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Research and Outreach at the SOE

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SCHOOL OF EDUCATION RESEARCH

The Virginia Tech School of Education is committed to fostering the highest quality research and scholarly practice in its faculty and students. Our faculty are active researchers and inspire great commitment to rigor, informing theory and practice, and the expansion of understanding of learning, instruction, and leadership in our students at every level. Our graduates consistently achieve as leaders in their fields, as do our faculty. With nearly $18 million in externally Funded Research, our faculty are widely recognized and awarded support for their ongoing work.

Our Research Centers focus on the design and development of learning experiences locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. Our Office of Educational Research and Outreach supports faculty and graduate students in their pursuit of funding to support their research and outreach efforts. The STEM Collaboratory spaces support our Science Education and STEM scholars.

Want to learn more? Take a look at articles about our Research Activities, books published by our esteemed faculty, brief summaries of recent Research, SOE Academic News, and News from the SOE.

a student works on their laptop. its cover has many stem related stickers affixed to it

 

FUNDED RESEARCH AT THE SOE

 

SEARCH FOR INFO ON FUNDS, OPPORTUNITIES, AND GRANTS

*Virginia Tech's Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation has a searchable system, Funding Institutional, a single-source workflow tool containing data on funders, funding opportunities and awarded grants, drawn from a wide range of governmental and private sources.

 

SELECT RESEARCH CENTERS AND PROJECTS

The goal of the AGEP Alliance Model for Advancing the Faculty Careers of Underrepresented STEM Doctoral Candidates who are Instructors at Historically Black Universities is to increase the number of underrepresented STEM faculty with PhDs in the professoriate. 

Learning is made more powerful when it is connected with the local community and students’ sense of place. At the Center for Rural Education, we utilize a transdisciplinary approach to address educational, societal, technological, economic, health, and environmental challenges can advance educational equity in rural communities.

Center for Instructional Technology Solutions for Industry and Education

Center for Instructional Technology Solutions for Industry and Education

The Center for Instructional Technology Solutions in Industry and Education (CITSIE) is focused on the design, development, and evaluation of learning experiences; distance learning; health promotion; preparation of instructional technology professionals; and innovations in technology.

Center for Research and Development in International Education

Center for Research and Development in International Education

The CRaDIE Center encourages international and cross-cultural outreach activities to clients in K-12, higher education, governmental settings, and nongovernmental organizations at home and abroad. CRaDIE coordinates faculty research and scholarship in the international dimension of the Virginia Tech School of Education. 

Training and Technical Assistance Center

Training and Technical Assistance Center

Our mission at T/TAC to improve educational opportunities and contribute to the success of children and youth with disabilities (birth–22 years) by increasing the capacity of schools, school personnel, service providers, and families to meet the needs of these youth and to foster the state improvement goals for personnel development.

Photo created by Austin Distel, www.useproof.com

VA Career View

VA Career VIEW (Vital Information for Education and Work) is recognized as the Commonwealth's Career Information Delivery System for all students in grades K-8 in Virginia.  Our mission is to inform, encourage, and support the education and career development of the people of Virginia. 

students working together in the SOE IT lab

 

THE OFFICE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND OUTREACH (OERO)

 

The Office of Educational Research and Outreach (OERO) supports faculty and graduate students in Virginia Tech’s School of Education as they pursue evidence-based empirical and qualitative inquiries related to education, training, program and product evaluation, and related venues in statewide, national, and international contexts.

Who We Are and the Services We Provide

The Office of Educational Research and Outreach (OERO) supports faculty and graduate students in Virginia Tech’s School of Education (SOE) as they pursue evidence-based empirical and qualitative inquiries related to education, training, program and product evaluation, and related venues in statewide, national, and international contexts.

Among our goals is the enabling of high quality research and data management in all areas related to education, pursuit of publicly and privately funded research initiatives, and the preparation or coordination of training related to grant-writing, budgeting, and project management.

The SOE will maintain and build a culture of careful, intentional inquiry into human learning, where systematic collection and thoughtful use of data in education is the highest goal. We will encourage our faculty to continue investigations through the creation of team-based approaches that emphasize rigor and cross-disciplinary collaboration. We will continue to encourage the dissemination of findings to colleagues at national and international conferences.

The culture of Virginia Tech, a national leader in scholarship and outreach, has always valued and encouraged research. Faculty across the university, including units related to preparation of education or training professionals, have carried out substantive research for decades. Academic inquiry and writing has been and continues to be a central responsibility for all professors no matter their college or department.

As a land grant institution funded in part by the government of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the organization of the university has undergone changes as political leadership has changed or refocused priorities. For example, a number of years ago, what was known as the College of Education was reorganized into the College of Human Resources and Education (CHRE). Departments within the college remained largely the same as relatively autonomous entities. During this period, individual faculty or groups of faculty would use their own time and departmental resources to find, apply for, implement, and evaluate sponsored research proposals.

