As depicted in the diagram above, Clif Mims has strategically developed his scholarship agenda focusing on improving the process by which teacher education prepares teachers to integrate technology with learning and instruction. This focus is evidenced in his ongoing involvement in research, publications, presentations, and work with graduate students.
Publications
Collectively, Dr. Mims’ research and scholarship includes 5 chapters, 7 peer-reviewed articles in national journals, 1 non-refereed journal publication, 2 monographs, 2 research reports, and 2 technical reports.
Dr. Mims is a principle investigator in an ongoing critical analysis designed to analyze and report the findings of the USDE’s Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) projects focused on transforming the experiences of preservice teachers in their educational courses and field experiences and then draw implications from those findings. The findings from the first round of this research were published in an international peer-reviewed journal that has an acceptance rate of 13% and the second round findings are in a chapter of a book currently in press. These findings were also accepted to be presented at a international educational research conferences. Manuscripts from the third and fourth rounds are currently in progress as Dr. Mims continues to collaborate on this research with colleagues from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Texas Tech University and the University of Wyoming.
An early work, “Authentic learning: A practical introduction & guide for implementation” published in Meridian: A Middle School Computer Technologies Journal has been referenced by more than 30 journal articles, websites and other works. A number of these resources are K-12 and higher education institutions encouraging teachers to implement authentic learning.
Dr. Mims serves as a faculty researcher at the Center for Research in Educational Policy (CREP) at the University of Memphis and has served as first author on two extensive research evaluation reports. The “Report of READ 180” (2006) has been requested by many school district administrators as a result of Slavin, et al., (2008) including it in their best-evidence synthesis of reading programs.
Dr. Mims currently has 5 articles in review or in progress for submission to national and international journals.
Presentations
Dr. Mims has been invited to share his research findings and expertise in more than 10 presentations and keynotes at local, state, regional and international meetings since 2003. He has also been invited to share with graduate students in seminars at other universities. He has had more than 26 peer-reviewed presentations accepted at international, national, regional and state educational conferences. Dr. Mims frequently involve students as co-presenters as part of his commitment to mentoring.
Grants
While at the University of Mississippi Dr. Mims was a principal investigator on two state funded teacher developmental grants. One of these was funded for $110,000.
Dr. Mims was a principal investigator for a University of Memphis internal grant to support the creation and delivery of a special topics course to investigate games and simulations research and applications in educational settings. This grant was funded for $7,900.
At the University of Memphis Dr. Mims has actively pursued external funding. He was a co-principal investigator for proposals to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Though not funded, the feedback has been encouraging and Dr. Mims is engaged in developing a proposal for the next proposal cycle of NSF’s Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST).
Scholarship and Honors
Dr. Mims served as a lead writer on the Mississippi Mathematics Frameworks Writing Team, and is a consulting editor for the field’s most respected journal, Educational Technology Research and Development. He also reviews manuscripts for The Journal of Computing in Higher Education and research presentation proposals for the Association of Educational Communications and Technology.
At the University of Memphis Dr. Mims is a member of the Qualitative Users Group and has been invited to share his experiences with and analytical strategies for qualitative data with students in the College of Education.
Dr. Mims has been a grant proposal review panelist for the National Science Foundation. He was also named a Research Fellow while at the University of Mississippi.
Bibliography
Mims, C., Lowther, D. L, Strahl, J. D., & Nunnery, J. (2006). 2005-2006 Evaluation report of READ 180. Prepared for the Little Rock School District: Center for Research in Educational Policy, The University of Memphis: Memphis, TN.
Slavin, R. E., Cheung, A., Goff, C., and Lake, C. (2008). Effective reading programs for middle and high schools: A best-evidence synthesis. Reading Research Quarterly, 43(3), 290-322.