling over $97 million. Of the total dollar amount of currently funded projects, 71% was funded by federal agencies or organizations. The COE experienced a 12.3% increase in the total dollar amount of currently funded projects as compared to the previous fiscal year.

View the complete FY 2015 OER Annual Report.

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Research Spotlight: Kent Crippen

Q & A with Kent Crippen, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the School of Teaching and Learning

What basic questions does your research seek to answer?

My research program embraces the grand challenge of providing an inclusive and robust science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce through the design, development, and evaluation of cyberlearning environments—those providing authentic experiences in STEM through the use of networked learning technologies. Currently, the following overarching questions guide this inquiry:

  • What forms of cyberlearning are effective and transformative for addressing the chronic problem of under-representation of specific populations of people in STEM?
  • How can the use of design in this pursuit inform our understanding of learners, the processes of knowing, learning and teaching, as well as amateur and professional development in both formal and informal STEM education contexts?

In the practice of our research, these questions are focused on compelling practical problems that exist in real-world settings that are complex, enduring, and difficult to solve, like the disproportionately low numbers of females pursuing engineering degrees. This work involves the dual purpose of trying to solve the learning problem(s) while at the same time generating new insights related to the processes of learning and the relationships among the people, tools, and context of the problem. Through our work, we seek to describe how learning occurs in a particular setting (for whom?) and to detail the required environmental characteristics for affecting the desired outcomes (under what conditions?).

What makes your work interesting?

The most interesting parts of my work are the people I collaborate with and the problems we try to address together. Collaboration and mentoring are two core values of my research group and they are reflected in all aspects of our work. Collaboration requires an intimate working relationship and melding of priorities among a diverse team of people, including students, policy makers, and researchers with diverse forms of expertise. Successful research involves communication and negotiation in order to leverage the team’s capacity for addressing the problem in a sustainable way while also affording the opportunity to develop our theoretical understanding of the problem itself.

What are you currently working on?

We are currently engaged with three major projects that are funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, respectively: FOSSIL (DRL-1322725), ChANgE Chem (DUE-124568, 1625378), and CATALySES (SEPA-1R25OD021901-01).

In collaboration with faculty from the Florida Museum of Natural History, FOSSIL is addressing the limited participation by the public in natural history research through a networked community of practice in which amateur and professional paleontologists collaborate in learning, the practice of science, and outreach. We have developed an evidence-based social messaging campaign that is enacted across an ecology of different technologies, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and our own myFOSSIL community site (www.myfossil.org). We are currently investigating activities for amateurs that are situated within the established best practices for paleontology—from planning a field trip to having a specimen included in a museum (both physical and virtual)—including the social spaces where they exist (e.g., face-to-face, virtual, or combination).

Working with colleagues from engineering and chemistry, ChANgE Chem is transforming the general chemistry curriculum for engineering students to a more contextually relevant and engaging experience. This endeavor employs the use of cognitive apprenticeship strategies to develop activities that emulate and make explicit the way engineers think, comprehend, and work. We have re-envisioned the discussion component of the courses (i.e., recitation) with a series of mini-design projects and are currently using our model to transform the laboratory curriculum based upon the Grand Challenges for Engineering.

CATALySES is the continuation of a long-standing collaboration with the UF Center for Pre-Collegiate Education and Training (CPET) on a scientist-teacher partnership model of professional development for secondary teachers. With this current project, we are investigating how the scaffolded process of constructing interactive online materials is mediated by teachers’ classroom experiences and local context to influence the translation of scientist-teacher experiences to their practice.

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Save the Date: Global Fellows Program Workshop Series

The UF International Center is sponsoring the Global Fellows Program Workshop Series. Each workshop will take place between 9 am – 11 am in Room 145 of the International Center. The first workshop will be held on January 20:

  • January 20, 2017: Finding International Funding
    Become familiar with resources that will help you find potential funding to support your research.

