UROP Project
LINK Research Practice Partnership
professional development, partnership, collaboration, K-12 education, higher education
Research Mentor: Dr. Vanessa Dennen,
Department, College, Affiliation: EPLS, Education, Health, and Human Sciences
Contact Email: vdennen@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators: Dr. Secil Caskurlu, Dr. Megan Crombie. Ms. Hilal Ayan
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Department, College, Affiliation: EPLS, Education, Health, and Human Sciences
Contact Email: vdennen@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators: Dr. Secil Caskurlu, Dr. Megan Crombie. Ms. Hilal Ayan
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: No, the project is remote Remote or In-person: Fully Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: No, the project is remote Remote or In-person: Fully Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
- Day: Monday, August 31
Start Time: 12:00
End Time: 12:30
Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/my/vdennen
Project Description
LINK (Learning, Inquiry, and Networked Knowledge) is a research-practice partnership that brings together university researchers, graduate students, and K-12 educators to collaboratively investigate authentic problems of practice in education. Through professional learning, collaborative inquiry, and classroom-based research, participants explore how teaching, learning, and educational technologies can support meaningful educational experiences. Undergraduate researchers will contribute to the organization's ongoing work by assisting with research coordination, communication, event planning, data organization, resource development, and community-building activities. Students will gain experience working within a collaborative research team while learning about educational research, partnership development, and the processes through which research and practice inform one another.Year 1 of the partnership included teacher/doctoral student projects focused on AI and wrapped up in June 2026. Year 2 is beginning and the focus is on sensemaking and critical thinking in K-12 classrooms. The video link below provides an overview of Year 1.
Research Tasks: Tasks may include: literature review, data organization and analysis, assistance with developing and promoting projects under the larger LINK umbrella, creating graphics, assisting with data collection
Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required: attention to detail
We will train for all necessary tasks
Mentoring Philosophy
UROP offers a great opportunity for students to have early research experiences. I apply the cognitive apprenticeship model in my research teams, where my UROP mentees are full members of the team. As cognitive apprentices, you get to see all parts of the research process, contribute your own insights along the way, and gradually gain responsibilities as you learn how to perform different research tasks. I have high expectations for our research outcomes, and will train and support you to meet them. I will also seek ways to help you work toward your long-term educational and professional goals.Additional Information
Work on this project is, by default, remote, but there is the opportunity to have in-person meetings for people who prefer that type of interaction, and there are opportunities to go into a K-12 school as part of the research team, if interested.Typically we schedule project team meetings every 1-2 weeks, and between meetings everyone has tasks that they work on. During meetings we share the outcomes of our prior tasks, learn new skills, and determine next tasks. Between meetings we typically communicate via email, GroupMe, and MS Teams.