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General Information

Note: this is the former and out-dated website from the 2012 course offering. Please see iSpaceLab.com/Riecke/Teaching for my latest course offerings and information

 

About IAT 812: Cognition, Learning and Collaboration, and the Craft of Research and Scientific Writing for Publication

 

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The overall goal of this writing-intensive seminar is two-fold:

First, to assist students in gaining a deeper understanding of multi-modal human cognition, perception, and behaviour and embodied, spatial cognition in the context of computer-based media. This knowledge will serve a as the basis for a conducting a small straightforward research project that will be written up for potential publication as outlined below.

Second, to help students improve their scientific thinking, writing, and publishing skills. To this end, each student will design, run, and collect/analyze data from small straightforward quantitative research projects (ideally within the above scope) that uses the “scientific approach” and go through the different steps of how to get from a research idea to a publishable paper (which can ideally be submitted at the end of the seminar, else later). While interactive lectures, reading assignments, and discussions will provide the basic knowledge, the main focus of this seminar will be on hands-on experience with scientific writing, discussion, revision, peer-reviewing/feedback/evaluation, and submission/publication. This will help students to improve their scientific thinking/reasoning, research, and writing skills to ultimately enable them to successfully write for and publish in international conferences and journals.

Details and further information can be found in the course syllabus on the course management system.

The Writing Process

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I see scientific research and writing as an iterative process of inventing, drafting, and revising, as illustrated in the sketch on the right.

Contact Information

Instructor: Bernhard Riecke: ber1[at]sfu.dot.ca

Time & Location

Wednesday classes: 10:30 - 11:50, in SFU Surrey room 3040

Friday classes: 10:30-12:20, in SFU Surrey room 2980

Sakai: Course Management System

Visit http://sakai.sfu.ca/, login, then go to "iat812 Spring 2012".

Try the schedule tab for an overview on assignents and deliverables.

Important Dates

SFU First day of class: Thursday Jan. 5th. 2012--> the first IAT812 class will be on Friday 6th January

see also SFU Academic Calendar dates

Reading break: 13.-17. Feb.

April 6: Good Friday. All classes cancelled and offices closed.

Last day of class: Wed. 11. April

Final 5min project presentations: in last colloquium on Wed. April 11

Final papers due: TBD, likely about a week after the last day of class.

Course Textbooks

Required

  • Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2008). The Craft of Research, (3rd ed.). University Of Chicago Press. ISBN: 9780226065656. This is an excellent and affordable book that is essential for this course, please get your own copy before the first day of class

Recommended

  • Cunningham, D., & Wallraven, C. (2012). Experimental Design: From User Studies to Psychophysics (1st ed.). A K Peters/CRC Press. ISBN: 9781568814681
  • Morris, C. G., & Maisto, A. A. (2007). Understanding Psychology (8th Edition or later) Prentice Hall. ISBN: 978-0132335140
  • Stevenson, S., & Whitmore, S. (2001 or later edition). Strategies for Engineering Communication, Wiley. ISBN: 978-0471128175
  • Evans, A. N., & Rooney, B. J. (2007 or later edition). Methods in Psychological Research. SAGE. ISBN: 9781412924856
  • Ware, C. (2008). Visual Thinking: for Design. Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN: 978-012370896
  • short but interesting, especially for design-related projects: Don't Test Users, Test Hypotheses by Avi Soudack

This books should also be on the reserve shelf in the library. Supplementary readings will be announced as needed

 

Final Project presentation of the students of IAT812, Spring 2012

 

 

Intro

Introduction & Big Picture

Week 0&1 6. + 9.-15. Jan

Topics & Learning Goals

What, why, so what? Understand course procedures and "big picture"

At the end of this session, you should be able to:

  • Understand JiTT/Warmup exercises: Why do they support effective learning? What's required?
  • Understand course structure and teaching/learning activities
  • Explain relevance of rigorous scientific reearch and writing
  • How to find an exciting, doable, suitable, and publishable research project?
  • Why care about learning/ memory/ cognition/ perception?

Activities

  • Introductions & living stats
  • Minute paper: Goals, Concerns, Questions...
  • Freewriting/quick-write on possible research topics for course
  • Minute paper: Writing Strentghs and Challenges

  • Quick-write: Research idea “Elevator Pitch Minute Paper” & Presentation

  • Team forming
  • Q&A

Readings for this week (due before lecture)

Due This Week

Week 1 preparations:

  1. Familiarize yourself with the course management system sakai.sfu.ca
  2. I expect all to have read & understood the IAT 812 Course Syllabus
  3. Acquire required textbook (Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2008). The Craft of Research)
  4. Please email me a copy (.pdf) of your most recent (scientific or other) writings (published or unpublished) before week 2. Please include your last name in the file name ;-) E.g., Riecke_2010_Vection-bookChapter_inPrint.pdf

Ongoing:

