Connecting Researchers with Research Data Management Information

OBJECTIVE: All NSF grant proposals must now include a data management plan, and many other funding agencies either already have, or are expected to follow suit. Cornell’s Research Data Management Service Group (RDMSG) can help researchers prepare their data management plans, as well as being available for more general data management help. Our objective is to deliver research data management planning information to researchers. METHODS: We delivered one hour information sessions at several times during the semester, and in several different locations on campus. In addition, individual consultations by email or in person were initiated by researchers. RESULTS: We held nine open sessions in 2011 (3 in January, 2 in May, 2 in October, and 2 in December), and one session specifically for engineering faculty submitting CAREER proposals to NSF. Total attendance for all sessions was just over 300. We solicited feedback after the December sessions, which was uniformly positive. When asked whether the session made them better prepared to address the NSF\u27s data management plan requirement, 21 of 23 respondents answered “yes” and 2 answered “unsure.” CONCLUSIONS: Based on information session attendance and use of consultants, we consider this an important service for researchers. We will continue to offer NSF-specific information sessions as long as attendance warrants this; monitor emerging data management policies of funders such as NIH, and plan additional outreach accordingly; and determine need for additional data management training opportunities for faculty and graduate students, and develop training as need arises

Peer-Mediated Tootling with a Standardized Form and a Mystery Motivator in High School Classrooms

Peer-mediated tootling with a standardized procedure was implemented along with a mystery motivator component to determine the effects on academically engaged and disruptive behavior in three general education high school classrooms. The intervention used an A/B/A/B design across all classrooms. The goal of the study was to determine if these components would increase academically engaged behavior and decrease disruptive behavior. Students were trained on tootling procedures with a standardized format, which included reporting on peers’ positive, prosocial behavior on a premade tootling slip with various behaviors that they could select as being observed, reading five random slips aloud, totaling the number of slips to determine if the class reached its goal, and then drawing out of the chance envelope to determine if the class earned the reward for the day. As opposed to traditional tootling where a teacher facilitates the components of the intervention, a student appointed interventionist fulfilled the role instead. The results indicated that increases in academically engaged behavior and decreases in disruptive behavior were evident in two of the classrooms, while the third classroom had inconclusive data during the withdrawal and re-implementation phases. Social validity measures indicated acceptability in effectiveness and utility by the teachers and acceptability by the students. Overall, this study provides evidence for the use of peer-mediated standardized tootling in conjunction with a mystery motivator in high school classrooms; however, more research is needed to determine which, if any, of these additional components are necessary for future tootling studies

Developing a Data Management Curriculum for Graduate Students in the Natural Resources

Objective E-science has created a need for new skill sets for graduate students managing, working with and curating their research data. How can librarians help teach data management skills? Methods Librarians at Albert R. Mann Library collaborated with faculty in the Department of Natural Resources to determine educational priorities and deliver a one-credit special topics course in Spring 2013. Several assessment methods were used in order to determine the success of the instruction, including in-class active and collaborative learning exercises, post-class one-minute reflections, and a final survey. Results Data Management, Data organization, Data quality and Documentation, Data analysis and Visualization, Metadata, and Data Sharing were identified as the top educational priorities, and the course included sessions on each of these topics. Enrollment – almost 30 students of all experience levels – was much higher than expected. The course was co-taught by the librarian and the faculty, with responsibilities divided fairly evenly. Post-class and in-class assessments allowed us to respond quickly to correct misunderstandings or provide additional information when necessary, and the final survey indicated an increase in the students’ self-confidence in their skills and ability regarding every data management topic addressed in the course. As of Spring 2014, the course has been accepted by the curriculum committee, and will become a regular offering of the department. Conclusions Graduate students and faculty recognize a need for training in managing research data. Librarians can help to answer this need, providing real educational value for the institutions they serve

Natural Resources / Graduate Students / Wright & Andrews / Cornell University / 2013

This case study describes a 6 week for credit Data Information Literacy course taught at Cornell University for students in Natural Resources. Subject covered include: data management, data organization, data analysis and visualization, data sharing, and data quality and documentation. Materials include a book chapter describing the case study, a rubric for developing a data management plan, a class exercise in finding and evaluating data repositories, and the evaluation form used for the course

Introduction : contemporary orientations in African cultural studies

Abstract: This paper offers a glimpse of work generated by the 2014 John Douglas Taylor conference on ‘Contemporary Orientations in African Cultural Studies’. The conference generated a number of inquiries into the time and place of contemporary African cultural work, many of which theorized beyond the frameworks that postcolonial and globalization studies frequently offer. Under the shifting paradigms of cultural studies, the work of this conference, as well as the current project, moves away from reading the African everyday as exclusively a construction out of a series of colonial histories and relationalities, or global cultural flows. In line with Jean and John Comaroffs’ Theory From the South, this issue is instead dedicated to relocating the global centres from which cultural studies emanates and positing African work’s challenge to normative zones of cultural critique. ‘Contemporary orientations’ attempts to relocate the time and space of critique in African studies, but it resists the gesture to posit a stable trajectory through which time moves. Rather, the terms of the contemporary and the orientation depend on how they are read in relation to a multitude of other temporalities, orientations, and objects