Division I - Education in the Professions

Division I - Main Website

Division I of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) is dedicated to promoting research and scholarship in education across the professions and internationally. These professions include: architecture, business, dentistry, engineering, law, medicine, the ministry, the military, nursing, pharmacy, physician assistants, physical therapy, and teaching. The Division fosters communication across the professions in topics such as problem-based learning, expertise, tacit knowledge, professional identity, assessment and testing, multiple methods, research integrity – as well as the professional development of educational researchers.

Dr. Ara Tekian, Division I Vice President

Robert Ellis  Senior Graduate Representative University of Texas, Austin robertellis@mindspring.com		Lauren Taylor Junior Graduate Representative Northwestern University lauren-taylor@northwestern.edu
Robert’s undergraduate degree was in English Literature. He is now in his third year of graduate school in Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. A family background in medicine has spurred Ellis’ research interests in medical faculty development and medical education, and he is currently working on development of an observational instrument for physician-faculty teaching practices in an ambulatory pediatrics hospital setting.		Lauren is an Instructor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine. Her areas of interest include faculty development, educational research and graduate medical education.  Lauren also has a position in the Feinberg Academy of Medical Educators as the Professional and Faculty Development Specialist. Lauren has experience in research methods, program evaluation, technology enhanced instruction, and curricular design.  She graduated from Loyola University Chicago with bachelor degrees in secondary education and history, and a master's degree in curriculum and instruction. Lauren is currently working on her doctorate in Curriculum Studies with a focus on health professions education at University of Illinois at Chicago.

Links to division 

• For Division I information: links to newsletters, officers, and awards information go to Division I's Homepage.
• For a good description of Division I go to the Division I membership brochure.
• For more information about graduate students in Division I go to the Division I Graduate Student page.

Links for professional development 

The issues of PERQ (Professions Education Researcher Quarterly: A publication of Division I, Education in the Professions, AERA) that contain articles on how to be an effective discussant are:

Articles recommended by Division I scholars for graduate students 

Willliam C. McGaghie, PhD, presented Mastering the Scholarly Process at the AERA 2005 annual conference and recommended the following articles for graduate students. He notes that “John Smart is a highly prolific scholar in the field of higher education. His article provides many useful suggestions for authors, novice and experienced.” He also commented that the Kazdin article is a “short and crisp description of scholarly writing.”

• Research in Higher Education 2005; 46(4): 461-477.
• Kazdin, A. E. (1995). Preparing and evaluating research reports. Psychological Assessment, 7, 228-237.