  1. Start thinking about project ideas, consult your supervisor and/or me if you like. Start looking for & reading relevant papers in this area.
  2. Start thinking about writing teams (3-4 people each)

Preparation for Next Week

 

W2

Critical thinking, arguing, reflection, writing

Week 2: 16.-22.. Jan

Topics & Learning Goals

  • Why care about writing?
  • How is writing integrated in course structure & assignments?
  • Linear vs. iterative writing
  • Deeper understanding of what determines effective writing (& thinking)
  • Understand & experience importance of conciseness & clarity
  • Intro & motivation on Sensation & Perception

Activities

  • JiTT feedback & discussion

  • Activity on reading reflection writings (JiTTs)
  • Activity on effective vs. ineffective abstracts & titles

Readings for this week (and the JiTT assignment)

Go through SFU Library Services for Graduate Students. I expect all to be familiar with the services offered (e.g., conference alerts, lit search engines like Web of Science or EBSCO)

Booth , Colomb, & Williams (2008). The craft of research:

    • Craft of research p. 211-212 on abstracts (we use his 3rd category here)
    • Craft of research, chapter 1-3: pp. 1-50

JiTT (Warm-up reading reflection) exercise: submit to sakai/JiTT and bring your answers to class (on laptop/paper):

1. What about this week's reading material did you find most interesting/useful/inspiring/exciting? Why?

2. What specifically would you like to try out yourself and integrate into your skill set? How could/should you approach this to ensure success? How could this course & writing teams help you achieve this goal?

3. Any other observations, ideas, criticism, possible questions/topics for class discussion?

Suggested length: about 1 page total (depends on your style, feel free to add more);

make it useful for yourself (e.g., this could be the essence of what you'd like to remember and re-use in the future! feel free to include mindmaps, sketches etc.)

File naming convention: iat812_week02_JiTT_YourName.pdf or .docx/.doc

Please always add your name, date, and title (e.g., iat812 JiTT week 2) to the document.

General evaluation rubric for JiTT/reading reflection (what I look for & value). See .pdf of grading rubric on sakai / resources for details

  • Does it show clear effort, understanding of and engagement with the material?
  • Overall quality: Are the reflections original, thoughtful, and insightful?
  • For questions: Appropriateness for stimulating class discussions
  • [Note: itemsized and informal voice is fine; good structure, clarity & concisenes is always appreciated and will make it more useful; keep in mind that I want to see your reflection on the material, not just a summary of the material]

Due This Week

Do readings and JiTT assignments (readings are listed in the week they are due, JiTTs are due Tuesday 3pm before that week, see sakai).

Week 2 prep:

Writing assignment 1: Compare & Contrast exercise: - Effective vs. ineffective Abstracts. please submit on sakai / assignments

 

Preparation for Next Week

 

W3

Sensation & Perception; Create Writing Guidelines

Week 3:23.-29.. Jan

Topics & Learning Goals

  • Understand the basics of Sensation & Perception

  • Why should we care about sensation & perception? How might it relate to your own interest/research topic?

  • Writing guidelines

Activities

  • Sensation & Perception: Lecture, demos, discussions, Q&A
  • Short presentations and discussion of your writing guidelines
  • Last chance to join/change teams
    • decide on weekly team meeting time

  • discussion of reading material & reflections

  • Feedback/demo on instructor's response to written submissions

  • Explanation of evaluation rubrics

  • Teamwork on writing guidelines: Prepare team document & presentation for next week

Readings for this week ( and the JiTT assignment) due Tuesday 3pm

please at least skim through Craft of research, Part II, chapter 4 - it could help you define & refine your research question/project

Readings & JiTT (Warm-up reading reflection) exercise: submit to sakai and bring your answers to class (on laptop/paper):

1) EvansRooney__MethodsInPsychologicalResearch__TOC_Ch1.pdf: [background paper on scientific method etc., available on sakai / resources / Reading Material]; Exercise on quick skimming and getting gist: spend a few minutes to determine your skimming strategy; then spend <=25min to skim AND summarize main points in your own words to answer the below questions (time yourself!)

Mini-reflection paper (suggestion: 50-200words):

      • a) What do you see as the most important points (i.e., what would you like to take away/remember)?
      • b) How did the skimming exercise go? What skimming approach did you use (and why)? (How) would you change your skimming technique in the future? Any other observations, ideas, criticism, possible questions for class discussion?

2) Morris & Maisto (2007). Understanding Psychology, Chapter 3: Sensation and Perception [essential overview reading, available on sakai / resources / Reading Material], feel free to skip sections "perception of distance and depth" until "visual illusions"

Reflection paper (suggestion: 50-300 words total):

  • a) What about this week's reading material did you find most interesting/useful/inspiring/exciting? Why?
  • b) How might the material relate to your own research/general interest? How could it inform/inspire your research?
  • c) Any other observations, ideas, criticism, possible questions/topics for class discussion?

