By Rick Cherwitz and Courtney Dillard
Office of Graduate Studies

Name: Jessica J. Summers Hometown: Amherst, N.Y. Department: Educational Psychology Advisor: Diane L. Schallert, Ph.D.

How can you measure the value of community?

While it's no easy task, Jessica Summers, a doctoral candidate in educational psychology, is striving to do just that. Summers' research questions stemmed from her experience as an AmeriCorps volunteer at Girls Inc. in Dallas, where she was assigned to serve as a tutor and mentor for underprivileged girls after school.

Summers

As she spent time with these girls, she recognized the affect of peer groups on a wide variety of perspectives, such as attitude toward school.

Summers came to the university determined to better understand peer influence and, specifically, its role in academic motivation. In her dissertation, she explores how social goals and academic goals interact for middle-school populations.

Summers' interest in educational research plays an important role in her work as a research assistant for the Center for Teaching Effectiveness (CTE). She is developing a program of research with the CTE’s director, Marilla Svinicki, that explores the effect of cooperative learning on classroom community. The research findings have been presented at national meetings of the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association and the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education. A summary of these findings will be published this fall in the CTE campus newsletter.

By publishing the results of this research program at the university community level and nationally, Summers hopes to reach a broader audience with the message that cooperative learning and classroom community are important elements of the undergraduate learning experience.

"Classroom community is an essential foundation for lifelong learning communities," Summers said. "It provides the groundwork for wider campus participation and future civic engagement."

On campus, Summers is practicing what she preaches. She is a speaker for the International Teaching Assistant’s orientation session on creating a self-directed classroom and she has been a coordinator for the Teaching Assistant Conference. Summers also gives many talks to students enrolled in 398T courses across varying departments, with topics ranging from learning theory, motivation, use of office hours and application of cooperative learning techniques.

Jessica is planning to finish her Ph.D. in educational psychology in May.

NOTE: Nominations (including self-nominations) for ARETE should be sent to Associate Dean Richard Cherwitz at spaj737@uts.cc.utexas.edu