Starting in 2003, the university as a whole began a to restructure itself due to goals set by the administration. The hope is that Virginia Tech will continue to advance towards its goal to become a top 30 research institution. Departments from a number of colleges were examined and realigned based on overall research and teaching purposes. As a result, departments and program areas in education were placed in what is now known as the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS). The components of CLAHS are similar to, but more expansive than, the former CHRE components.

To ensure the identity of individual departments that deal specifically with teacher education and disciplines related to education or training (ex., health promotions, career and technical education, educational leadership), the School of Education was formed. Its leadership realized at an early stage that the School would benefit from two sub-units that would help departments maintain focus on the goals directly related to Virginia Tech’s central mission: research, teaching, and outreach. To handle the academic program areas and related affairs (such as accreditation, etc.), the Office of Academic Programs was created. The Office of Educational Research and Outreach (OERO), now the Educational Research and Outreach Services Team, was also created to encourage and aid the School’s academic and research faculty as they seek sponsored research opportunities. Additionally, we oversee the research and outreach efforts of a number of centers. The specific mission and goals of the Educational Research and Outreach Services Team (formerly the OERO) are listed below.

The first director of OERO was Dr. John K. Burton. The School of Education became an official Virginia Tech entity as of July 1, 2005.

The Office of Educational Research and Outreach Services supports faculty and graduate students in Virginia Tech’s School of Education as they pursue evidence-based empirical and qualitative inquiries related to education, training, program and product evaluation, andrelated venues in statewide, national, and international contexts.

Goals

  1. Enable or develop high quality research and data management in all areas related to education.
  2. Pursue of publicly and privately funded research initiatives and contracts.
  3. Develop sponsored research inquiry, programs, and centers.
  4. Assist in the development of new lines of inquiry with an emphasis on those which have the potential to have national and international impacts.
  5. Prepare or coordinate training related to grant-writing, management, and project management.
  6. Develop research-related outreach activities and materials for constituents within and outside the university.
  7. Assist in the recruitment and retention of highly qualified faculty members, as well as the recruitment and training of promising graduate students.
  8. Facilitate in whatever way possible the communication of research findings and find practical means of implementing results.
  9. Enable interdisciplinary collaboration across the university that leads to educational research.
  10. Create relationships among and between academic and non-academic organizations to open venues of research and evaluation.

Vision

Our vision is to create a sustainable research unit that encourages a culture of careful, intentional inquiry into human learning, fosters systematic collection and thoughtful use of data in education, and creates rigorous, team-based approaches to research that earns respect at the national and international level.

Hiring

Regardless of type of position, it is imperative that you contact the Office of Educational Research and Outreach before allowing any individual to begin working for the School of Education.

The federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) prohibits the hiring of unauthorized aliens, and requires the eligibility of all employees to be documented; thus the federal requirement to obtain an Employment Eligibility Verification Form (Form I-9) for every employee ON OR BEFORE THE FIRST DAY OF WORK.

Since a non-documented or improperly documented worker is not authorized to work, failure to comply with the provisions of this policy will result in an immediate suspension of the employee, without pay, until employment eligibility is determined and documented. Such suspensions will be initiated by Payroll in the University Controller's Office.

Faculty

Forms

OERO fiscal personnel will assist with managing your budget once you receive a grant award. The Fiscal Technician keeps track of grant awards, allocations, expenditures and current balances. All expenditures run through them so they can help you ensure Circular policy compliance. They work closely with the OSP Post Award Administrators and act as a liaison between you and OSP. They run monthly web reports and perform reconciliations, which will be provided to you, and they will also assist you with closing out your grant.

All procedures related to grants for ordering merchandise, processing travel requests, state car reservations, or other fiscal matters should be handled by the staff support person that is assigned to the PI by their respective department. The staff support person must route fiscal transactions paid by grant money to the Fiscal Technician.

Contact:

Beth Lawton
Fiscal Operations
1750 Kraft Drive (0302), #2003
Blacksburg, VA 24061
540-231-4947
lawton@vt.edu

Lori Berry
Grants & Contracts
Budgets Manager
Phone: 540-231-9694
Email: loberry@vt.edu

Sara Collins
Grants Specialist
1750 Kraft Drive (0302), #2049
Phone: 540-231-1140
Email: sarahc46@vt.edu

Katlin Smith
Grants Coordinator Assistant
1750 Kraft Drive (0302), #2053
Phone: 540-231-4952
Email: katlins@vt.edu

Beth Lawton
Fiscal Operations
1750 Kraft Drive (0302), #2003
Phone: 540-231-4947
Email: lawton@vt.edu

School of Education Research News Articles

School of Education Faculty Bookshelf

School of Education Research News Briefs

School of Education Academic News

School of Education News