General evaluation rubric for JiTT/reading reflection (what I look for & value). See .pdf of grading rubric on sakai / resources for details

  • Does it show clear effort, understanding of and engagement with the material?
  • Overall quality: Are the reflections original, thoughtful, and insightful?
  • For questions: Appropriateness for stimulating class discussions
  • [Note: itemsized and informal voice is fine; good structure, clarity & concisenes is always appreciated and will make it more useful; keep in mind that I want to see your reflection on the material, not just a summary of the material]

Due This Week

Do readings and JiTT/Warm-up exercises (readings are listed in the week they are due)

Week 2 follow-up activity:

Make sure you exchange writing team infos and add them to sakai wiki under "teams". Please add/link/email me a team picture

Week 3 prep:

Writing assignment 2: Creating your own writing guidelines

Preparation for Next Week

 

W4

Effective Writing: Guidelines; Research Proposals

Week 4: 30. Jan - 5. Feb.

Topics & Learning Goals

Effective Writing: Guidelines

What makes a scientific report effective?

How can we learn to write effective reports?

Research Proposals

How to come up with a clear & concise idea for research proposal?

how to ensure it's interesting, relavant, doable, and publisheable?

 

Activities

brief discussion of lit search engines and writing software

discussion of reading material & reflections

team show&tell of revised joint writing guidelines (explain design choices)

Elevator pitch partner exercise: How would your partner pitch your project? (Discussion, revision, then:)

Short presentation of research proposals (WA3 prep) in class ("elevator pitch")

  • split between meeting times
  • indiv. written feeback

Readings for this week (and the JiTT assignment)

  • Craft of research, Part II, chapter 4-6: “asking questions, finding answers” (pp. 51-101) & Part III, chapter 7-9: “making a claim and supporting it” (pp. 102-138)

Readings & JiTT (Warm-up reading reflection) exercise: submit to sakai and bring your answers to class (on laptop/paper): With respect to this weeks readings (Craft of research, Part II, chapter 4-6: “asking questions, finding answers” (pp. 51-101) & Part III, chapter 7-9: “making a claim and supporting it” (pp. 102-138)):

1. What about this week's reading material did you find most interesting/useful/inspiring/exciting? Why?

2. What specifically would you like to try out yourself and integrate into your skill set? How could/should you approach this to ensure success? How could this course & writing teams help you achieve this goal? (optional: What could be your action plan?)

3. [optional] Any other observations, ideas, self-reflections, reflection on meta-level, criticism, possible questions for class discussion?

Suggested length: about 1 page total (depends on your style, feel free to add more);

make it useful for yourself (e.g., this could be the essence of what you'd like to remember and re-use in the future! feel free to include mindmaps, sketches etc.; Structure & highlighting typically helps)

File naming convention: iat812_week04_JiTT_YourName.pdf or .docx/.doc

Please always add your name, date, and title (e.g., iat812 JiTT week 4) to the document.

General evaluation rubric for JiTT/reading reflection (what I look for & value). See .pdf of grading rubric on sakai / resources for details

  • Does it show clear effort, understanding of and engagement with the material?
  • Overall quality: Are the reflections original, thoughtful, and insightful?
  • For questions: Appropriateness for stimulating class discussions
  • [Note: itemsized and informal voice is fine; good structure, clarity & concisenes is always appreciated and will make it more useful; keep in mind that I want to see your reflection on the material, not just a summary of the material]

 

Due This Week

Do readings and JiTT/Warm-up exercises

Week 3 follow-up activity:

  • Make appointment with me to discuss your researchproject ideas (in week 3-4) if we haven't discussed & approced your project

 

Writing guidelines team revision
  • Meet in writing teams to compile improved joint writing guideline (1/team)
    • Upload to sakai / resources / "Assignment 2 - Creating your own writing guidelines" before Week4 lecture.
      • naming convention: iat812_WA2_writingGuidelines_ team3.pdf (for team 3)
      • formatting, structure, & length: essentially up to you, just do your best to makes it as effective and useful as possible (both for supporting your own writing and revising/evaluating writing)
      • feel free to share & discuss - your writing guidelines are also available under sakai / resources / Assignemnt 2...
      • Be prepared to show & explain why you structured your writing guidelines like you did.

