University of Nebraska Kearney

Special Education: Gifted Graduate Program Assessment Report 2005: Expert Research Paper

Submitted Fall, 2005

Methodology:

Each student completing the Expert Research Paper during the fall of 2004 was evaluated by the Research Paper Rubric in December, 2004.  Program Objective #7 was being evaluated:

7. Students will demonstrate the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate seminal research and original inquiry within the field of gifted education.

Students were required to identify a topic of interest related to the content of the class, conduct a search of the professional literature, and write an “expert” paper using APA format.  This was a class syllabus requirement for all graduate students in the endorsement class TESE 822P The Psychology and Education of the Gifted Learner.

Results:

Conclusions:

1. I am pleased by the level of these results, which suggest that between my teaching the necessary skills and the support provided by the UNK library, particularly Sheryl Heidenreich, students are producing at the level I want.  If all students were at the commendable level, I would be concerned that the task or the evaluation was too easy. 
2. The three assignments that were not completed are difficult to avoid at times.  Adult students frequently have unexpected challenges in their lives resulting in an incomplete in the class. 

Use of Results:

1. I will continue to teach this skill as I have been and work with Sheryl to provide additional supports for the research activities of off-campus students.  It has been by working with Sheryl that this assignment is nearly as easy as using the library inn person.
2. One student whose paper was in the commendable range approached her subject from a perspective I have not encountered so I encouraged her to make some minor revisions and submit it for publication in Gifted Child Today Magazine, a peer-review journal for teachers and parents.  Her article was accepted and published during the spring of 2005.  I have encouraged the publication of student work before and need to appraise students of the opportunities more effectively when the assignments are discussed at the beginning of the semester.  One method I will use is to post a link to this student’s article in Blackboard.
3. Because some students experience unexpected challenges in their lives, the instructor should continue to allow incomplete assignments to be finished over the next year, the time frame permitted by the Registrar for clearing incomplete grades, while striving to reduce their incidence.