We want to leave our mark, so to speak, on the world.
At Samford University we don't conduct research for the sake of research.
We believe that we ask questions, and we continue to explore because we are continual learners.
We're also conducting research because we want to contribute to the good of the whole.
We want our knowledge to improve the lives of individuals and communities and the world.
Samford University really pushed us to really think about, "Hey, we need this research to be
really geared toward what can happen moving forward in our educational systems in our surrounding areas."
So I'm glad that our literature and our research were able to contribute to that because at
the end of the day, it's about these babies.
It's about these students.
It's about giving them opportunities.
You want to make a difference in students’ lives and not just a superficial difference
but one that will last forever, and we need to be able to, to research and know if what's
going on out there is working and if it's not what can be tweaked. And the more I've
gotten involved in it the more I even want to learn and be a part of it.
There's not an area in Orlean Beeson School of Education that is not impacted by research
and extended exploration.
It's part of what we hope to model and cultivate for students so that they have a burning curiosity
to know throughout their lifetime, throughout their career far beyond the completion of their
degree at Samford.
So our students go in a huge variety of paths, but one of the things that we want all of
them to carry out of our program is the ability to understand and use social science research.
One of the things that I believe about education is that it can unintentionally reinforce the
divide between scientists and practitioners by sending people off on these paths a little
bit too early and unfortunately what that can yield is a real problem in practice where
you end up with practitioners who are in the trenches day-to-day and don't see the relevance
of a lot of scientific findings.
And then you see scientists out here studying important deep topics that have virtually
no connection to day-to-day life and application.
So our hope is that by insisting that all of our students take part in a science project
that we'll at least begin to bridge that divide so there's a kind of shared foundation of
understanding that could really be beneficial to the field as a whole and to the people that we serve.
I have been in education for the last 18 years, and after conducting this research
My mindset has changed from a practitioner to a researcher,
and for me to be a change agent in education. So, I will honestly say
Samford University really offered me the opportunity to get to know other people as well as professors
who have that same knowledge and want to be change agents as well in education.