 

Week 4 prep: Elevator pitch

  • Preparation of 90sec oral elevator pitch of Research proposal
    • Prepare short (<90sec) oral elevator pitch presentation of your research proposal (slides optional)
    • Goal:
      • introduce to others
      • Practice concise & clear presentation of your research idea
      • no need to be fancy (if anything, invest time/effort in clarity of your proposal, not powerpoint gimmicks…)
      • feel free to discuss & solicit feedback from colleagues & your writing team!
      • This will be the basis for your written reserach proposal (WA3, due a week later)'
      • if you'd like more guidance, start using the template attached to the sakai assignemnt "Scientific Study Journal"
  • Ongoing: Familiarize yourself with relevant literature in your area & add to your own reference manager (e.g., Zotero, Mendeley). Aim at 50-100 abstracts in your field (by week 6). Skim first, then dive deeper ("read strategically")
  • make sure you have ethics approval for your research! if it falls within what's covered by the course approval, you should be fine; please check under resources / iat812_ethicsApproval_Details.pdf and always use a written instructions sheet and the informed consent form available under resources / iat812_informedConsentForm.pdf

Preparation for Next Week

 

W5

Experimental Design; Perception, Memory, Cogn... (Pre-Reading break)

Week 5: 6.-12. Feb

Topics & Learning Goals

  • Perception cont'd, Memory, Cognition
  • Planning & managing your research project

Activities

Feedback from previous course members

Potential discussion/groupwork topics:

  • how to get your research off the ground? How could you use the reading break to catch up?
  • How could the course & writing team support you optimally? Compare notes, discuss, share, try out...
  • "how to make your research project fail": think - pair - share - discuss
  • Notetaking (digital? analog? tools/tips/trick/pitfalls/experiences? directy in reference manager?? How to find specific notes you took? compare notes/notetaking styles with others)
  • Storyboards
  • "paper wall"
  • iterative outlining the logical structure of the argument.
  • "how old is too old" for papers? (how) does the relevance of a paper decline (or increase??) with time?

Research proposal activity: Peer-reviewing of research proposals (WA3)

Weiten: Research methods concept chart

Readings for this week (and the JiTT assignment)

    Readings & JiTT (Warm-up reading reflection) exercise: submit to sakai and bring your answers to class (on laptop/paper):

    1) Ware (2008) Visual Thinking for Design, Ch. 1 "visual queries" & Ch. 2 "what we can easily see" [available online through library or on sakai / resources / Reading Materials] [Exercise on quick skimming and getting gist: spend a few minutes to determine your skimming strategy, then <=40min to skim AND summarize main points in your own words (time yourself!) - don't worry if you've read it before, try the exercise anyways]

      • Mini-reflection paper (suggestion: 50-400words):
        1. a) What do you see as the most important points of the readings?
        2. b) How did the skimming exercise go? What skimming approach did you use (and why)? (How) would you change your skimming technique in the future? Any other observations, ideas, criticism, possible questions for class discussion?

    2) Shepard & Metzler (1971) Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects [short classic paper, available on sakai / resources / Reading Material] [suggestions: time yourself to <20min]

      • Mini-reflection paper (suggestion: 50-200words):
        1. a) What's good/bad about the paper (i.e.,, what "works", what doesn't), and why? Note that it's an old paper, written in an "old" writing style - how might that influence the effectiveness paper?
        2. b) [optional] Any other observations, ideas, criticism, possible questions for class discussion?
      General evaluation rubric for JiTT/reading reflection (what I look for & value). See .pdf of grading rubric on sakai / resources for details
    • Does it show clear effort, understanding of and engagement with the material?
    • Overall quality: Are the reflections original, thoughtful, and insightful?
    • For questions: Appropriateness for stimulating class discussions
    • [Note: itemsized and informal voice is fine; good structure, clarity & concisenes is always appreciated and will make it more useful; keep in mind that I want to see your reflection on the material, not just a summary of the material]

Due This Week

  • Do readings and JiTT/Warm-up exercises
  • Writing assignment 3: Research proposal submission after elevator pitch activity & feedback

Week 4 follow-up activity:

  • Please add your current research proposal elevator pitch to sakai wiki and update as it evolves (under "Elevator Pitches (Week 3ff, please add/update your elevator pitch here))"
  • Incorporate feedback into research proposal
    • meet with me and/or your supervisor if needed, else email so I can approve; discuss w/ team

Week 5 prep:

  • continue reading relevant lit. for your project & incorporate directly into your writing (!). By week 6 you should have read 50-100 abstracts to get an overview of your field.
  • Get strategic: what do you need/need to do to get your research project off the ground so you can start piloting over the reading break?

 

Preparation for Next Week

 

W6

Exp. Design; Reviewing; Visual Outlining

Week 6:20.-26. Feb

Topics & Learning Goals

Research project

  • revision, refinement, detailing...
  • develop research plan and timeline

TBD - depends on your interests & needs ;-)

Storyboarding & Visual Outlining?

Activities

Devil's advocate game

Speedwriting

TBD: Research plans activity w/ scientific study journal

TBD: Paper outlining activity: go visual & tangible!

Discussion on experimental design, Instructions, informed consent, designing questionnaire, confounds

discuss informed consent form

Is your research project doable?

Readings for this week (and the JiTT assignment)

JiTT (Warm-up reading reflection) exercise: submit to sakai and bring your answers to class (on laptop/paper):

Goal: get overview of relevant research in your field that can motivate and support your own research topic. Practice skimming of research papers. Include in your paper introduction/discussion [and if you like: annotated bib].

