GEO-SupportedREU Site

Web PortalEric Saltzman

Department of Earth System Science, UC Irvine

A Typical REU P.I. Experience

Starts with excitement!

Begin planning for the REU program. We need students!

A Typical REU P.I. Experience

First Step: Think about the application Process

Work with a team to design an application process, or update previous processes.

May involve debrief from previous cycles, research into other REU site processes, brainstorming about what you want to see, or exploring what kinds of support you have at your site (computer, staff, etc)

A Typical REU P.I. Experience

Finalizing the Application

Make it a modern processMake it easy to reviewDevelop a method to collect references and/or transcripts

Involves computer support, staff support, P.I. time, REU team time

A Typical REU P.I. Experience

Publish the application process

Put the materials online, along with instructions for students and references.

A Typical REU P.I. ExperienceProvide support for applicants, while you wait for the submissions to come in

Applicant questions may be Technical (I don’t have acrobat…)Programmatic (do you pay for my travel?)Standard (where do I send this?) Application specific (How many applications have you gotten? Did you receive my completed application? When will you publish your decisions?)

A Typical REU P.I. Experience

Compiling applications

Spreadsheet of applicationsConnect the student application info with reference info and/or transcriptsCreate an easy-to-review format (Excel? Webpage?)

A Typical REU P.I. Experience

Review Applications, and Make Acceptance Decisions

A first pass of the review might include checking for complete applications, or more automated numerical criterion (only GPAs above 3.0)

In-depth review will probably include reading essays, reviewing references/transcripts, etc

A Typical REU P.I. Experience

Accept Students

Make an offer to a student…If accepted, you’re done!If not accepted, move on to the next student on the list

Time Efficiency

Assuming we have 25 GEO REU sites (low estimate), with staff / computer support, PI and one faculty member’s time this means

This process takes significant time…~160 hours of staff /computer support ~80 hours of P.I. ~40 hours of time for each faculty member on the team

7,000 hours of time!

That’s more than 3 years, spent on the application process alone

There’s got to be a better way…

What if we created a single GEO REU site Web Portal?

First step: Survey the REU P.I.s and staff to see if this would be helpful…

Respondents

Number: 26

Roles:Faculty (15)Staff - Research (7)Staff - Administrative Staff (4)

Sites: 23

Please respond to the following statements…

Additional Questions

Imagine the Possibilities…

A student logs in to the GEO Portal, creates an account, and begins the application.

In addition to standard questions, the student is asked to select a desired REU site.

Based on that selection, the student is prompted to respond to site-specific questions.

They click “Submit” and get an automated confirmation.

Student references use the same system to provide information about the student, which is connected to the application.

Students are prompted to send in transcripts, which are also connected to the application.

Imagine the Possibilities…

REU P.I.s identify “reviewers” who can access all application information. The system presents the application, reference and transcripts in a user-friendly manner.

The student can login to see that their application is “being reviewed.”

When an offer is accepted, that information is entered into the system, so P.I.s can see that particular students are no longer available.

The system will collect, and report all necessary application and student demographic statistics.

Surely this has been done before…

Pros vs. Cons

Potential Benefits•Consistent User Experience •Wider Recruitment •Streamlined System•Simplified Reporting •More Effective Development •“Greener” system •Building on NSF Experience •More Time Efficient!

Potential Issues•Privacy •Identity Verification •Project Referral – should we allow one REU project to refer the student to another project?•Technology Barriers

Thoughts on how to proceed

Step 1: Decide to move forward

Step 2: Develop Specifications

Step 3: Contract process

Step 4: Development and roll-out