You may have noticed in the August edition of This Month on the OpenLab that one of the new features from the summer updates is a template chooser. When you create a new Course, Project, Club, or Portfolio, the site created uses a template that is appropriate for each type of site. For example, new Course sites come with pre-created pages for Syllabus, Assignments, etc. The template chooser makes it possible to have more than one template for each type of site. In the spotlight on Fall 2023 Welcome, for example, we highlighted the two templates for Course sites: Interactive, intended for use with active student posting and commenting, and Informational, for sites containing course materials, with instructor posts.
So what does that have to do with student research projects?
When student researchers create a Project, they can now choose the template designed for student research projects! This template was designed with City Tech’s Undergraduate Research programs in mind–and was launched at the Undergraduate Research Workshop on Using OpenLab for Your Research Project.
The site features spaces for students to write about themselves and their research project, include an abstract, and feature any achievements like the poster session, conference presentations, or awards. Additionally, the blog page has been turned into a research log, where students can chronicle their work, track the sources they read, and reflect on their experience.
As you can see, the site is very streamlined with a clean look. Students can customize it, but they can also get started with their work right away, without needing to first decide about how to design and organize the site.
We can’t wait to spotlight some great student research projects using this template!