Task:

(a) skimming & selectively reading papers in your field & submit summary

  • Iteratively refine various search strategies until you find & read >100 paper titles Of these,
  • read the most relevant 50 abstracts (again you might need to skim to narrow down to the best 50
  • Get the .pdfs, add to your reference manager, and use further skimming to determine 3-10 most relevant papers (for your research project), time yourself (whatever timing you find working best, feel free to experiment with the “pomodoro” technique), first skim those papers (and feel free to reject and pick a more suitable one), then selectively go into more depth where needed, and summarize essence.
  • Suggestion: summarize them the way you might need it in your intro to support your paper; or write it as if it were an annotated bibliography, but include a final paragraph per paper on “how it relates to my own research project”. include pictures, graphs of these papers if sensible. Make it as useful as possible (this is also what the JiTT grading will be based on). Use Highlighting/boldfacing/structuring etc. to make it easy for you (and me) to go back and quickly get the essence (“facilitate skimming”). Make sure the relation to your own study is clear.

(b) brief reflection on skimming: How did the skimming exercise go? What worked/didn't (and why)? (How) would you change your skimming technique in the future? How could we make this exercise (even more) useful for you?

 

Due This Week

  • Do readings and JiTT/Warm-up exercises
  • enjoy READING BREAK from Feb. 14-20.

Week 5 follow-up activity:

  • Writing assignment 3F: Feedback/reviewing of Research Proposal:
    • (details to be discussed in class)
  • Get your research project up & running; start collecting data from pilot asap
  • discuss with supervisor possible publication venues (conferences/journals) and add conferences to sakai wiki under "conferences"
    • Conference name & url
    • submission deadline
    • paper length

Week 6 prep:

  • Writing assignment 3R: Rewriting of Research Proposal based on reviews/discussion
  • Continue working on outline of literature background & motivation:
    • main point/argument of reference?
    • relevance for your study?
    • purpose of citation in mansucript logic/flow

Preparation for Next Week

 

W7

Experimental Design w/ Tom Loughin

Week 7:27. Feb-4. March

Topics & Learning Goals

Learn more about experimental design, and get feedback from Expert

Activities

Special second session on experimental design with guess statistician Tom Loughin,

Wed. 29. Feb, 11:30 -12:50, in SUR4040 (note: an hour later, and different room!).

Fr. 2nd March: self-organized teamwork / no official class

Things you might want to do in your writing team:

  • Devil's advocate game on experimental design, confound, why/so what or whatever you deem useful
  • Schedule pilot study with team members who give feedback.
  • Reserach Project Update, Q&A...
  • Discussion on Scientific Study Journal
  • Research plan revision & refinement activity

 

Readings for this week (will be combined with JiTT of following week)

If you're not already confident with statistics & experimental design, read up on it, this was a course pre-requisite! e.g., Evans & Rooney, start w/ chaper 2, then continue with whatever book/resource works best for you.)

Craft of research

    • chapter 10 "Acknowledgements & Responses"
    • chapter 11 "Warrants"
    • chapter 12 "Planning"
    • chapter 13 "Drafting Your Report"
    • chapter 14 "Revising your Organization and Argument

 

Due This Week

  • NO readings and JiTT/Warm-up exercises to give you more time for your project & paper

Week 6 follow-up activity:

    • Plan experiment and conduct and analyze first pilot tests . use the Scientific Study Journal for guidance
    • Assignment "Scientific Study Journal" first draft (ungraded)

Week 7 prep:

Prepare for sessions on experimental design/statistics with Tom Loughin. Jot down & bring any related questions you might have. His goal is to have an excellent mental image of everything in your experiment that matters to the design/analysis. Questions he'll want to pursue in any consultation include:

1. What is the big picture? (What are you doing to change the world or make it a better place?)

2. Toward that, what specific question(s) are you trying to address

3. How are you going about exploring these questions? How does your study proceed? How do you handle subjects?

4. What are you measuring and how does it address your questions?

5. Why are things doing it this way? Are there any limitations that keep you from doing more? Are you worried about anything?

[the following is optional and for yourself, you don't need to hand anything it, but I think it could be valuable]: Analysis of current state of exp: what worked & didn't work, what needs to change, what help/support do I need, where do I get it...

Preparation for Next Week

 

W8

Exp. Design; peer-reviewing process; Paper outlining

Week 8:5.-11. March

Topics & Learning Goals

Learn more about experimental design, and get feedback from Expert

TBD

Activities

Special second session on experimental design with guess statistician Tom Loughin,

Wed. 7th March, 11:30 -12:50, in SUR4040 (note: an hour later, and different room!).

Fr. 9th March: normal class, Bernhard back from TEDactive & IEEE VR

  • JiTT responses & suggestions: Discussion

Declaration of project work across multiple courses or related to previous work

Discussion: how to run your experiment.

