Developing Partners
Research Exchange with UT-Austin
Dr. Lucy Barnard-Brak, assistant professor of educational psychology, organized the inaugural Baylor Educational Research Exchange in October 2009. The exchange offered an opportunity for Baylor faculty and students to interact with other researchers from neighboring University of Texas at Austin.
Held in the Reynolds Conference Center at Baylor, students and faculty from UT gave nine 20-minute presentations on topics such as examining student collaboration techniques and individual problem-solving in online learning. Each presentation was followed by questions from the audience.
The exchange provided UT graduate students an opportunity to present in an environment less stressful than that of a peer-reviewed scholarly conference and to an informed audience other than their classmates.
“I was very grateful for the opportunity to meet the faculty and students from UT and hear about their research,” notes Karen Frederick, Baylor educational psychology doctoral student. “I found them to be very supportive and encouraging…so much so, that I have been invited to UT to discuss a possible collaboration with some of their students.”
Dr. Barnard-Brak worked with Dr. Dan Robinson from UT-Austin to arrange the event. “As researchers, we often don’t know who we can collaborate and work with who might be in our own backyard,” she says.
They plan to make the exchange a semi-annual event. The next event is scheduled for March 2010 when Baylor’s graduate students and faculty members from the PhD program in educational psychology will travel to Austin to share their research ideas with UT faculty and students.
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