Faculty Development wins third RCR grant

by Mark McGowan

An academic paper arrives at a professor's desk with a note requesting a peer review, yet the recipient is unqualified to accurately assess the work and fails to disclose the problem.

Another professor asked to evaluate a proposal for research borrows an idea contained in the pitch. A third is listed as an author on a project to lend it credibility despite no involvement in the work.

Such lapses in good judgment could spiral into disaster, says Murali Krishnamurthi, director of NIU's Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center.

“Ultimately,” he says, “these things impact public welfare and safety if somebody takes these research findings that are reported in the paper and they take it to be truthful and apply it to certain activities that impact public safety and health.”

Krishnamurthi, along with Faculty Development colleagues Dan Cabrera (multimedia coordinator) and Jason Rhode (online technologies coordinator), have earned a third grant of $25,000 from the federal Office of Research Integrity to develop online learning modules that promote responsible conduct in research.

The team will concentrate on responsible authorship and peer review as they develop computer-based tools set for an Internet launch in December of 2006.

Earlier grants from the Office of Research Integrity, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, came in 2003 for an online training module on data management and earlier this year for an online training module on responsible mentoring and collaboration.

Rathindra Bose, vice president for research and dean of the NIU Graduate School, said the work of Faculty Development is critical.

“There are a lot of responsibilities imposed on academic institutions and also on investigators who are involved in research. Unfortunately, in many areas, the education is lagging behind,” Bose said.

“Many researchers do not know what is ethical and what is not ethical, how to approach the human subject, how to take the permission, what constitutes conflict of interest when they are collecting data or presenting the information to the public, how much they are influenced by their own hypotheses rather than the independent judgment to analyze the research results,” he added. “We are so proud that Murali is doing this kind of quality work to educate all researchers and keeping us really informed on what the ethical and moral responsibilities of researchers are.”

Krishnamurthi said the new interactive training module, like the previous tools, will include simulations of situations, games, quizzes and other activities for self-paced learning.

“It's something that requires the user to interact, think and participate, rather than using a passive modality,” Cabrera said. “The sources we use are journal articles, material from textbooks and interviews with faculty here at NIU on specific topics to get their impressions and some examples. We also go online to look at the available information.”

Krishnamurthi visited Seattle last month to demonstrate the module on data management, which the ORI already has published on its Web site.

“This will be made available soon to about 500 or 600 institutions all over the world, to about 200,000 to 300,000 faculty and staff researchers,” Krishnamurthi said. “This is a substantial recognition for NIU.”

Krishnamurthi, Cabrera and Rhode will travel to Milwaukee next week for an Oct. 17 conference where they will roll out the new module on mentoring and collaboration. It will go online in December.

“The new simulation activity requires the user to navigate through a series of events, and we offer the user an opportunity to select one of two different roles: a trainee looking for a mentor and a mentor new to mentoring,” Cabrera said. “It's scored so people can do better, and also as an incentive to engage in the activity of applying content and making good and better decisions.”

Faculty Development's latest project will reach the ORI's Web site in December 2006.

“They value what we do,” Cabrera said. “It's a compliment to NIU.”

10-10-05