Discussion/ Presentation:

  • Reviewing Background. Advantages / Disadvantages / Ethics / Justification / reliability / verification of the peer-reviewing system in sciences and beyond. E.g., Is It really working? How could it be improved? What different systems are out there? Which works best & why?
  • How to respond to a review: What to do when you receive reviews of your writing? How to (e.g.,) deal with reviews & respond to reviewers'/editor's requests? revise your paper? Write a "letter to the editor"? Cope with harsh reviews? How to cope with rejection and keep submitting/publishing?

Readings for this week (and the JiTT assignment - which counts double as 2 weeks are combined)

On how to lie because you don't understand statistics: Astin, A. W. (2011, February 14). In 'Academically Adrift,' Data Don't Back Up Sweeping Claim. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Academically-Adrift-a/126371/

Craft of research

    • chapter 15 "Communicating Evidence Visually"
    • chapter 16 "Introductions and Conclusions"
    • chapter 17 "Revising Style: Telling Your Story Clearly"
    • Part V: "Some Last Considerations, especially the first chapter "The ethics of research"

JiTT (Warm-up reading reflection) exercise: submit to sakai and bring your answers to class (on laptop/paper): With respect to the last 2 weeks' readings (Craft of research, chapter 10-17 + part V):

1. What about this week's reading material did you find most interesting/useful/inspiring/exciting/(or annoying/wrong/questionnable)? Why?

2. What specifically would you like to try out yourself and integrate into your skill set? How could/should you approach this to ensure success? (optional: What could be your action plan?) How could this course & writing teams help you achieve this goal?

3. Meta-reflection: Please revisit your previous JiTT's on the "craft of research" textbook and what you mentionned you'd like to try out: What did you manage to try out? How did it go? What worked vs. what didn't? Why? What next?

4. How were the experimental design/statistics sessions with Tom Loughin? What was useful? What could be further improved and how?

5.Course Improvement Wishlist: Is there anything we (course, instructor, team, SIAT, SFU...) could do/provide/go over in this course (or beyond) that would help you succeed in your project (design, running, ananlysis, writing up, and revision or paper)? Don't worry if your wish seems unrealistic, it'll still be useful feedback.

Suggested length: about 2-3 pages total (depends on your style, feel free to add more);

make it useful for yourself (e.g., this could be the essence of what you'd like to remember and re-use in the future! feel free to include mindmaps, sketches etc.; Structure & highlighting typically helps)

File naming convention: iat812_week08_JiTT_YourName.pdf or .docx/.doc

Please always add your name, date, and title (e.g., iat812 JiTT week 4) to the document.

General evaluation rubric for JiTT/reading reflection (what I look for & value). See .pdf of grading rubric on sakai / resources for details

  • Does it show clear effort, understanding of and engagement with the material?
  • Overall quality: Are the reflections original, thoughtful, and insightful?
  • For questions: Appropriateness for stimulating class discussions
  • [Note: itemsized and informal voice is fine; good structure, clarity & concisenes is always appreciated and will make it more useful; keep in mind that I want to see your reflection on the material, not just a summary of the material]

Due This Week

  • Do readings and JiTT/Warm-up exercises

Week 7 follow-up activity:

    • start running experiment with actual users?

Week 8 prep:

    • Prepare for sessions on experimental design/statistics with Tom Loughin.

Preparation for Next Week

 

W9

How to run your exp.? Paper outline; more TBD

Week 9:12.-18. March

Topics & Learning Goals

TBD - depends on your interests & needs ;-)

Activities

  • Discussion of "Craft of Research" readings: please bring your JiTTs & questions
  • Individual project discussions & devil's advocate game in subgroups of 4-6 people
    • decide order & timing; bring questions
  • peer-feedback & discussion
  • Peer-reviewing of Writing Assignment 4a) Outline of paper
  • Q&A on scientific study journal
  • Friday's speed writing activity
  • How to get participants: Brainstorming, Q&A

Readings for this week (and the JiTT assignment)

no readings or JiTT

.

 

Due This Week

  • Do readings and JiTT/Warm-up exercises

Week 8 follow-up activity:

    • WA3R - revised proposal: sorry about the sakai re-submission issue: please submit to sakai assignment Writing Assignment 3R extended deadline by Monday (week 9) 12:30pm
    • set up you exp. on http://sfu-siat.sona-systems.com/
    • Continue running experiment and start analyzing data. Start with descriptive & inferential statistics
    • [optional: experiment with pomodoro technique, GTD and other approaches to getting things done and reducing procrastination]

Week 9 WS/Lecturere prep:

    • Update Assignment "Scientific Study Journal" - should be complete by now. Where do you have questions, would like to discuss things in class, or would like feedback? Please bring your questions to class.
    • Writing Assignment 4a) Outline of paper with all sections & paragraph headings/question
      • Please bring 2 paper copies of the assignment to class for peer-reviewing.

