EDP Faculty
Sebastián R. Díaz
Assistant Professor, College of Human Resources & Education
| 506-B Allen Hall |
| Phone: (304) 293-2075 Fax: (304) 293-9424 |
| Sebastian.Diaz@mail.wvu.edu |
| By Appointment |
Education:
J.D. University of Akron School of Law, May 2004.
Major Areas: Intellectual Property Law, Education Law
Ph.D. Ohio University, June 1996. Educational Research and Evaluation;
Major Areas: Applied Statistics & Measurement; Minor Areas: Interpersonal Communication, Higher Education Administration.
Dissertation: A Monte-Carlo Simulation of the Wainer-Schacht Gap Test Using the Tukey Criterion
M.Ed. Ohio University, July 1988. Major Area: College Student Personnel Administration
B.S. Marietta College, May 1986. Major Area: Chemistry (ACS Approved)
Background:
I was born in Pinar del Río, Cuba in 1965. My father, an educator and cynic with respect to Fidel Castro’s promises, was given early retirement as part of the purge of educators disloyal to La Revolución. We emigrated to the U.S. in 1968, living in Elizabeth, NJ. Five years later, my family moved to Orlando, FL, where I lived until leaving to attend college in Marietta, OH.
My transition from the Basic to Social Sciences seemed accidental at the time of college graduation. A trusted mentor advised me to try out the Master’s program in College Student Personnel Administration at nearby Ohio University. In hindsight, it was not an accidental shift. Applying scientific principles to exploring the complexities inherent in the social sciences was something that came naturally to me, and which I enjoyed. After earning my Master’s, I began a doctorate in Organizational Communication. The program was not a good fit, and so I transitioned to Educational Research, which turned out to be an excellent fit.
Upon completing the doctorate, I stayed in Athens and worked as a medical educator at the Osteopathic school, where my colleagues and I participated in a fundamental change of the medical curriculum. In 1999, I moved to Akron, OH to attend law school as an evening student. I came to WVU in 2004, and now teach in the areas of Statistics, Program Evaluation, & Measurement.
Research interests:
My research interests focus on conceptualizing measures that contribute to the notion of intellectual capital. Legend has it that Professor Einstein had posted on his office door at Princeton the following: Not everything that is counted, counts. And not everything that counts, is counted. I’m fascinated by what is counted and what actually counts when evaluating the efficacy of faculty, students, and their educational programs. I’m trying to corral my research efforts towards this aim.
Recent Presentations:
Community of Inquiry Framework: Validation and Instrument Development. In collaboration with Philip Ice, Ben Arbaugh, D. Randy Garrison, Jennifer Richardson, Peter Shea, and Karen Swan. The 13th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning. Orlando, FL. November 2007.
Language and Culture Proficiency Initiative for First Responders in the USA. In collaboration with David Callejo-Pérez. The 2007 Annual Conference of The American Association for Teaching and Curriculum. Cleveland, OH. October 2007.
Methodological Issues in the Analysis of Statewide Problem-Gambling Helpline Data. In collaboration with Margaret Glenn and Carolyn Hawley. Poster Session at 7th Annual National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) Gambling and Addiction Conference, Las Vegas, NV. November 2006.
Intellectual Capital as a Paradigm for Measuring Efficacy in the Academy. As part of panel titled, Dilemma of the Multi-University: Paradigms, Problems, and Possibilities for Teaching, Research, and Service. American Association for Teaching and Curriculum Annual Conference, Charlotte, NC. October 2006.
Assessing Medical Student Professionalism: An Analysis of a Peer Assessment. In collaboration with Scott Cottrell, James Shumway, & Anne Cather. AERA Annual Meeting, April 2006; & Generalists in Medical Education Annual Conference, November 4-5, 2005.
Educational Administration Student Perceptions of Instructional Delivery Formats. In collaboration with Paul Chapman, Lucas Moore, & Pam Deering. 59th Annual conference of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration. Washington, D.C. July 26-29, 2005.
Swan, K., Richardson, J., Ice, P., Shea, P., Cleveland-Innes, M.,
Diaz, S. & Garrison, R. (July, 2008) "Researching Online Communities of
Inquiry: New CoI Survey Instrument" Vienna, Austria. Ed-Media: World
Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications, 2008.
Asynchronous Audio Feedback, The Impact on Teaching and Social
Presence. In collaboration with Philip Ice, Karen Swan, Reagan Curtis, &
Lori Kupczynski. American Educational Research Association 2008 Annual
Meeting. March, 2008.
Community of Inquiry Framework: Validation and Instrument
Development. In collaboration with Philip Ice, Ben Arbaugh, Marti
Cleveland-Innes, D. Randy Garrison, Jennifer Richardson, Peter Shea, and
Karen Swan. The Canadian Institute of Distance Education Research,
Peer-Reviewed Webinar Series. Online presentation,
http://cider.athabascau.ca/, February 29th, 2008.
Publications:
Arbaugh, J., Cleveland-Innes, M., Diaz, S., Garrison, R., Ice, P.,
Richardson, J., Shea, P. & Swan, K. (authors listed alphabetically to denote
equal contributions) Testing a measure of the Community of Inquiry Framework
using a multi-institutional sample. (Accepted 2008 – The Internet and Higher
Education)
Díaz, S. R. (In Press). Building the Academy’s Intellectual
Capital, in J.J. Slater, D.M. Callejo, and S.M. Fain. (Eds.). The War
Against the Professions: The Impact of Politics and Economics on the Idea of
the University. Sense Publishers.
Davis, M. S., Riske-Morris, M. L., & Díaz, S. R. (In Press). The Etiology of Research Misconduct: Evidence from ORI Case Files. Science & Engineering Ethics
Cottrell, S., Díaz, S., Cather, A., & Shumway, J. (2006). Assessing Medical Student Professionalism: An Analysis of a Peer Assessment. Medical Education Online(serial online), 11(8). Available from: www.med-ed-online.org.
Glenn, M., Díaz, S. R., & Moore, L. C. (2006). Using Problem Gambling Helpline Data to Inform Addiction Education. Teaching in the Addictions, 5(1), 31-44.
Chapman, P., Díaz, S. R., Moore, L. C., & Deering, P. (In Press). Educational Administration Student Perceptions of Instructional Delivery Formats and how they Value On-line Courses Compared to Traditional Courses: A Case Study. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching.
Glenn, M., Hawley, C., & Díaz, S. R. (In Press). Problem Gambling in the Workplace: Characteristics of Employees Seeking Work. Work.
van’t Hooft, M., Díaz, S. R., & Swan, K. (2004). Examining the potential of handheld computers: Findings from the Ohio PEP Project. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 30(4), 295-312.
Luxmore, B., Powell, K. R., Díaz, S. R., & Novak, R. W. (2002). Absolute band counts in febrile infants: Know your laboratory. Journal of Pediatrics, 110: e12.
Gerson, L. W., Blanda, M., Dhingra, P., Davis, M. D., & Díaz, S. R. (2001). Do elder emergency department patients and their informants agree about the elder's functioning? Academic Emergency Medicine, 8(7), 721-724.
Personal Interests: Raising children, wine grapes, & chickens, the latter two having yielded very low returns. Spending unbelievable amounts of money on restoring a pre-Civil War home. Dabbling in video documentary. Bicycling, kayaking, and reminiscing about the days when I had the time to lead a life of world travel and adventure. Inventing silly songs for my daughter on a $30
guitar, all in D.