A Hundred Research Stories Told, and Hundreds More to Tell

One thing that is never in short supply at a research-intensive university is…well, research.

The challenge is finding a way to share the information the experts amass with as broad an audience as possible—to disseminate, far and wide, the knowledge acquired through research.

That’s why the Werklund School of Education decided to build a space in its web presence to profile the range of research activity taking place, both by students and academics alike.

At the beginning of this year, a new page was developed where research was the focus—research shared in a manner that summarizes the diversity and quality of work being undertaken in the Werklund School.

The summaries come with enough information included to provide readers a quick glance into different works, highlighting the research outcomes and takeaway messages for their personal or professional lives (whether they’re educators, counsellors, psychologists, or simply interested members of the public).

Readers find links to citations, so that should they wish to delve more deeply into the research on the subject the opportunity is provided.

According to Nancy Arthur, former associate dean of research at the Werklund School, the aim was to make research more accessible to a broader, public audience. “We wanted to showcase the applied research that is conducted through the Werklund School of Education and the impact made by our researchers on multiple community contexts.”

“I’m excited to see the site becoming a hub for ‘bite-size,’ accessible ideas and new research in education, adds Cam Smith, the project relationship specialist who authors the articles. “The summaries have been an easy way to connect educators and other community members with our research, and offer them avenues for exploring the topics further. Connecting research and practice is so important, I hope the Research @ Werklund page can help foster that.”

To date, there have been more than ten thousand hits to the site, and the 100th piece was published in December 2017. The summaries have been picked up by national and local media, and have helped connect Werklund scholars with the community as well as other researchers.

But that’s not to say that the research stops at 100 great projects; in fact, there are many, many more ideas to be shared.

“We’re looking to keep up the research stories, and to expand to the site’s content,” says Cam Smith. “As well, I’m currently looking into ways to include audio, video and interactive media on the site, so that we have a wider range of options for visitors to explore.”

And the nature of academic research essentially ensures that new projects and new ideas will continue to be developed, expanded upon, discussed and disseminated.

Visit the Research site to read about the innovative work taking place at the Werklund School of Education