Seeking Undergraduate CS Students to Contribute to Improving Undergraduate STEM Education
We are seeking 1-3 undergraduate students with a background and expertise in computer science to join Dr. Olmstead's research group and contribute to our ongoing NSF-supported work. Our work explored team-based collaboration in undergraduate STEM education across the US. In particular, our research focuses on understanding how teams of STEM faculty and other stakeholders who are making instructional changes can work together effectively to redesign a course or set of courses. Our current work centers on developing a survey that teams can use to improve their collaborations.
We are seeking 1-3 students to help us integrate our existing survey into our website such that (1) project leaders can distribute the survey to team members, (2) team members can take the survey individually, and (3) project leaders can view reports of their teams' responses. We anticipate that these survey reports will also be shared with and discussed among teams.
The following qualifications and skills are desirable for this position:
- A major or minor in Computer Science
- Interest in improving undergraduate STEM education
- Strong communication skills
- Ability and desire to seek out and learn new skills that are needed to complete the work
- Ability and desire to take initiative in leading specific, technical aspects of the project
- Ability and desire to work effectively with others
- Experience with an object-oriented coding language such as Python or R
- Experience with languages/ packages for web design/ web development, such as Python for Django/Flask web frameworks, HTML, CSS, Javascript. Experience with a front-end framework such as React that uses Javascript is also desirable.
- Knowledge of and/or experience with online survey platforms such as Qualtrics, Google forms, Survey Monkey, etc. Qualtrics experience would be the most desirable.
- Experience with databases like MongoDB and SQL
Students will be compensated at $14/hour. The start date is flexible between January and June 2022. Total hours are negotiable depending on the number of interested and qualified applicants. Students would have access to computers and a quiet, shared working space if need or desired.
Interested students should email a CV or resume, transcript, and cover letter to Dr. Alice Olmstead (alice.olmstead@txstate.edu) and Dr. Amreen Thompson (amreen.thompson@txstate.edu) by December 10th. Your cover letter should be a 1-2 page document explaining your fit for the position based on your knowledge, skills, interests relative to the description in this job ad, as well as when you would be available to start. If applicable, you should also explain any academic struggles related to your CS degree that may appear in your transcript and how you have recovered or plan to recover from these. We plan to reach out to our top candidates during the week of December 13.
To learn more about the project you would be joining, visit: https://instructionalchangeteams.weebly.com/
To learn more about Dr. Olmstead's group (and similar research at Texas State), visit: https://txstper.wp.txstate.edu/
Deadline: Dec. 17, 2021, midnight