Applied Research and Learning: A Case Study Evan Weaver Chair, School of Information and Communications Technology Seneca College Advancing Learning 2012

Applied Research and Learning: A Case Study

Applied Research and Learning: A Case StudyEvan Weaver

Chair, School of Information and Communications Technology

Seneca CollegeAdvancing Learning 2012


Defining Applied Research in the college context:

• Not basic research• Novel application of whatever it is you do

• Benefit to external stakeholder

• Done primarily by students with faculty supervision


The Centre for Development of Open Technology (CDOT)

• Applied Research Centre with between $500k and $1m annual funding focused on open source

• Involves 5-10 faculty and 5-10 industry partners

• Involves 20-40 paid students


The Centre for Development of Open Technology (CDOT)

• Started in 2002 as a loose association of faculty with a common interest and belief

• Has become as a research centre as faculty interest matured into an organization


Academic Environment:

• 1400-1700 students

• 6-8 programs (diplomas, degrees, grad cert)

• 52-55 full-time profs, 20-30 PT/PL


Historical challenges for colleges:

• Research not part of base funding

• Little culture of research, applied research (changing)

• Few accessible grants (changing)

• Collective agreement

• Professors’ interests


History

Pre-2004:

• Research internally funded

• Research barely funded

• Done out of professor’s interest

• E.g. install Linux lab in local HS


History

More recently:

• Externally funded projects with industry partners, sourced through central research dept

• Small, single-project grants

• Little linkage between projects


History

And then…

• One project unintentionally connected us with a new industry partner (Mozilla)

• Professor and partner hit it off, students delivered their part

• New partner funded more…


History

…and then…

• Tied projects into some courses

• More partners and more faculty got interested

• More students got involved

• More grants became available…


History

…and now…

• Special expertise is recognized

• More stable funding is available, including 5-year NSERC grants

• Partners seek us out

• Industry knows us


Were we lucky?

• Area is “open source”

• Gives students opportunity to work on world class software

• Industry values “free” work

• Philosophy and IP licenses are academia friendly


Or did we make our own luck?

• Open source projects need expertise, reject time-wasters

• Expertise is very hard to develop

• Trust takes time to develop

• Granting agencies didn’t understand open source


Making our luck…

• Our programs already had strong technical component

• Our professor convinced Mozilla to pay for his release time

• Our programs had flexibility of “Professional Options” – no need to change core curriculum


Making our luck…

• Repurposed OSS (symposium for college teachers) to FSOSS (industry symposium)

• Chased money down many blind alleys (on-going)

• Insinuated OS work into other projects (e.g. MotionView)


Making our luck…

• Leaned on professors to take part

• Rejected a lot of offers that did not include money

• Had to manage professor burnout

• Had to manage partners’ expectations


Benefits of Applied Research to the program:

• External stakeholder gives perspective

• Faculty and students are pushed

• Gaps in curriculum exposed (and hopefully filled)

• Value of program is promoted


Benefits of Applied Research to the student:

• Real-world experience more challenging than most co-op opportunities

• Work one-on-one with prof and stakeholder

• Chance to build a reputation


Benefits of Applied Research to the external stakeholder:

• Grant funding

• Inexpensive expertise

• Source of HQP after project

• Chance to influence education to produce MHQP


Drawbacks of Applied Research:

• Overhead– Paperwork, events, contacts

• Not everyone can participate

• Can overshadow other studies

• Can easily overload faculty

• Can skew perspective


Tips

• Be patient, success takes longer than you think

• Talk to anyone, make arrangements with few

• Pursue all leads for funding

• Align with energetic professors


Tips

• Use central services

• Look for linkages between research and curriculum

• Don’t work for free

• Don’t sell out

• Build expertise, build a reputation


Tips

• Learn from failed grant applications, failed projects

• When in doubt, consider student perspective

• Manage burnout proactively

• Make academic limitations clear


Tips

• Leverage grants with other grants when possible

• When spending, be careful to meet grant requirements, often takes juggling

• Follow your strengths to make your own luck

[email protected]

cs.senecacollege.ca/~evan.weaver

Documents

Applied Research and Learning: A Case Study Evan Weaver Chair, School of Information and Communications Technology Seneca College Advancing Learning 2012