Participating in undergraduate research is one of the best ways for students to stay engaged with their academic program and on track to complete their degree. The examples below show how InfoReady can be used to facilitate a variety of projects and processes that support this work. In addition to the listed examples, community resources, including the Peer Spotlight webinar and the listserv community, can help as
Recruiting Faculty Mentors
- Gather interest with a basic form using the General template or Form Designer template.
- Share the link widely and often: In person, listservs, social media, etc.
- Submitted forms serve as a database of interested faculty that can be mined when necessary.
Matching Faculty with Students
- Use conditional logic within the Form Designer template to collect information from both groups simultaneously.
- Ask for keywords that describe research expertise (faculty) and interests (students) to facilitate good matches.
- Any data collected from each group can be downloaded to Excel and used to quickly make pairings.
Funding Requests
- Students may need to request funds to use for supplies or research-related expenses.
- Start with the Funding template and be explicit about the amount they can ask for (award range).
- On the Award screen, keep track of the exact amount and connect to accounting processes as needed.
Documenting Academic Requirements
- Some students complete research as part of an honors program or certificate.
- After the initial project is complete, use Progress Reports to track learning outcomes and collect information on any tangible results, like conference attendance and publications.
Intensive Summer Programs
- These are an excellent option for students that can't fit research into their standard academic schedule.
- Often these end in a showcase, where faculty and staff join to listen to student presentations and provide feedback.
- Rubrics are best made with the Comments & Ratings Routing Step. Use different rating scale ranges to mirror point values (e.g., If criterion "Appearance" is out of 20 points, rating scale should be 1-20). Use award and reject notifications to share judges' feedback and help presenters learn.
Annual Reports
- Undergraduate research on a campus can function in an decentralized capacity through various faculty research projects or formal REU programs.
- Consider building a form to collect annual reports from faculty members about the number of active projects, students involved, etc.
In-Person or Virtual Events
- Standard posters can be collected as file uploads (PDF is best to retain formatting issues. Instruct presenters to convert PowerPoint slides to PDF for the best results).
- Audio or video submissions should first be uploaded to an external site (e.g., YouTube, Zoom, Vimeo). Then use a text field to instruct presenters to paste the link on the submission form. They should make sure their link is public before submitting.
- Utilize an automated import from the main InfoReady platform to an Engagement Hub to seamlessly create a mobile-friendly conference navigation site for your attendees.
Learn more and read stories of clients using InfoReady for undergraduate research, visit visit this page.
