University of Arizona Dr. Lee Fulmer, McNair Assistant Director Concord College Dr. Kristin Jenkins, McNair Director Washington State University Dr. Steve.

University of Arizona

Dr. Lee Fulmer, McNair Assistant Director

Concord CollegeDr. Kristin Jenkins, McNair Director

Washington State UniversityDr. Steve Burkett, McNair Director

MUDS (Multi User Domains)

• Created in 1985

• Gaming Environments Social Environments

• Move around a room, create and program objects, and to develop the communications

• Particular Type of MUD

• Developed in last decade for educational purposes

• OldPuebloMOO, at the University of Arizona, was created in 1997

With only 20-40 McNair Scholars at each university, it is difficult for students to find other students in their program with the same major with which to discuss their research.

On-line interaction between students and mentors at different colleges and universities (156 McNair programs) all doing research in the same field at the same time.

Allows students to grow academically by mimicking the graduate school environment

– More intense interactions with people and ideas

– Learn not only about their field, but also about communicating with and teaching others

Greater Communication

– Students communicate to a greater degree with both faculty and each other than they do in traditional classrooms

– Students talk more than in a traditional classroom

More Learning

– Compared with a traditional classroom

– Students improve their communication skills in various media

– Students become familiar with cutting edge technology used in both research and education

Student-Student Interaction

– Learning

– Networking

Faculty-Student Interaction

– Teaching

– Mentoring

– Recruiting

– Graduate School Exploration

• Spring 2001

• Biology

• Mentors/Instructors:

Dr. Bruce Walsh, University of Arizona

Dr. Lee Fulmer, University of Arizona

University of Arizona

Concord College

Washington State University

Hunter College

University of Nebraska Lincoln

SUNY Brockport

Jackson State University

Wk Date Topic

1 Mar 5-9 Getting to Know MOO

2 Mar 12-16 Getting to Know Each Other

3 Mar 19-23 Fields of Science

4 Mar 26-30 What is research? What is Science?

5 Apr 2-6 Ethics and Science

6 Apr 9-23 Mentoring and Science

7 Apr 16-20 Applying to Graduate School

8 Apr 23-27 On-line Evaluation of Course

Rooms and Objects

• Introductions

• Whisper

• Description

• Homework: Creating and Placing Books

• @URL

• Homepages

• Background, School, Academic Interests

You are a graduate student and have signed up to work with Dr. Smith. Dr. Smith has invited you to help him with a project he is conducting in collaboration with a postdoctoral fellow and a doctoral student. For your work, you will earn 3 units of independent study. Your responsibilities include doing some library research, creating some figures with computer graphics, and outlining details of some of the procedures used in developing certain materials used in the project. The project is completed and you are given an "S" (superior) for your independent study units. A year later you run across a publication of the project and find that the authors include Dr. Smith, the postdoctoral fellow, the doctoral student, and some other person whose name you don't recognize. You are angry that your name does not appear as one of the authors. You look at the end of the paper, but find that your name does not appear in the "Acknowledgments" section either. What should you do? What ethical issues are illustrated in this scenario?

Bruce says, "So, did everyone look at the ethics problem?"

Linnea says, "what ethics problem?"

tessa says, "I'm not familiar with an ethics problem."

Bruce points at tess

Bruce says, "Did you look over any of the ethics problems ?"

Linnea says, "oh, I think I just found them"

Bruce notices a dirty spot on his shoes

tessa says, "sorry, I'm still lost"

Bruce says, "Well, let's look over and discuss Lee's posting first"

tessa says, "I got it"

Bruce looking at the class clock, giving the class three minutes to look over Lee's problem

Linnea says, "Lee's problem is a tough one, I don't know what I'd do..."

Bruce says, "Well, for starters is the student right or wrong in her assertion?"

Linnea says, "Well, I'm not sure how much effort into a project someone needs to give in order to get their name published"

tessa says, "I wouldn't be so sensitive"

Bruce says, "OK. two differing points of view."

