Name: Erica Walker
Year: 2016
Hometown: Vashon Island, WA
Major/minor: Double major in Psychology and Spanish, with a minor in Education Studies
Erica Walker ‘16 tells us about her experience working alongside Dr. Joan Swanson, a current professor in the Education Studies department at Skidmore, researching the impacts of technology in individuals between ages 18-25. After having their research published, we couldn’t resist asking Erica what went into all of their hard work.
HC: Tell us about the research you have been doing.
Erica: I have been working in the Education Studies department as a research assistant for about three or four semesters now. Our research focuses on the impact of technology use and preferences of emerging adults and their education. Emerging adults are individuals between the ages of 18-25 years old, so basically the Skidmore student population. The professor I have been working with and I created a survey and sent it out to the Skidmore student body. We received responses from 10% of the student body – which was surprising for us because we expected to receive much less. From there we analyzed the data and did a lot of literature review on emerging adults and education as well as emerging adults and technology. Our paper that has been recently published is about the general outcome from the survey on emerging adults, education, and technology use. This article was presented at an international conference in Portugal, which took place in October 2014. At this conference our paper was accepted to be published in the conference journal and it was also awarded the ‘best paper at the conference!’
Our general findings suggest, as most people may assume, that emerging adult college students aren’t using their phones or iPads as much as they use email and their personal computers for academic use. It also found that the majority of the Skidmore student body prefers to use printed texts over digital texts for academic purposes. From here we are working on a theory my professor created, called Skin Theory. The thought is that for emerging adults, technology acts as a skin. It protects us, helps our self-regulation, and provides a way of communication. We still have a lot of ideas and papers in the works, but the whole process has been really exciting for me and has taught me a lot about the importance of doing research, especially across academic disciplines.
HC: What made you want to do research in this field?
Erica: Since I took the education course “child development,” I have found that I am very curious about technology and human development. I think it is important to understand this concept from an educational point of view; as technology booms in our culture it influences every aspect of our lives including the way we learn in and out of the classroom.
HC: Which professor have you been working with? How has it been working with him/her?
Erica: I have been working with Dr. Joan Swanson of the Education Studies department. It has been a worthwhile experience of working with the ins and outs of the research process. This past summer (2014), I worked with Dr. Swanson for 5 weeks through the Skidmore College student professor collaborative research project. During this time we worked together from 9am-5pm Monday through Friday on our research. I had the opportunity to learn how to analyze data and think outside the box as well as using efficient and effective strategies of gathering data as well as to present our findings. It has been a beneficial experience for me to work in this department and combine Education studies and Psychology together in our research, finding the important connections between the two academic disciplines.
HC: What is it like having your work published?
Erica: It’s so exciting! I never imagined that during my junior year of college I would have been part of a collaborative published research article. It is really exciting to have this real world experience; being part of this whole process has been a great experience that will help me once I am outside of college in the working world. It is also a great feeling knowing that our work is furthering the public knowledge on how to adapt our education systems to the every increasing amount of technology in our daily lives. I hope those who read our article will consider how important it is to adapt our education systems to our ever-changing world. It takes critical and creative thought to find the best way incorporate new technologies into the traditional ways of our education systems.
HC: Do you plan on doing research in the future?
Erica: I plan on doing research throughout my time at Skidmore, but after graduation I am not sure what I want to do. Currently I am considering programs such as Teach for America and College Possible, something working with secondary students to start with and then I’ll see where my Skidmore education will take me. I hope to someday end up working for an organization such as UNICEF or some other non-profit organization and use the skills I have learned while doing research for the benefit of others.