Research and Outreach at the SOE

The Office of Educational Research and Outreach (OERO) supports faculty and graduate students in Virginia Tech’s School of Education (SOE) as they pursue evidence-based empirical and qualitative inquiries related to education, training, program and product evaluation, and related venues in statewide, national, and international contexts.

Among our goals is the enabling of high quality research and data management in all areas related to education, pursuit of publicly and privately funded research initiatives, and the preparation or coordination of training related to grant-writing, budgeting, and project management.

The SOE will maintain and build a culture of careful, intentional inquiry into human learning, where systematic collection and thoughtful use of data in education is the highest goal. We will encourage our faculty to continue investigations through the creation of team-based approaches that emphasize rigor and cross-disciplinary collaboration. We will continue to encourage the dissemination of findings to colleagues at national and international conferences.

The culture of Virginia Tech, a national leader in scholarship and outreach, has always valued and encouraged research. Faculty across the university, including units related to preparation of education or training professionals, have carried out substantive research for decades. Academic inquiry and writing has been and continues to be a central responsibility for all professors no matter their college or department.

As a land grant institution funded in part by the government of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the organization of the university has undergone changes as political leadership has changed or refocused priorities. For example, a number of years ago, what was known as the College of Education was reorganized into the College of Human Resources and Education (CHRE). Departments within the college remained largely the same as relatively autonomous entities. During this period, individual faculty or groups of faculty would use their own time and departmental resources to find, apply for, implement, and evaluate sponsored research proposals.

Starting in 2003, the university as a whole began a to restructure itself due to goals set by the administration. The hope is that Virginia Tech will continue to advance towards its goal to become a top 30 research institution. Departments from a number of colleges were examined and realigned based on overall research and teaching purposes. As a result, departments and program areas in education were placed in what is now known as the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS). The components of CLAHS are similar to, but more expansive than, the former CHRE components.

To ensure the identity of individual departments that deal specifically with teacher education and disciplines related to education or training (ex., health promotions, career and technical education, educational leadership), the School of Education was formed. Its leadership realized at an early stage that the School would benefit from two sub-units that would help departments maintain focus on the goals directly related to Virginia Tech’s central mission: research, teaching, and outreach. To handle the academic program areas and related affairs (such as accreditation, etc.), the Office of Academic Programs was created. The Office of Educational Research and Outreach (OERO), now the Educational Research and Outreach Services Team, was also created to encourage and aid the School’s academic and research faculty as they seek sponsored research opportunities. Additionally, we oversee the research and outreach efforts of a number of centers. The specific mission and goals of the Educational Research and Outreach Services Team (formerly the OERO) are listed below.

The first director of OERO was Dr. John K. Burton. The School of Education became an official Virginia Tech entity as of July 1, 2005.

The Office of Educational Research and Outreach Services supports faculty and graduate students in Virginia Tech’s School of Education as they pursue evidence-based empirical and qualitative inquiries related to education, training, program and product evaluation, andrelated venues in statewide, national, and international contexts.

Goals

1. Enable or develop high quality research and data management in all areas related to education.
2. Pursue of publicly and privately funded research initiatives and contracts.
3. Develop sponsored research inquiry, programs, and centers.
4. Assist in the development of new lines of inquiry with an emphasis on those which have the potential to have national and international impacts.
5. Prepare or coordinate training related to grant-writing, management, and project management.
6. Develop research-related outreach activities and materials for constituents within and outside the university.
7. Assist in the recruitment and retention of highly qualified faculty members, as well as the recruitment and training of promising graduate students.
8. Facilitate in whatever way possible the communication of research findings and find practical means of implementing results.
9. Enable interdisciplinary collaboration across the university that leads to educational research.
10. Create relationships among and between academic and non-academic organizations to open venues of research and evaluation.

Vision

Our vision is to create a sustainable research unit that encourages a culture of careful, intentional inquiry into human learning, fosters systematic collection and thoughtful use of data in education, and creates rigorous, team-based approaches to research that earns respect at the national and international level.