Bruce says, "Linnea: should the student's name be included -- in your opinion that is?"

Linnea says, " Well, it should at least be included in the acknowledgements, though I don't know about as a co-author"

tessa says, "but she's getting a lot of side benefits"

Bruce says, "Tessa, your thoughts about the student being a co-author?"

tessa says, "she gets credits, a great grade, experience and a paper to build her portfolio"

tessa says, "wait a minute"

Bruce waits a minute

tessa says, "didn't realize she was a grad student...so maybe that changes things"

Linnea says, "why?"

Linnea says, "undergraduates deserve recognition as well"

tessa says, "because as a grad student research is an integral part of your education...as an undergrad it is mainly more for getting your feet wet"

Linnea says, "But the work she did was the same, none the less" tessa says, "maybe not"

tessa says, "as a grad she probably has a lot more time to give to the project"

Bruce says, "My opinion is that whether the student is a graduate or undergraduate has no bearing"

Linnea says, "not necessarily, if she had her own research or classes she was taking"

tessa says, "true, maybe it is just my perception that grad students are in general more serious researchers."

Bruce says, "Just so everyone knows, in Monday's class, almost everyone thought that the student "had been wronged""

Linnea says, "Bruce, would you have made her a co-author if she had helped you on a project?"

• Two Instructors

• Time Zones

• Controlling the flow

– Emoting

– Lecturing

– Involving the Student

Bruce says, "Please look over the article and we will discuss it. Raise your hand when you are done"

Bruce raises his hand

Bruce says, "I read it earlier"

Linnea says, "I've seen this before"

Lee says, "But instead of following the directions exactly. And pick the person..."

Lee says, "you would most like to have as your mentor, as well as..."

Lee says, "the person you would least like to have as your mentor."

Lee [to Linnea]: Yes you have. So you should know all the answers!

Bruce says, "Be sure and scroll over, noting that the last column is titled "Other"

tessa raises hand

Bruce notes tessa is finished

Linnea raises hand

Lee raises hand and shouts "Oh, oh. Oh, oh oh"

Bruce ignores Linnea

shirhonda08 says, "my hand is up"

Bruce tries very hard to ignore Lee

KJ raises hand

Linnea frowns

Lee [to shirhonda08]: type a : followed by raises hand and see what happens

Bruce says, "OK, I assume we are all done?"

Bruce says, "What I hope you have gotten from this discussion is that to master your field, you need several things ..."

Bruce says, "First, you need to master the basic concepts from your field"

Bruce says, "It is very surprising just how often seemingly very difficult questions can be solved simply by going back to the basic concepts"

Bruce says, "In fact, the more you learn, the more the basic concepts become important, and the best folks are those that know these basic concepts the best"

Bruce says, "Second, you need the confidence to apply your basic knowledge"

ajbrown says, "I totally agree"

Bruce says, "Third, you should know where to find basic knowledge in your field. Not just to lookup particular facts, but to see how those facts fit with the basic concepts"

Bruce says, "Finally, you need analytic tools, and the math level of these varies with your field"

Bruce says, "Physics has the highest level, partial differential equations and the like. Genetics (Probability theory) is the next more complicated, and basic chemistry and A&P can often be addressed with simple graphs and algebra"

Bruce says, "However, no matter what your field, its the basic concepts plus the particular specialists tools in your field that you will need to master"

Bruce says, "I'll go around the room now that we have introduced ourselves and ask you each to tell me if you have a mentor (just answer yes/no)"

Bruce [to nanibaa:]: "Do you have a mentor?"

nanibaa [to Bruce]: "No, not yet."

Bruce [to r_lily]: lily: What about you?

r_lily [to Bruce]: "no"

Bruce [to ajbrown:]: "Tell us about some of your mentors"

ajbrown says, "[To Bruce]: Our mentors are diverse. Mainly Humanities and Social Science disciplines"

Bruce [to ajbrown:]: "In a sentence, what did you learn from your mentors?"