There is no charge for attending. Space is limited to 25 faculty. Please RSVP to ogre@ufic.ufl.edu.

See additional workshop topics and dates below:

  • February 3, 2017: Developing Proposals for International Research
    Learn about the services provided by UF Office of Research and the proposal development process.
  • February 17, 2017: Navigating the IRB, Export Controls, International Permits and Other Bureaucratic Hurdles
    Navigate the rules of international compliance. It all makes sense.
  • March 17, 2017: Engaging Students and Internationalizing the Curriculum, Study Abroad, Experiential Learning and More
    How do we engage students in international research, and can we use the student international experience to internationalize the curricula?
  • March 31, 2017: Developing Partnerships – Agreements and Team Building
    The how to of building international partnerships and preparing contracts and MOUs.
  • April 14, 2017: Communicating Your Research
    Discover new ways to share your research story and learn about the 5 imperatives for communicating your research.
  • April 20, 2017: Faculty Symposium
    An open discussion for navigating international research.
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UFIRST Requires Conflict of Interest Training

The UF Office of Research has announced, effective December 16, 2016, UFIRST will assist in enforcing the 4-year Conflict of Interest (COI) training renewal requirement. The training course is mandatory for all principal investigators and senior research personnel applying for funding with agencies that require compliance with Public Health Services (PHS) regulations.

See the UF Division of Research Compliance webpage for a list of organizations that require compliance with PHS regulations.

When an entry is made in UFIRST for any award or modification with a sponsor applying these regulations, UFIRST will validate that all key personnel have completed the DSR 810 course (Financial Conflict of Interest – Content and Final Assessment) within the last 4 years.

If the training has not been completed or was completed more than 4 years ago, UFIRST will provide an error and will not transition the award to the Division of Sponsored Programs (DSP) to finalize with Contract & Grants.

If you are required to complete the COI training, please click this link to register and complete the DSR 810 course. MyTraining requires that pop-ups are enabled and that you use a supported browser (Internet Explorer or Safari). The training takes about 20 minutes and includes 15 slides and a short quiz at the end.

Please contact compliance@research.ufl.edu if you have any questions.

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UFIRST Award Reports Are Now Available

An initial set of UFIRST Award Reports are now available via Enterprise Reporting, including a transactional report of sponsor authorized dollars; a listing of the full award portfolio of a department, award PI, or sponsor; and a portfolio report of all awards and related projects for a specified department, award PI, or sponsor. Raw UFIRST data are also available via Query Studio, and you are free to build queries and reports tailored to your local needs.

The reports are available via Enterprise Reporting>Access Reporting>Sponsored Program Information>UFIRST Awards.

The first canned report is the “UFIRST Financial Award Transactions Report” which provides a transactional report of sponsor authorized dollars for all awards received on or after 7/1/2016. This includes new awards, as well as dollars received via Modification. The report includes funding amounts at the award, project and allocation level, and can be filtered by department, date, award PI, project manager, current award state or sponsor. It is available in an Excel format.

The second report is “UFIRST Awards” which provides a listing of the full award portfolio of a department, award PI, or sponsor. It is available in two formats, optimized differently for easy printing to a PDF or exporting to Excel.

The third canned report available is “UFIRST Projects” which is a portfolio report of all awards and related projects for a specified department, award PI, project manager or sponsor. This is also available in PDF and Excel formats.

More standardized reports will be released as they become available.

A report Data Dictionary as well as a quick how-to guide for Award Reports are available online: http://hr.ufl.edu/learn-grow/just-in-time-training/myufl-toolkits/grants/.

A full Data Dictionary is also available for assistance in understanding the data elements included in the raw data: http://hr.ufl.edu/learn-grow/just-in-time-training/myufl-toolkits/grants/.

Guides for Enterprise Reporting Basics are available http://hr.ufl.edu/learn-grow/just-in-time-training/myufl-toolkits/enterprise-reporting-basics/ as is general information about Enterprise Reporting: http://www.it.ufl.edu/myufl/reporting/.

