Overview of CID Activities

The CID committee at the Indiana University School of Education is committed to improving doctoral education within our own institution and broadly within the field of education. To this end we believe that our activities should be aimed at supporting and challenging the intellectual community within the School of Education. We have identified 3 major points of examination for our work: research preparation, teaching preparation and support of students' needs. Within the latter category we have focused mainly on mentoring and international student needs.


The School of Education
The School of Education

The School of Education

The School of Education at Indiana University Bloomington is the third largest in the United States. We have 2000 undergraduate teacher education students, 500 Master's students and 660 doctoral students. Nearly 30 percent of our doctoral students are international students. We offer doctoral degrees in 17 program areas ranging from Curriculum Studies to Educational Policy, from Instructional Systems Design to Counseling Psychology. We believe our School of Education offers a vibrant and diverse intellectual community and it is our goal, through our participation in the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate project, to enhance and improve this intellectual community.

School of Education Homepage

Graph of Student Enrollment 2002-2003

Schematic of Graduate Programs
Schematic of Graduate Programs

Larger version of schematic

Our Projects

Innovations:

Improving Research Preparation: From the inception of the CID project, our leadership team had identified improving the research preparation of our doctoral students as a central goal. We developed a conceptual model with course recomendations to stimulate reform. This model emerged from a year-long quantitative evaluation of research preparation for Ph.D. students. To date seven program areas and two departments have made policy changes based on the model. For more information on the process involved in bringing about reform in this area, please see the process timeline snapshot.

Annual Review of Students: This innovation was stimulated by of our research on the qualifying exam process as well as our mentoring project. This in-progress innovation will create an explicated system of accountability both to the students and to faculty members. It strengthens the faculty advisor/mentor relationship by adding a formal element to it. We believe student learning and progress toward degree will improve with a regular review. We recomended a model for annual review as guide for departmental considerations. Several programs have adopted the model and others are modifying.

Mentoring Award: In response to a perceived lack of recognition of the importance of mentoring, student leaders conceived of and initiated this annual award process. As one of the earliest innovations related to the CID project, it has since become an important part of the culture of the School of Education.

  • Timeline: Research Preparation Model
    This portion of our timeline details our research preparation model.

    Innovation Snapshot: Annual Review
    This snapshot explains our annual review of students innovation.

    Innovation Snapshot: Mentoring Award
    This snapshot highlights the mentoring award as an innovation stemming from the CID project.

    What do we want to accomplish with the CID project?

    We want to challenge and improve the intellectual community in the School of Education. We believe we need a new model for conceptualizing research preparation for doctoral students, a deeper commitment to improving mentoring practices, particularly for international students, and a clearer understanding of the purposes of different doctoral degree programs. These convictions have shaped the projects we have undertaken and led us to focus on collecting data, creating models, inciting discussion and promoting reform. Below are a few of our original documents, created as we first joined the CID project.

    Commonalities Powerpoint

    Key Elements Powerpoint

    Our Projects

    Data Collection Projects:

    Assessment of International Student Needs: This is an ongoing project which we hope will lead to concrete policy recommendations in the future. In the summer of 2004 we formed a partnership with CID institutions Ohio State University and Arizona State University to create an online survey of international students at each of our Schools of Education. We are now nearing the data collection phase and early analysis is providing us with important data for future recomendations. For more information on the process involved in bringing about reform in this area, please see the process timeline snapshot.

    Assessment of Qualifying Exam Models: Currently several models of qualifying exams are being used in the School of Education. Failure rates or difficulties completing the exam, particularly among international students, engendered a discussion whether the different models used created inequities in some programs. There is also discussion about whether any of these exams are useful in assessing student learning. Project members collected data through interviews and an online survey of students. The data inform our annual student review innovation and our research preparation model.

    Understanding Mentoring in the School of Education: This project, led by Ph.D. candidate Margaret Clements, examined the mentoring of doctoral students in the School of Education. The study, unique in its incorporation of student, faculty and administrator perspectives, utilized interviews, focus groups and a survey for data collection. The results of this study revealed inequities of mentoring of female graduate students. Data from this study led to innovations regarding the annual review and mentoring award.

    Alumni Data Collection Project: When we began this project we discovered that there was little institutional data about our alumni. Therefore, we systematically contacted alumni who graduate from our Ph.D. programs from 1997-2002 in order to establish evidence of the types of professional postions our graduates obtained. This data collection also informed our research preparation model.


    Dr. Luise P. McCarty and Debora Hinderliter Ortloff
    Dr. Luise P. McCarty and Debora Hinderliter Ortloff

    Who are we?

    The CID project in the School of Education is under the direction of Dr. Luise P. McCarty, Associate Professor in Philosophy of Education. Debora Hinderliter Ortloff serves as the graduate research coordinator. Ms. Ortloff is also a doctoral candidate in the area of Educational Policy Studies.

    The project has a leadership team comprised of professors from throughout the School's five departments and graduate students from nearly all program areas. The leadership team was particularly critical at the beginning stages of the project, especially in terms of goal setting. Throughout the 3 year project we have had several sub-committees, which have directed particular projects. In our process timeline we provide greater detail about all the sub-committees over the life of the project. In the two projects boxes you will also find links to the specific data collection and reform projects associated with CID.




    Process Timeline

    Please use the link below to view our process timeline. This document highlights the decison making throughout the last three years. It also provides insight into the success and failures of the variety of projects undertaken.

    Reform Process Timeline



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