Publishing

 

Although my role is Research Coordinator, not all research projects lead to a publication, much like not all scholarly publications require research. I will present to you some ideas to help you get started if you’re interested in authoring scholarly publications, including non-research publications. The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is not always discussed when speaking of research at the college, because many of the other schools are more applied in their scope than IS. They might create a stronger metal, develop a bit of code, or brew a new beer. Our applied setting is primarily education: essentially, how do students learn best?

Although you can plan, develop, and conduct a research study, collecting data, analysing it, and then publish those results, many new researchers feel that this is a daunting task. They feel overwhelmed and give up. A research project also takes a long time (at least 4-6 months). So my suggestion to you is that, before you undertake a full research project, consider publishing a small research project, perhaps using secondary data (see below) or even one requiring no data at all.

Consider what “research” you already have at your disposal. We all have access to a wealth of data; we just need to think of the correct research question to ask and follow the proper procedure to access that data for the purpose research. Two key components of any research is completing the TCPS2 training (tcps2core.ca) and submitting the correct forms to the Research Ethics Board (REB) for review. Consider these sources of data (or non-data publications):

           Student grades from previous semesters: every semester, we manipulate variables to try to give our students the best possible learning experience. We try new things: new tools, new examples, new activities. We “feel” that something worked well, so we keep using it. But we don’t always look at the data to confirm our hunches. If we use data to confirm our hunches, that’s research! And there is a way to (ethically) examine past student performance to test our hunches. The TCPS2 allows us to use secondary data. So, although you did not collect the data in order to do research (you collected it to assess learning and calculate their grades), you can complete a form requesting permission to use this secondary data for research now (for the form, click “Secondary use of data” under the “Forms” heading on the left of the REB page). Just be sure that you have completed the TCSP2 certificate as you will need to include it with your application.

           Thesis from previous degree(s) or literature review: perhaps you completed a data-driven thesis or a theory-based project for your Master’s (or even your Bachelor’s) degree. Whether based on data or theory, journals will publish your findings (just read the “about” or “submission guidelines” sections of the journal’s website to see whether your topic and format are a good fit for the journal).

            Pandemic data: although this wasn’t planned, being forced online might give you a unique opportunity to compare some aspect of your teaching/course in the online environment to your usual face-to-face approach. This can take the form of a reflection, literature review, or research article. But remember that if your planned publication involves data (e.g., grades) rather than simply your opinion, feelings, or a description of something you did, you must seek approval from the REB for secondary use (for the form, click “Secondary use of data” under the “Forms” heading on the left of the REB page).

There are also many possibilities to publish your opinion or a description of something you did in class which you thought was beneficial (either to students or to yourself). Though this is not necessarily research, it will get your feet wet in academic publishing and you may feel less intimidated to subsequently pursue research.

I leave you with one final tip. Whether you plan to publish a data-driven research article, or share a teaching technique, tip, or approach, you don’t need to feel like you are navigating this alone. Consider getting a mentor; someone who has published before, and can help walk you through the process. IS has an official mentorship program now (and ORSIE is developing one specifically for research- stay tuned for details on that next year), so if you are interested, speak to Stephanie and/or Kevin about it.

I hope you have found these tips to be helpful. Perhaps they will lead to your next publication! As always, if you have any suggestions for things you’d like to see from me, please reach out to me via email or on MS Teams.