Preparation for Next Week

 

 

W10

Making sense of Numbers

Week 10:19.-25. March

Topics & Learning Goals

TBD: open access publishing, author's rights (retaining copyright) for faculty / grads, SPARC author addendum...

Activities

Which stats to run? Decision trees on sakai / resources / stats

Making sense of numbers - Q&A on data analysis.

What's the purpose of your data plots/presentation? How can you design it so it optimally supports this? I.e., how to design for effective visual queries & thinking? --> Forum, then group discussion

Paper & pencil course evaluations

[optional] recap: IAT 812 grading scheme Course Syllabus

Q&A about running experiments

disussion of paper outlines and final paper process

Team paper critique/modeling Q&A

scheduling of final elevator pitch presentations (Wed. in last Colloq): add title to wiki. Graded: 5%

Readings for this week (and the JiTT assignment)

  • No specific reading assignments to give you more time for your project & paper

Due This Week

  • Do readings and JiTT/Warm-up exercises

Week 9 follow-up activity:

  • Finish running experiment and start analyzing data. Start with descriptive & inferential statistics
  • Writing Assignment 4aF peer-feedback/reviewing of paper outline
    • (details to be discussed in class
  • start Team paper critique/modeling process (pick paper)

Week 10 prep:

  • Writing Assignment 4aR (5% of grade) revised Outline of paper with all sections & paragraph headings/questions

Preparation for Next Week

 

W11

How to analyze/Plot your data & start your paper?

Week 11:26. March - 1. April

Topics & Learning Goals Goals

  • Getting your project done!

Activities

  • cont'd: how to present your data? refine, discuss, get feedback/critique, test w/ others...
  • cont'd: how to analyze your data?
  • Q&A & discussion of experimental protocol
  • How to find conferences/jounrnals to submit to? Brainstorming, Q&A
  • Activity: How to start your paper? Sketching & Quick-Write of Intro & Motivation (What? Why? So What?); Then extreme writing?

    Define goal for this exercise

    speed-write; (thing "sketching with words")

    sketching;

    fresh/continue speed-write

    extreme writing (paired)?

  • Feedback: (1) what was useful (if anything)? Why? (2) What could be improved and how? (3) other comments/suggestions/ideas/wishes?

Readings for this week (and the JiTT assignment)

TBD / No specific reading assignments to give you more time for your project & paper

Due This Week

Week 10 follow-up activity:

  • Incorporate feedback into analysis & stats
    • read up on stats etc. where needed. get familiar with stats / data plotting software.
  • continuously update and refine your working document. Integrate into WA4a paper outline.

Week 11 prep:

Preparation for Next Week

 

W12

How to present? How to win the publishing game...

Week 12:2.-8. April

Topics & Learning Goals

scheduling of final research project presentations (Wed. April 11th in Colloq): add title to wiki. Graded: 5%

How to present? What makes a great talk?

How to win the publishing game?

Publishing and being-a-researcher; How to get your study published

Authorship rules

Activities

 

Readings for this week (and the JiTT assignment)

JiTT (Warm-up reading reflection) exercise: submit to sakai and bring your answers to class (on laptop/paper):

1) Short reading on Revision Strategies: Sommers: "Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers" available under resources/writingGuidelines. (no related JiTT question for this reading, but it'll be useful for your own writing)

2) Revisit Writing Guidelines: Re-read/skim all the IAT812 team writing guidelines on sakai (under resources / Assignment 2 - Creating your own writing guidelines) and your JiTT responses regarding writing & revision (the ones related to the craft of research readings) before continuing on your manuscript. (Suggestion: print them out and put them up behind your desk so have them always in view when writing. This way, create a dedicated writing space).

JiTT Mini-reflection paper for (2) (50-400words suggested length): In the light of your own manuscript, summarize (or copy&paste, highlight etc.) the advice/suggestions/ideas that seem most important for your paper/project and might improve it the most if you would follow it. Summarize it for this JiTT (bullet-points are fine for the JiTT) and briefly explain your choices (i.e., why is this essential/useful for your paper/project).

Suggestion: print this out and add it to your writing space so you can always see at a glance what's most relevant

Due This Week

  • Do readings and JiTT/Warm-up exercises

Week 11 follow-up activity:

Week 12 prep:

    • Add your Colloquium talk title and pick a spot on sakai wiki / "Colloquium Presentations" by Friday March 30th

Preparation for Next Week

 

W13

How to win the publishing game

Week 13:9.-11. April

Topics & Learning Goals

.

Activities

What to do if you didn't get the results you expected? What if you realize what you should have done?

Peer-review discussion

Team paper critique/modeling

Peer-reviewing of Writing assignment 6: Final Paper

Discussion: Feedback, what went well, what could be improved & how...

 

Project presentation practice session [in small teams -> more chance for feedback & discussion?]

