Educational Psychology and Methodology RGSO Brown Bag #1: Chandelier: A
New Way of Seeing 2/26/14
Dr. Trevor Tebbs gave
a presentation on a new web-based system called Chandelier which can be used
for psycho-educational activities, particularly in the area of assessment. Chandelier was designed to be used primarily
by psychologists and school administrators who can then grant access to parents
or teachers as needed. It is an
innovative system which facilitates the assembly, storage, and management of
data in order to create a holistic portrait of a person. The portraits contain data on behavioral
factors, modifiers, psychometric factors, and predispositional/genetic factors,
but is presented in a way that all the information is readily available in one
place. There are many layers of data
presented in a succinct, interactive way.
This enables the monitoring of progress, provides insight for the
development of personalized learning plans, enhances communication, provides
easy access to assessments, and could be a great source of data for
research.
Educational Psychology and Methodology RGSO Brown Bag #2: Writing Instruction for High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders
(ASD) 3/26/14
Dr. Kristie Saddler presented an
overview of characteristics of children with high functioning ASD and how they
interfere with writing, followed by a review of research-based interventions
including technology-aided instruction, sentence construction, peer writing,
and self-regulated strategy development (SRSD).
She then discussed her own research in this area using single-subject
designs with quantitative and qualitative measures. Results after the SRSD-based writing
interventions indicated that participants with ASD improved overall writing
ability, the number of words generally increased, and most students enjoyed
using the strategies and felt it helped them become better writers.
Educational Psychology and Methodology RGSO Brown Bag #3: Researching Literacy Teaching and Learning 4/16/14
Dr. Peter Johnston, a Vincent
O'Leary Professor in the Reading Department at UAlbany discussed ways of
thinking about literacy, teaching, and research, and their significance for teachers
and students. He presented research on
the outcomes of relationally oriented reading instruction for 8th
graders and how to develop social imagination.
He believes engaged reading develops the relational, narrative self and
social imagination leads to many positive outcomes including: better social skills, increased cooperation,
more positive view of peers, decreased angry responses in personal
interactions, increased moral development and increased self-regulation. It encourages students to think about their
future possible selves, moral agency, reading agency, and changing identities
by talking through and about books.
Student Panel Discussion - The Dissertation Process 3/12/14
Educational Psychology doctoral students
Georgia
Brooke, Holly Meredith, Kim Speerschneider (Westcott), and Chris Valle were
speakers for a student panel discussion on the dissertation process. They were all at different stages and shared
their experiences such as picking a
committee, writing a proposal, balancing teaching/work and the dissertation, what
the defense process is like, and gave general tips and advice to fellow
students.
Educational Psychology and Methodology RGSO Spring Social Event: “Waiting for Superman” Movie Night 4/9/14
In collaboration with Kappa Delta Pi,
the international honor society in education, the ed psych RGSO hosted another
successful movie night! Graduate and
undergraduate students watched the educational documentary entitled, “Waiting
for Superman” followed by an informed discussion of the American public
education system, charter schools, socioeconomic status, and achievement.
Two-Day Workshop on Applied Propensity Score Analysis (PSA)
4/30/14 and 5/7/14
In
this workshop, Jason Bryer provided participants with a theoretical overview of
propensity score methods as well as illustrations and discussion of PSA
applications on day 1 followed by more advanced topics of PSA on day 2 (i.e. sensitivity
analysis, bootstrapping PSA, analysis of non-binary treatments, and analysis of
multilevel data). Big thank you to Jason Bryer for running the workshop!
Poster Session with Guest Speaker Dr. John Hitchcock 5/9/14
Our 13th annual poster session was
held in University Hall with guest speaker alumnus Dr. John Hitchcock. Dr. Hitchcock graduated from the doctoral
program in 2003 and now directs a large evaluation and education policy center
in addition to being a tenured faculty member at Indiana University. He
discussed how the training he received at UAlbany helped prepare him to work in
multiple settings, and offered insights about job searching, funding,
publishing, etc. It was great to see all
the interesting research projects fellow students have been working on
throughout the semester! Keep up the
good work!
Educational Psychology and Methodology RGSO Spring Outing: Picnic in Thacher Park 5/10/14
For our spring semester outing, the
RGSO went back to Thacher Park for a great day of BBQing and relaxing with
fellow classmates and faculty.
Community Service Activities:
Relay for Life 4/26/14
The Ed Psych RGSO created a team and
participated in UAlbany’s Relay for Life this year at the SEFCU arena! We had a great time walking and
raising money for the American Cancer Society!
A total of $210 was donated by our team!
Ronald McDonald pop tabs
By
the end of the Spring 2014 semester we had filled a gallon sized Ziploc bag of pop
tabs which were donated to the Ronald McDonald house in Albany. Money collected from these pop tabs is being
put towards an elevator in a new building which is bigger and allows the Ronald
McDonald house to serve more families!
Thank you to everyone who donated their pop tabs! This is a community service activity we would
like to continue in the future so save your pop tabs and bring them to Ed Psych
events or contact Jessica Lamendola for where to drop them off!
