What’s the magic recipe to transform a class project into a professional research presentation? In this post, one AU professor has some secrets…
This month, a single project with nine (!) student co-authors will appear in New Orleans at the annual conference for National Communication Association (NCA). NCA is one of the most important research conferences in our field.
Their topic: “Imagining AI Citizenship: Analyzing Public Comments on America’s AI Action Plan.” It’s a fascinating study of technological imaginaries based on the coding of public comments. Their abstract describes it as, “In developing America’s AI Action Plan, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OTSP) issued a request for information in early 2025, seeking public comments from various groups regarding the development of AI technologies in the U.S. Using the concept of technological imaginaries and a mixed methods approach, this study examines over 10,000 public comments submitted to the OTSP, comparing them with the vision of AI policy outlined in the action plan document.”
It all began in Professor Chelsea Butkowski class on Research Methods in 2025. From the professor’s perspective: “I’ve been doing these projects with students in the research methods class for the past couple of years. I find it extremely rewarding to work with students who are starting out in their first semester and take them through publication and presentation of a major project, and to see how they grow and the insights they bring from their other core classes and theoretical classes they take. And how they bring everything together. I am so excited to present at NCA.”
Founded in 1914, NCA brings together researchers, educators, students, and professionals who study how people communicate. Each year, NCA hosts an Annual Convention where scholars and students present their research, share ideas, and connect with others in the field. The conference provides students with an opportunity to share their work with a national academic audience and gain experience presenting research outside the classroom.
How do students see it? In the words from a second year PhD student, “It has been exciting to see the project evolve from a class project to now working towards submitting to a journal. Everyone is so supportive of sharing new ideas and considering different ways of thinking which makes the process really enjoyable and intellectually interesting.” – Kenzie Larson
The magic recipe is visible in the student trajectory. As one student put it, “My cohort included MA and PhD students, and in the summer we continued the class project to write the findings section. Every two weeks, the group comes together to review our separate contributions. I was surprised how well our writing blends together, because that is not always the case. That alignment is rare and my guess is that it comes from working together over an extended period of time, from research design to analysis and now in the writing. We have a great understanding of what we’re trying to define – in this case, work around the ‘technological imaginary’ as a way to critique AI policy.” – Eunice Kim