If you are having issues accessing the reports, please contact the UF Computing Help Desk (392-HELP). For questions about the data or future UFIRST reporting suggestions, please contact Lisa Stroud in the Office of Research.

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NCES Announces Additions to Online Dataset Training Modules

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has added six new modules to its Distance Learning Dataset Training (DLDT) system. The DLDT computer-based training module resource is an online, interactive tool that allows users to learn about the wide range of NCES data and use the data for particular purposes such as research, policy, and teaching.

The newest additions to the DLDT program include the following:

• Introduction to the NCES Longitudinal Studies: 1972-2020
• Postsecondary Education Quick Information System (PEQIS)
• Fast Response Survey System (FRSS)
• Introduction to High School Transcript Collections (HSTC)
• Introduction to NCES WebGateways
• Introduction to MapED

Additionally, users may now self-assess their learning by selecting the Check Your Knowledge option at the end of selected training modules.

To help users conduct successful analyses and make appropriate use of NCES data, the DLDT is designed to introduce users to the intricacies of various NCES datasets including their designs, what the data represent, how the data were collected, and specific considerations for analysis.

NCES data are appropriate for use by researchers, students, policy specialists, education professionals, and anyone who is interested in student and school outcomes at all levels. The DLDT is also a teaching tool that can be used by individuals both in and out of the classroom to learn about NCES complex sample survey and administrative data collections and appropriate analysis methods.

There are two types of NCES DLDT modules available: common modules and dataset-specific modules. The common modules help users broadly understand NCES data across the education spectrum, introduce complex sample survey methods, and explain how to acquire NCES micro-data. The dataset-specific modules introduce and educate users about distinct datasets and considerations for analysis.

You can access the DLDT system and learn more about the NCES datasets at http://nces.ed.gov/training/datauser/.

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NSF Fall 2016 Grants Conference Webcast Is Now Available on YouTube

The Fall 2016 National Science Foundation (NSF) Grants Conference Webcast is now available on YouTube, and may be accessed here. Some of the topics include types of NSF funding opportunities, proposal preparation, award management, the merit review process, and the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program.

Presentations are also available on the conference website.

For technical questions, please contact webcast@nccsite.com. For questions about the webcast content, please contact us at grants_conference@nsf.gov.

Please allow several business days for NSF to respond to your question.

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eRA Reminder: Use of Final RPPR Starts Jan. 1, 2017 and Related Changes to IMS

This is a reminder that the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Final Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) is replacing the Final Progress Report (FPR) in eRA Commons effective January 1, 2017.

In addition, related changes have been made to the Inclusion Management System (IMS).

For more details on Final RPPR, please see the November 23rd Notification.

Changes to the Inclusion Data Reports in IMS

The “last budget period” Inclusion Data Records (IDRs) will be replaced with “final” IDRs. If IDRs already exist, final IDRs will now be automatically created by the system for the last support year of each competitive segment.

Users will be able to edit existing final IDRs.  If additional IDRs need to be created, users can create them using the existing method.

Once the grant is closed, this ability to create or edit IDRs will no longer be available. The Manage Inclusion Data Records (IDRs) screen in IMS will display a “Grant Closed” message. At that point, users will be able to only view final IDRs.

Accessing IDRs for the Final RPPR is the same process as for annual RPPRs. When the Final RPPR is initiated, users will go to Section G.4.b and click on the Inclusion link. This action takes you to the Inclusion Manage Inclusion Data Records (IDRs) screen.

For details, including screenshots, please see the latest updates in the IMS Online Help.

For more information, see Guide Notice NOT-OD-17-022. You can also visit the NIH RPPR web page, and check out November’s eRA Items of Interest article Please Call it “Final RPPR.”

Questions?