Bruce says, "By mentors, I don't necessarily mean a McNair mentor, but rather anyone who has given you guidance in school and/or life""

ajbrown [To Bruce]: I learned that you must work hard and be professional at all times

Lee says, "Do you have a mentor Lily?"

Bruce [to r_lily]: "What you have your learned from any mentors you have had"

r_lily [to Lee]: "no. but I have spoken to many people. I feel that the best thing I have been told is to never give up...everyone struggles...It only seems like it's just you."

• Ethics and Mentoring

• Faculty-Student Interaction– Teaching

– Mentoring

Tessa says, "all I know is that scientists are trying to increase C4 metabolism and even insert it into C3 plants..."

Tessa says, "this may be a problem because with CO2 rising, C3 plants will be at an

advantage..."

Tessa says, "and by that time all our crops may be C4"

Linnea says, "That's a problem, huh...."

Tessa says, "Yeah, so you focus more on the animal kingdom then?"

Linnea says, "Why are they inserting C4 metab. into C3 plants?"

Tessa says, "because C4 metabolism bypasses photorespiration, a potentially toxic process in plants."

Tessa says, "and it is more efficient in dry, hot areas"

Linnea says, "Yeah, don't cacti have C4 metabolism?"

Tessa says, "Sure do."

Tessa says, "and crops like corn...and some others I can't remember."

Linnea says, "So are they inserting c4 metabolism into crops that are c3 so that they can grow better in drier climates?"

Tessa says, "Exactly...but C4 plants cannot fix CO2 as well as C3 plants, so C3 plants may

come to be at an evolutionary advantage."

Tessa says, "So what do you focus on in your studies?"

Linnea says, "Well, that's a good question..."

Linnea says, "My classes have mainly been on concepts about ecology and evolution and not really specifically on the biology of animals or plants"

Linnea says, "Which is good in some regards, but I lack basic biology knowledge"

Tessa nods.

Linnea says, "So, what are your future plans with a biochem degree?"

Recruiting

Graduate School Exploration

• Daylight Savings Time

• Finding and scheduling participants

• Getting students to participate in all classes

• Pace

• Confusion

• DST: Schedule for time change

• Recruiting: National Listserv, McNair student directory

• Pace: Emotes and Directed Commands

• Confusion: Directed Commands

• Sociology– Mentor:

Dr. Steve Burkett, Washington State University

• Chemistry– Mentors:

Dr. Ralph Stefani, St. John’s University

Dr. Alexa Serfis, St. Louis University

University of Arizona

Washington State University

University of Wisconsin Superior

University of Nebraska Lincoln

University of Pennsylvania

Concord College

University of Missouri

Wichita State University

University of Arizona

St. John’s University

St. Louis University

University of Nebraska Lincoln

University of Texas Arlington

University of Montana

Colorado State

Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County

Sociology– Selected Topics

Chemistry– Students presented their research

When I talked I was aware of questions that may be asked to me which allowed me to broaden my research.

The thing I liked most about this class is the insights of the instructors. They were very informative and welcoming.

I could talk with professors without feeling intimidated and I learned a lot. The course made me think about different issues.

The interesting conversation and the different perspectives that everyone had to offer.

The actual typing and program is kind of difficult.

It was hard to keep going and stay focused when nobody typed for a while. It is also better when more people show up to participate.

The conversations could be awkward when there were more than two people. I t was hard to keep a single conversation going between the group.

New Classes in Spring 2002

• Sociology

• Biology

• Surviving & Succeeding in Graduate School

• Discussions of how to apply to graduate school in specific fields

• Smaller groups within a group

• Students present their research

• Train faculty prior to start of class

• Require a syllabus

• Require McNair staff from participating school to monitor student attendance?

Lee Fulmer

[email protected]

(520) 626-7475