This presentation is a roadmap with a one-mode transition and subsequent application of selected higher education classroom materials to field research for learning, which has been a challenge for college faculty members for ages. The essential components of such a process are delineated, using the field experience gained by the authors with…

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's multiple techniques for assessing its Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities program seek to address both bigpicture concerns (e.g., are students learning?) and more pragmatic questions (e.g., are there barriers to participation?). The benefits and challenges of the quantitative and qualitative…

This concluding contribution to the special issue on the Ethnography of the University Initiative based at the University of Illinois locates the project at the intersections of several of the main currents in modern higher education: the push for undergraduate research, calls for critical inquiry into higher education, an interest in pedagogical…

How do college students "really" conduct research for classroom assignments? In 2008, five large Illinois universities were awarded a Library Services and Technology Act Grant to try to answer that question. The resulting ongoing study has already yielded some eye-opening results. The findings suggest changes ranging from simple…