Akcaoglu selected to attend LASER Institute workshop
Mete Akcaoglu, Ph.D., associate professor of instructional technology in the Department of Leadership, Technology and Human Development, was selected to attend the Learning Analytics in STEM Education Research (LASER) Institute this summer. The Institute is a professional development program to help researchers understand and improve STEM learning through the use of new sources of data and application of analytical approaches such as machine learning, text mining and social network analysis.
Founded by the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation and funded by the National Science Foundation, the LASER Institute hosted its first workshop this summer which included 42 scholars which were selected from a pool of applicants.
“I was sincerely impressed by the efforts of our LASER scholars during the summer workshop and was amazed by their capacity for professional growth,” said Shaun Kellogg, Ph.D., principal investigator for the LASER Institute and senior director of evaluation and research at the Friday Institute. “We had an overwhelming number of applications to the program, and selecting scholars was a difficult decision. But this group of dedicated professionals has proven to be the right choice for our first cohort, and our team is looking forward to supporting them on their learning analytics journey in the coming year.”
The LASER Institute’s intensive 10-day summer workshop consisted of hands-on learning labs, research planning sessions and presentations by guest speakers. Collectively, daily activities were designed to support the following three capacity-building goals for LASER scholars: deepening disciplinary knowledge of learning analytics; developing technical skills in tools used for collaboration, research and analysis; and building professional networks with experts in the fields of learning analytics and STEM education. Throughout the coming academic year, LASER scholars will work toward implementing their professional learning and research plans developed during the workshop.
For more information, visit https://www.fi.ncsu.edu/release/laser-institute-hosts-workshops-in-laser-analytics-stem-education-for-current-and-future-laser-scholars/
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