Laura Elmer

I work with a qualitative research team on a five-year longitudinal study aiming to capture the change of the culture of writing at a land-grant institution after the implementation of a university-wide writing initiative. My role in this research has been two-fold: first, I was a document coder. I read assignments with a code schema based on the NSSE questionnaire, and now I am part of the team that is trying to revise and recreate the research code. Although this research is still in process, the study has taught me so much about working with individuals from different backgrounds and areas of knowledge, it has made me more aware of different ways professors use writing in the classroom, and it has taught me about the larger culture of higher education as a whole.