Group 1: Campus Institutional Improvement Efforts
Dr. Richard Arum is the primary group lead, with co-leads Dr. Michael Dennin and Dr. Brian Sato
This group will focus explicitly on improving and informing the development of UCI campus policy and practice. The UCI-MUST Project is a component of the campus’ strategic plan and this group will work to fulfill that institutional responsibility. It will work on evaluation studies, targeted reports and tool development to improve institutional performance and advance educational equity. The campus implementation research group will work directly with departments such as student affairs, academic advisement, housing, career services as well as academic units.
Group 2: Experience Sampling
Dr. Julia Moeller is the primary group lead, with co-lead Dr. Jutta Heckhausen
The experience sampling method (ESM) is a form of intensive longitudinal data, obtained by asking participating students multiple times per day and week about their current activities and emotional, as well as motivational, experiences, in their everyday life settings via their smartphones. This research group is uses such data to learn more about the contexts and time factors influencing students’ feelings.
Group 3: Liberal Arts Education
Dr. Gabe Orona is the primary lead, with co-lead Dr. Richard Arum
The Liberal Arts Education Research Group (LAERG) emphasizes holistic student development, integrating intellectual, moral, civic, and ethical dimensions of personal growth. A major aim of LAERG is to uncover and establish educational experiences that foster whole-person development across a diverse range of multi-component skills, abilities, values, and dispositions conducive to a life of flourishing. Thus, we are interested in how course-taking patterns, extracurricular activities, social relations, and individual (study) behaviors influence students’ learning and cognition in enduring and transformative ways.
Group 4: Motivation and Self-Regulation
Dr. Luise von Keyserlingk is the primary group lead, with co-leads Dr. Jaquelynne Eccles and Dr. Jutta Heckhausen
This research group is focusing on students’ motivation and self-regulation from different perspectives. We are interested in the development and change of students’ motivation and self-regulation during their first college years and examine which factors are related to those changes (e.g., individual characteristics, social contexts, course experiences). Furthermore, we examine how motivation and self-regulation matter for students’ academic and psycho-social college outcomes and success. For this research endeavor, we use longitudinal survey data from multiple cohorts in combination with college record data and digital trace data from the UCI-MUST study.
Group 5: Resilience, Maturation and Life Course Development
Dr. Gustavo Carlo is the primary group lead, with co-leads Dr. Jaquelynne Eccles and Dr. Jutta Heckhausen
This research group focuses on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral developmental processes during the college years with an emphasis on strengths and assets. The work is strongly grounded in cultural and developmental theories and methodologies to better understand the complexities of the college educational experience in culturally diverse student populations and social contexts.
Group 6: Social Inequality and College-Career Pathways
Dr. Oded Mcdossi is the primary group lead, with co-lead Dr. Richard Arum
The aim of the theme “Social Inequality and College-Career Pathways” is to explore social disparities, such as those related to race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender, within the context of students’ social and academic experiences. This includes, but is not limited to, curricular pathways, extracurricular engagements, career readiness, and the link between college experiences and employment outcomes. The group is open to a wide range of methodologies and theoretical perspectives.
Group 7: Teaching and Learning, LMS and Classroom Observation
Dr. Renzhe Yu is the primary group lead, with co-leads Dr. Richard Arum and Dr. Charlotte Rubach
This research group aims to capture students’ academic experience via fine-grained patterns of teaching and learning activities and understand how they shape outcomes. We data-mine large-scale, real-time digital trace data from learning management systems to characterize how students engage with learning activities and how instructors design and facilitate the learning processes. We also combine these big data with extensive (online) classroom observations to draw a holistic picture of academic experience. Finally, we examine how these granular records of experience differ across students’ sociodemographic backgrounds and contribute to academic and psychological outcomes through students’ educational journey.