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HONORS EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING PROJECT PROPOSAL FORM
Basic Information
Full Name: Caitlin Clark
UC Email: clark2cb@mail.uc.edu
College: College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services
Major: Middle Childhood Education Natural Science and Language Arts
Title of Project: Ohio Student Education Policy Institute
Thematic Area (choose only one): Research
Expected Project Start Date: January 2014
Expected Project End Date: April 2014
Project Information
1. Provide a detailed abstract of your proposed honors experiential learning project.
OSEPI, Ohio Student Education Policy Institute, is a project for college students to be involved in real world
legislative processes in educational policy. OCAN, Ohio College Access Network, organizes this institute and promotes
discussion on college and career readiness in Ohio. OSEPI is a way for highly motivated college students to engage their
ideas and proposals with Ohio legislature, and develop an effective pipeline of communication from public universities to
policy makers. During this institute experience, lasting from the end of January 2014 to April 2014, I will increase my
communication amongst colleagues about educational policy, participate in the policymaking process, debate about
educational issues that are under fire in Ohio, and ultimately research a particular argument that will develop into a
proposal for the Ohio House and Senate. I will meet with members of the UC OSEPI team that have similar educational
concerns as I do, and we will develop and research a policy change, then create a proposal that congressmen and women
should be able to implement in Ohio.
After having our first OSEPI kick-off meeting on January 24th, the UC OSEPI team will meet on a weekly basis.
Our first few meetings in the month of January and first half of February will be used to brainstorm ideas about what
issues of policy concern us and what changes we would like to create and see. After finding common interests amongst
our group members, we will develop smaller subgroups of the team and create our policy research prompt. This prompt
will serve as our statement of research. An example might be, “increase professional development in K-12 schools on
critical thinking skills.” After creating a policy research prompt, we will report our idea to the OSEPI board and they will
review it and find a legislator with common interests. If a legislator is available to assist us with research, we will be
paired for the remainder of the institute.
During the last two weeks of February, we will start to participate in Webinars, online seminars, held by the
OSEPI board members. These Webinars will contain information such as how a bill is made, organizing the general
assembly, enacting legislation, and how to understand a bill. These Webinars are to prepare us for speaking in front of the
Senate and House Finance Committees, as well as the Education Committee. The Webinars will be online and will
continue periodically (most likely biweekly) through March. The majority of research will occur in our UC OSEPI
subgroups in February and March. We will use online resources, articles, and knowledge from our advisors, and the
information provided through the Webinars to fuel our research. After we have collected sufficient data on our policy
research prompt, the writing process for a policy proposal will begin. The final product of our research will be a
completed policy proposal, which our subgroups will present in front of the House and Senate Finance and Education
Committees at Capital Square. This presentation will take place during a two-day OSEPI summit at the end of March and
beginning of April in Columbus, Ohio.
My main goal of being a part of OSEPI is to gain real world experience in educational policy and voicing my
opinion as a future educator. I hope to develop a successful policy research prompt, and create a feasible and user-friendly
proposal that the General Assembly can use in their policymaking. I will also gain valuable experience in public speaking
and collaboration. Most importantly, I will greatly develop my research skills and use them to create a stable and accurate
product.
Although the OSEPI project will be during a short time span, I will accomplish a great amount. I will spend
approximately 8 hours a week reading articles, taking notes, collaborating with my group members, participating in
Webinars, planning our oral presentation, and writing the policy proposal over 10 weeks, equaling 80 hours. The
travelling to and from Columbus, as well as the two-day summit will equal a total of over 100 hours of work.
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Besides the mainly professional and academic goals of this project, I want to gain more confidence in doing my
own research, and speaking in front of political figures. This project will allow me to build upon my future inquiry skills
in research and my ability to acquire reliable and reputable resources.
Clearly and thoroughly address how each of the following elements will be exhibited in your work:
2. Connection to Learning Outcomes within the Honors Thematic Area (identified above)
• Ability to frame and develop the research project question or problem.
By using resources and course experience from this year, I will be able to further develop my group inquiry
question for this institute project. I will read articles and literature on what qualities make up a stable policy
research prompt, and what measures you can take to attempt to answer the prompt. I will work collaboratively
within the UC OSEPI team, and develop our actual policy research prompt. In EDST2003, which I took last
semester, I learned that you would not always find a solidified answer for your research question. There will not
always be an answer for research, but instead many alternative perspectives and outlooks. This will hold true for
making a policy proposal, as well. I will use my project advisor as not only a team member, but also a source of
wisdom and experience on presenting research to high-stakes audiences. I learned from Save Our Schools! last
semester how to speak politely and objectively when addressing audiences including political figures, and plan to
expand on that knowledge during this project. I will use my resources from OSEPI, as well as our designated
legislator to help frame my prompt, and make it relatable to the General Assembly.
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Ability to think beyond the just completed research and articulate how your world view has been impacted by the
experience
Although my main focus of the OSEPI project is research on educational policy, I want the experience to impact
me as an educator, but also a member of society. By learning in depth information about legislation, the life of a
bill, and how to speak in front of political figures; I will see democracy in action. In some sense, I am fulfilling
my civic duty in a very specific and direct way, giving me new views on being an American citizen where
democracy is an option, unlike other nations. I will see how policymakers treat future educators and their ideas
through the feedback I receive from them and the success of our policy proposal. This experience as a direct
proponent of democracy and civic duty may be extremely eye opening and overwhelming. I plan to create a
YouTube channel where I can articulate my feelings and emotions throughout the research process, and a debrief
video of the two-day summit. This will allow future OSEPI members to view how I changed and developed as a
civic member of the Ohio democracy, and how it affects my political views. I will share this YouTube channel on
my Honors portfolio and invite my colleagues to view it.
