Thesis Launch was a six-week intervention that was designed to provide support for students in the critical early steps of thesis work such as brainstorming topics, examining professors’ research interests, reaching out to professors, preparing for meetings with potential thesis committee members, and writing a thesis prospectus. Thesis Launch offered web-based resources, weekly emails and text message reminders, and was supplemented by in-person advising options.
A mixed methods action research study was conducted to examine: (a) students’ perceptions of barriers that prevented beginning thesis work; (b) self-efficacy towards thesis work; (c) how to scale the intervention using technology; and (d) whether participants began the thesis early. Quantitative data was collected via pre- and post-intervention surveys, journals, and prospectus submissions. Qualitative data came from student interviews, journals, and open-ended questions on the surveys.
Quantitative data showed that after students participated in Thesis Launch, they had higher self-efficacy to work with professors, perceived fewer barriers to thesis work, and greater proportions of students began thesis work early. The qualitative data were complementary and showed that participants overcame barriers to thesis initiation, built self-efficacy, preferred an online intervention, and began thesis work early. Findings also showed that a primarily technology-based intervention was preferred by students and showed promise for scaling to a larger audience.
Thesis Launch provided a framework for students to begin work on the honors thesis and have mastery experiences to build self-efficacy. Strategies that fostered “small wins” and reflective efforts also assisted in this aim. Participants accomplished tasks tied to thesis work and customized their personal thesis timelines based on work begun during Thesis Launch. Finally, a discussion of limitations, implications for practice and research, and personal reflection was included.
Materials produced for the workshop hosted by the Humane Cities Initiative, Institute for Humanities Research, Arizona State University. Participants were sent this package of archival materials and links to brief online sources for advance readings. Also enclosed are PDF renderings of introductory powerpoint files by Spindler and Pagan, and an audio recording of the discussion joined in progress.
Presentation slides regarding the history of Victory Village, the trailer park built in 1945-46 to provide housing for WWII Veterans and their families at Arizona State University's Tempe campus. A presentation of research from University Archives records conducted in the summer of 2018. The presentation was videotaped as a lecture for Professor Volker Benkert's online World War II history class.
Powerpoint slides from Spindler's presentation at the 56th annual Arizona History Convention in Tucson, Arizona, April 24th, 2015. Details of the 1993-1995 U.S. District Court orders directing the corporate archives to Arizona State University and ASU's efforts to recover information from an obsolete digital imaging system are presented.
This research study will discover and evaluate information about existing crowdsourcing or participatory archives projects devoted to archival description, indexing or transcription. Many related projects that use crowdsourcing for collecting archival materials from the public are not specifically addressed here. In this research, the author has specifically sought evaluative information about exemplary projects that can lead to useful specifications for a participatory archives system at Arizona State University Libraries.
Presentation slides describing an Arizona Centennial project to build a digital library and facilitate community discussion about why people came to Arizona, why they stayed, and why they left. Presentation was made at Friendship Village, Tempe AZ, November 2011.
The Task Force of thirty faculty members and academic professionals was charged by the University Libraries and the Graduate College to "examine the potential for implementing a university program for Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). The Task Force was specifically asked to collect information about existing programs elsewhere, identify ASU graduate programs that could host pilot programs and prepare a comprehensive white paper..." with a recommended plan for implementation.