Wed 11th April in SIAT research colloquium, SUR5380: short (5 min) Research Project Presentations for all!

  • time limit: 5min (we have 11 presentaitons to go through!)
  • It'll be graded (5%), see course syllabus
  • Slides will need to be uploaded and tested on presentation coumputer well before (!) 2:30
  • Please add your name & title to sakai wiki / "Colloquium Presentations" to claim your spot and pick the order
  • if you really cannot attend on that date, email me so we can re-schedule your presentation for one of the remaining classes in week 12 or 13 (please suggest a date)

Presentation samples, mini-paper & discussion

  • Inspiration: check on the web, e.g., Rosling or other TED talks; paper preview presentations in, e.g., Siggraph and other conferences.

mini-paper: What would you like to see in 5min presentation of study/data?

as discussed:

Wed 18th April: Peer-reviewing & final paper Q&A & Feedback session

Room: Surrey 4010. I reserved the room from 10-12:30. Hopefully we won't need that long, but I wanted to make sure there's sufficient time for all your questions just in case.

--> bring any specific questions you might have regarding peer-reviewing, your own paper etc.

new: Wed 25th April: optional drop-in office hour for final paper Q&A

Room: Surrey 2746. I reserved the room from 11-12:00.

--> bring any specific questions you might have regarding your own paper

 

Readings for this week (and the optional JiTT assignment)

Short (non-optional) readings on Reviewing: Please carefully read:

    • thoroughly read: Brainard, D. H. (2000). How to write an effective manuscript review. available on zotero or sakai (reviewingResrouces folder)
    • Select at least 3 reviewing resources listed on sakai / resources / ReviewingResources and skim them
    • for an (optional) easy video intro, see Peer Review in 5 Minutes

    No need to submit anything here unless you want bonus credit, just make sure to follow this advice when reviewing your colleagues papers!

     

Optional JiTT Mini-reflection paper part 1: If you want bonus JiTT credit: Look for >3 more resources on peer reviewing in the sciences, and condense them into your own short reviewing guidelines (similar to the WA2 exercise on writing your own writing guidelines; feel free to use the resources under sakai / resources / ReviewingResources )

Optional JiTT Mini-reflection paper part 2 (for bonus points): Try out a (new-to-you) anti-procrastination / notetaking / self-management technique (e.g., one of the ones presented in class) for a few days and reflect on it in the JiTTs. What technique did you try out? How did it work? What worked/didn't work? Why? What would/could you do in the future to improve things? Any other comments/suggestions...?

 

Due This Week

Do readings (and optional JiTT/Warm-up exercise)

Week 12 follow-up activity:

Week 13 prep:

(1) Colloquium presentations

  • prepare 5min elevtor pitch presentation of your study for testing in class & presentation in colloquium
    • upload and test your 5min colloq. presentation material to colloquium presentation computer under IAT812 folder / "your name" on Wed. before 2:25. If it's not there we can't present it and I won't grade it.

(2) Draft of full paper

  • Bring a printout of the latest version of your manusscipt for peer reviewing + list of questions (things you'd like feedback on) for reviewers

you should really have collected and analyzed all data by now!

please check the final paper grading rubric under resources/ Assignment

Bring: 1 printout of your paper + list of questions for reviewers

Week 13 follow-up activity (see sakai assignments for details):

    • Scientific Study Journal - FINAL OBLIGATORY SUBMISSION
    • WA6: Send your paper to 2 reviewers whenever it works best for the three of YOU: (suggestion: allow 4 days to review). These 2 reviewers could do a joint review or separate reviews.
    • WA6F: Peer reviews due: (giving authors 7 days to revise & finalize paper; If you and your reviewers agree on different/later deadlines for the reviewing please send me a confirmation email and CC author & both reviewers)
    • optional: after incorporating the student peer reviews, feel free to email me your paper if you have specific questions you'd like feedback on. The more specific your questions are the better. Deadline for emailing: 23. April (as I won't have any time on April 25-27)
  • WA6R: final paper deadline: see sakai. Please email me beforehand if you'd like to apply for the DGS grad fellowship and need an early (interim) grade

Preparation for Next Week

 

 

W14

Aftermath

Week 14: 11.-17. April

Topics & Learning Goals

.

Activities

.

Due This Week

 

  • [TBD] Writing assignment 5: Title & Abstract of paper
  • Writing Assignment 6: Final Paper: Rewriting of paper based on reviews & discussion

* Writing Assignment 5F: Feedback/reviewing of Title & Abstract * Writing Assignment 6F: Formal Peer-Feedback/Reviewing of paper

 

 

Writing assignment 6R (50% of grade): Revision of Final Paper: Rewriting of paper based on feedback & discussion, should be submission-ready (non-blinded)

Scientific Study Journal - FINAL OBLIGATORY SUBMISSION

Preparation for Next Week