3. Connection to Goals and Academic Theories (include reference list, as appropriate)
A. This experience directly correlates to my professional and academic goals as a future educator. I hope to gain
more confidence in doing my own research and collecting research in groups during this experience. I also want
to practice research writing and gathering reliable and consistent resources. I have had some experience with these
skills in Save Our Schools! and other seminars, but this project will be high stakes because ultimately I will
present to professionals. I will feel more prepared as a teacher to teach about effective research and its real world
relations (according to the Common Core State Standards) by referencing my experience. This project is practice
for the future professional development projects I will partake in as an educator, and ultimately passions I have
for the rest of my life.
B. The first resource I will be using to prepare to gain background knowledge for my project is the “How To
Do Research” module provided by World Book Web. This resource is an interactive module that teaches students
how to organize the research process, find and cite resources, and how to construct a professional research paper.
The module also has a section for educators or instructors, which I would examine as well because I will e
eventually be teaching my students about the research process. I really find this resource effective because it is not
simply a reading and is much more engaging. This resource will be used for an extension of my personal
knowledge, and will make me a more valuable member of the UC OSEPI team. Although we will be creating a
policy brief rather than a research paper, the components represented in this resource will be very valuable for
fundamental reminders in organization.
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"How to Do Research." Learning & Leading with Technology Aug. 2009: 44. Computer Database. Web.
19 Nov. 2013
C. Another resource I will use during my development and research for this project will be the binder provided to
me by OSEPI and the accompanying Webinars. At the OSEPI kick-off, we were provided with literature about the
legislative process, the General Assembly, and the life of a bill. The live Webinars we are required to participate
in will provide additional information on how the legislators will view our presentations, how to write a
successful policy proposal, and ultimately the legislative process. This information will not only be useful while
creating a policy proposal, but will be motivational in how it describes how far the policy proposal could
potentially go. The Webinars will be provided online and OSEPI will announce their location online in February.
4. Initiative, Independence, and/or Creativity
OSEPI will be a nice balance of self-independence and group initiative. Meeting with the UC OSEPI team will
make me assert self-initiative because if I am not an active part of the group, my participation will not be relevant and I
will let my team down. My subgroup partners will need me to be active at all times and to do my promised amount of
work efficiently and on time. Meeting deadlines will be a large part of the group work, and I am an extremely reliable and
organized group member. I have confidence that I will provide information and insight to the team, and also leadership.
Being on this team is good practice for me as a future educator because I will often be encouraged to collaborate with
other teachers and share ideas; even create lesson plans.
However, there is also a very self-independent part of this project. I will be doing the Webinars, research, and
note taking on my own the majority of the time. This aspect of the project is unique because I will be responsible for the
success of my policy proposal and my knowledge when presenting to the General Assembly. I am very intrinsically
motivated, and look forward to pushing myself as a researcher. Balancing my course work and research may be tricky, but
I am passionate about both and will make time for quality products in each.
Some challenges I may face during this process will be disagreements with group members on educational
debates, times management and workload. Through my resources and advisor’s help, I believe I will make it through all
of these obstacles. I love working in groups and want everyone to succeed. I used self-initiation to accept my offer to
participate in OSEPI, and will use self-independence to produce quality research in a group setting.
5. Reflection
During my research, I plan to reflect on my learning through a blog. My blog will have two sections; one for what
I learn during the research process, and one for what I reflect on after I disseminate my project. During the research
process I will ask myself the following questions:
-How does this information pertain to your policy research prompt?
-Is this resource valuable and reliable?
-Are you finding any surprising results or alterations to previous assumptions about the material?
-Are your opinions on policy changing?
-How can you better your policy research prompt or note taking during this process?
-Are you being time effective and efficient?
After I disseminate my project I plan to answer the following questions on my blog:
-Was your presentation at the summit effective and engaging?
-Did visitors think your project was interesting or relevant?
-What are some concerns or interests visitors expressed about your research?
-Was a proposal the best medium for the summit or could you have displayed your research in a different way?
-Would you take your research to the summit again?
After creating my blog entries, I will also create a video montage as a self-interview on my YouTube channel,
where I review the emotional, mental, and intellectual effects researching and dissemination had on me. I will review
the high and low points of my research and OSEPI journey, and offer how I will better my research process for my
next project. I will also reflect on how well chosen my advisor was for this project and if I enjoyed researching alone.
Finally, I will review my favorite resources and include how viewers can find out more about phonics and whole
language learning. I may also consider being on the UC OSEPI team next year or being an advisor.
6. Dissemination
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I plan to disseminate my policy proposal at the two-day summit at Capital Square in Columbus, Ohio. My group
is planning on presenting in front of the House and Senate Finance and Education Committees. This part of the
dissemination will be the most labor intensive and prestigious. However, I also plan to disseminate the policy
proposal in front of the OSU OSEPI team and the Akron University OSEPI team at the summit. If we are paired with
a legislator on our policy research prompt, we will present our early proposal to them and they will provide feedback
for the summit.
7. Project Advisor (list the person’s name, title, and contact information)
Dr. Sarah Stitzlein will be my project advisor for this project. Dr. Stitzlein is an associate professor at CECH in
Curriculum Theory in the Curriculum & Instruction Department. She was the instructor of Save Our Schools! and also
helped me extensively in the symposium I did on Common Core State Standards for the course.
Phone number: (513) 556-2439
Email: stitzlsh@ucmail.uc.edu
8. Budget (if applicable)
A budget is not currently needed for this project. OSEPI has so far covered all expenses.