In Spring 2014, faculty member Laurie Poklop developed course INSDSG-607 Using Primary Research for Evidence-based Practice.  For Laurie, teaching 607 is an exciting opportunity for her to share her enthusiasm for the research process, an enthusiasm she developed during her doctoral research. “The 607 course is particularly valuable because it gives students a chance to stretch their intellectual muscles and develop their research and writing skills,” explains Laurie. “Throughout the course, students locate and analyze research articles on a topic of particular personal interest and ultimately synthesize what they learn in a formal literature review paper. In addition to learning about research, we all get to learn a lot about the various interesting topics being explored in the class. If students can take this class just before their Capstone, it can give them a great research foundation on which to build a project.”   Laurie also believes the course will help instructional designers assume a growing role in higher education. “It is my observation that instructional designers have begun to play greater roles in higher education as instructional technology has become part of the everyday lives of faculty,” she says. “While the principles of instructional design are applicable to higher ed, the context and purpose of learning is quite different. I hope that learning about the research processes will give current ID students insight into the thinking processes of university faculty, who are typically also researchers, and who may even become their future clients.”   In addition to being a faculty member in the ID program, Laurie is a researcher and scholar at Northeastern University and will be publishing her research this spring. Laurie’s article titled “ePortfolios and Audience: Teaching a Critical Twenty-First Century Skill” will appear in the International Journal of Electronic Portfolio this Spring.