To continue our story on Selçuk Doğan and the collaborative environment at the college of education, we interviewed one of the professors that Doğan has gotten to work with during his studies at UF. Anne Corinne Manley is an Assistant Professor in Research and Evaluation Methodology and has been of great help to Doğan in furthering his studies and has provided him the sort of hands-on experience that he had hoped to gain when coming to UF.
"I met Selçuk in one of my courses," Manley said “It became obvious quickly that he was a good learner, a very motivated student, and was determined to build strong methodological skills, so we began working together outside of class on various research projects.”
Manley's area of study is “quantitative measurement, including psychometrics (statistical models for measurement) as well as broader measurement issues related to validity, fairness, test use and more.” She has worked with and mentors Doğan in using statistical techniques to analyze data related to his area of study.
“This includes his dissertation work, which focused on large data from a national survey and the application of structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis to address his research questions about professional development and effective teaching strategies,” Manley said “This also includes a recently published study in which we submitted data from a commonly used survey in educational technology, the Technology Uses and Perceptions Survey, to various measurement models and measurement analyses to add to the literature a discussion on the most valid uses of this data in educational research and practice.”
Doğan has also collaborated with several of Manley’s advisees to “analyze longitudinal data from a local charter school, which establish evidence for the growth of the students in various reading outcomes.”
Doğan definitely did not gain all this support and help without making the hard effort to reach out. For some students, it can be daunting to contact professors and explicitly ask for help or to collaborate, but according to Manley, there is nothing to be afraid of.
“When working with graduate students, I always remind them that every faculty member was once in their shoes,” Manley said “We have all been the student at some point, and it is important to not see very successful faculty as people that have always been successful in research, grants and more because they too, were once students who had very little experience and were seeking guidance from faculty.”
For Manley, there is a benefit to working with students because during the act of teaching or mentoring the student, the faculty member gets to deepen and refine their own knowledge through the process of mentoring.
“Working with students always pushes me to keep up with recent research across a wider range of topics than I would study if not working with students, as well as to understand all knowledge in my area to a depth that allows me to teach it to others,” Manley said.
Sometimes, however, it is the student’s responsibility to take the help or criticism offered and turn it into productivity.
“One reason Sel (Doğan) was so successful as a student was because he sought constructive criticism from faculty, and then used that criticism to improve his work,” Manley said “I have seen students get defensive about their research when faculty offer advice for improvement, and I have also seen students simply not seek out, or listen to, constructive criticism from faculty.”
Faculty are always willing to help students out, no matter how busy or intimidating the professor can seem. Everyone at UF wants students and faculty alike to be successful, because after all it makes our school look great.
