Ruth Wertz just forwarded a call for abstracts - and hit the "send" button on these two about 15 minutes later, and I'm sharing them for a few reasons:

  1. To share the talk abstracts in case anyone finds them interesting and would be interested in hearing the talk, whether that's through GEECS or some other medium.
  2. To illustrate how quickly it's possible to throw together abstracts. One need not agonize too much. (One can agonize more, and if I were submitting this to, say, Science magazine, I would - but here? Nah, ship it.)
  3. To encourage other engineering education researchers to, y'know, write more about what they're thinking. Where others can see it, be inspired, and pitch in. (Most people are good human beings.)

Without further ado:

Why you (yes, you!) should start a research blog

"What?" you say. "Blogging is for other people. You know, the ones with interesting thoughts to write about. Besides, I'm too busy writing conference papers."

"Are your papers on interesting things?"

"Uh, I hope so."

"Then you have interesting thoughts to write about. What if I told you blogging can help you write your papers? That it can help you find coauthors, collaborators, research subjects, and sometimes even funding? That it's probably what got me admitted to grad school in the first place?

I'm not talking about having a shiny professional site with slick regular postings and SEO all over it. I'm talking about the courage to think and write out loud, in public, where other people can see - and help with - the thoughts inside your head."

"But I don't know how to code..."

"It takes an hour to set up, doesn't cost any money, and can be done by anyone who uses Facebook or Twitter. C'mon. I'll walk you through."

Open Access for Great Justice and Research Impact

Wouldn't it be great if your engineering education research could impact the practice of engineers and engineering educators? Well, in order for that to happen, those teachers have to read your research -- but many of them.... can't. This is a problem. Open Access is a solution. (Widespread telepathic broadcasts would be another, but we're not quite there yet.) Let me show you how to wield it.

I'll briefly cover academic copyright -- you know, those scary papers IEEE/ASEE/etc make you sign when you publish or present with them -- what do they mean? I'll talk (with empirical evidence!) about how open access can help you get your engineering education work out to the audience of engineering educators who *don't* subscribe to JEE and other engineering education venues (in other words, "almost all of them.") And I'll show people how to send in the single document that'll let them post their papers publicly online, completely legally, for other folks to use.