Please contact the eRA Service Desk. Check out self-help resources on the Help page before submitting an online ticket; or call Toll-free: 1-866-504-9552, Phone: 301-402-7469. The Service Desk hours are Mon-Fri, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET

Help improve communications; send your suggestions and feedback to eRACommunications@mail.nih.gov or call 301-435-8185.

To read other recent articles and messages, please visit the Latest News page at http://era.nih.gov/news_and_events/index.cfm.

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Awarded Projects for December 2016

College of Education
Awarded Projects
December 2016
Principal Investigator: Herman Knopf (AZCEES/SSESPECS)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: University of South Carolina (Subcontract: DHHS Flow Through)
Project Title: Building a Statewide System for Inclusion
Project Period: 10/1/2016 – 9/30/2017
Award Amount: $38,400
Principal Investigator: Herman Knopf (AZCEES/SSESPECS)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: University of South Carolina (Subcontract: DHHS Flow Through)
Project Title: Management and Administration for South Carolina Child Care Resource and Referral Network
Project Period: 9/1/2016 – 6/30/2017
Award Amount: $52,663
Principal Investigator: Philip Poekert (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: St. Johns County School Board
Project Title: St. Johns STEM School Certification Process
Project Period: 8/22/2016 – 6/30/2018
Award Amount: $9,900
Principal Investigator: Philip Poekert (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: Early Learning Coalition Miami-Dade/Monroe
Project Title: Miami-Dade ELC Advanced Coaching Academy
Project Period: 11/14/2016 – 6/30/2017
Award Amount: $14,300
Principal Investigator: Philip Poekert (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: Jamey Bolton Burns (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Funding Agency: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Project Title: Gates Educational Reform and the Teacher Perspective Survey
Project Period: 11/14/2016 – 6/15/2018
Award Amount: $75,004
Principal Investigator: Stephen Smith (SSESPECS)
Co-PI: Ann Daunic (SSESPECS)
Funding Agency: SRI International (Subcontract: IES Flow Through)
Project Title: Effectiveness Study of Tools for Getting Along: Teaching Students to Problem Solve
Project Period: 9/1/2016 – 8/31/2017
Award Amount: $590,971

 

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Submitted Projects for December 2016

College of Education
Submitted Projects
December 2016
Principal Investigator: Pavlo “Pasha” Antonenko (STL)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
Proposal Title: REU Supplement Request for SL-CN Project LENS (#1540888)
Requested Amount: $52,500
Principal Investigator: Michael Bowie (Dean’s Area)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: Florida State University (Subcontract: State of Florida Flow-Through)
Proposal Title: High-Risk Delinquent and Dependent Child Educational Research Project
Requested Amount: $238,999
Principal Investigator: Susan Butler (STL)
Co-PI: Anne Corinne Huggins-Manley (SHDOSE), Philip Poekert (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
Proposal Title: STEM Certification of Schools (STEM CERT)
Requested Amount: $2,973,375
Principal Investigator: Timothy Jacobbe (STL)
Co-PI: Kent Crippen (STL)
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
Proposal Title: Statistical Preparation of Teachers – Online (SPoT-On)
Requested Amount: $2,983,748
Principal Investigator: Philip Poekert (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: Bright from the Start Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning
Proposal Title: PLC Facilitation Training Year 3 and Executive PLC Training
Requested Amount: $157,197
Principal Investigator: Rose Pringle (STL)
Co-PI: Dehlia Albrecht (Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants), Kathryn “Katie” Stofer (Department of Agricultural Education and Communication)
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
Proposal Title: Environmental Curriculum for Behavior Change (ECBC): An Invasive Species Units of Study Across Middle Grades
Requested Amount: $439,203
Principal Investigator: Tina Smith-Bonahue (SSESPECS)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: University of Illinois (Subcontract: NSF Flow Through)
Proposal Title: Families + Teachers: An Equation for Math Success
Requested Amount: $745,543
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