Undergraduate Research Blog
A space for blog posts written by faculty, staff, students and administration about undergraduate research at USask. *NOTE: From Student to Researcher (in one term!) is a series rolling out in 2021-2022 to kick things off!
From Grasping at Straw to Going for Gold
Another 'prequel' in the series From Student to Researcher (in one term!)
Looking at Lectures: Nicely baled, but still straw -- no gold yet
Enjoy this latest edition of the ongoing blog series all about course-based research experiences.
'Bailing' on Straw: Distinguishing Information from Knowledge ~ The "Why To"
Have you ever wondered why there is this underlying tension around grading and grades?
From Student to Researcher (in one term!) Post 19: Q&A
A couple of recurring questions and our more detailed answers
From Student to Researcher (in one term!): Post 18 (Prequel 3)
Coming Through the Fuzzy Front End to See the ‘Dawn of Implementation’
From Student to Researcher (in one term!) Post 17
Wrangling the 'Fuzzy Front End' of the research process (Prequel 2)
From Student to Researcher (in one term!) Post 16: 'Dawning' of the CURE (prequel 1)
A prequel story to the CURE
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 15: From Queazy to Breezy!
Integrating new teaching approaches requires extra effort at the beginning. Additionally, you are trying something new and it may make you feel a bit queazy at the start.
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 14: Taking Stock: Are You Ready for the CURE?
We briefly interrupt this blog series to allow Sheryl a quick theoretical moment to take a look behind the curtain of ‘change’.
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 13: Transitioning from ‘Exploitation’ to ‘Exploration’: Getting One Hand Free
"It is hard to gather new treasure when both hands are clasped firmly on the small ‘precious’ nugget you are guarding." (H. Bull, 2021)
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 12: Transferring CURE Principles into ‘non-CURE’ Courses: The ART
In Post 11 we outlined the transferrable, reproducible, generalizable scientific aspects of the CURE course design… and then we realized that this, perhaps, wouldn’t fit for every ...
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 11: Transferring CURE Principles into ‘non-CURE’ courses: The ‘Science’
In this post we offer the transferable and reproducible ‘CURE-ALL’ principles that, we believe, can be incorporated into any course – yes, even yours!
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 10: What? No Drama … at ALL?
Although possibly a comedy of errors, CURE courses are structured in such a way that there is virtually no drama at all! And why is this you might ask?
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 9: What?! No (team) drama?
We don’t have a lot of team drama in our team-based CURE course. What gives?
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 8: And why is the CURE format so fulfilling for instructors?
In post 7 we explored why we think the CURE course is fulfilling for learners. In this post we argue that is is an extremely satisfying professional experience for instructors.
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 7: Why do we think the CURE format is so fulfilling for learners?
From the consistent strong positive feedback we have received from graduates of the CURE course we can see that they are thoroughly enjoying their course experience and find it val...
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 6: The Instructor’s Role
As instructors in a CURE course our responsibility is to set up the environment to promote learner autonomy. This means knowing what we are going to do and what we are not going to...
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 5: Consolidating the Case: Career Readiness Competencies
This post is the fifth in a series about integrating the use of the CURE experiential learning approach into your course(s) and looks at career readiness competencies.
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 4: Intentionally integrating active learner reflection into the CURE course
In this post, we share how we use the Research Skills Development Framework version 7 (RSD7) developed by John Willison, University of Adelaide, as a tool for reflection within our...
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 3: What learners told us about their CURE experiences
In post 2 we shared our observations with you. In this post we share with you what our learners have shared with us.
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 2: Distinguishing ‘student’ from ‘researcher’
The largest and most dramatic take-away from facilitating our CURE course over the past three years is witnessing how our learners transform from timid ‘students’ to confident, res...
From Student to Researcher (in one Term!) Post 1: Introducing the CURE
This post is the first in a series about integrating the CURE experiential learning approach into your course(s).