Mary C. Wright

Better Than Expected: Using Learning Analytics to Promote Student Success in Gateway Science

Change • January/February 2014 By Mary C. Wright, Timothy McKay, Chad Hershock, Kate Miller, and Jared Tritz Learning Analytics (LA) has been identified as one of the top technology trends in higher education today (Johnson et al., 2013). LA is based on the idea that datasets generated through normal administrative, teaching, or learning activities—such as registrar data or interactions with learning management systems—can be analyzed to enhance student learning, academic progress, and teaching practice. Examples of LA projects in colleges and universities include Purdue University’s “Course Signals” system, an early-alert notification for struggling students, and Austin Peay State University’s “Degree Compass,” a course recommender program based on predictive analytics.

Facilitating the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at a Research University

At the University of Michigan’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT), Mary C. Wright is assistant director for evaluation; she is also an assistant research scientist. Cynthia J. Finelli is director of the CRLT North (an engineering outpost of CRLT) and a research associate professor in the College of Engineering, and Deborah Meizlish is assistant director and coordinator of social science initiatives at the Center. Inger Bergom is a doctoral student at the University’s Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. “I made some changes in my class, but how do I measure their impact?”

Promoting college student development through collaborative learning: A case study of hevruta

Inger Bergom, Mary C. Wright, Marie Kendall Brown, and Michael Brooks describe an innovative academic approach to collaborative learning in a large lecture class.

Same Old Textbook? An Evaluation Metric for Web-Based Supplemental Textbooks.

TEXTBOOK CONTENT is one of the most significant influences on faculty’s course planning decisions, but with the growth of the World Wide Web in recent years, the nature of the textbook has changed considerably. Many publishers now offer Web-based supplements to social science textbooks, but no tools exist for instructors to evaluate the resources that these supplements offer. Building on the work of Wilkinson, Bennett, and Oliver (1997), I develop evaluation criteria for these supplements in order to measure how a textbook Web site can enhance teaching and learning. The metric includes measures of site access and usability, resource identification and documentation, information structure and design, navigation within the document, quality of links, aesthetic and affective aspects, and pedagogical/disciplinary needs. Examples of applications of the criteria to popular sociology texts are provided.

Spaced learning using emails to integrate psychiatry into general medical curriculum: Keep psychiatry in mind

Abstract Objectives: Traditionally, medical students on clinical rotations receive instruction on principles of mental health only during the psychiatry clerkship. We used emails to insert teaching of psychiatric concepts beyond the psychiatry clerkship into other rotations using the method of spaced learning, the delivery of brief morsels of information repeated over time intervals. We predicted that the intervention would improve attitudes and confidence towards the integration of psychiatry and knowledge retention. Methods: We developed and distributed a series of emails relating key psychiatric concepts targeted to the other core clerkships. Results: In a cluster-randomized trial over one academic year (intervention group n = 71, control group n = 61), scores on the Attitudes and Confidence in the Integration of Psychiatry scale and on the knowledge quiz did not differ significantly. Students who actively engaged with the emails demonstrated significantly higher scores on the knowledge test. Email users valued the timing, format of delivery and application of psychiatric principles outside the psychiatric setting. Participants recommended simplifying the format and previewing the benefits of spaced learning to increase utilization. Conclusion: Delivering spaced learning through emails, within a curriculum designed to foster engagement, may provide an efficient means of addressing the widely-recognized but elusive goal of integrating teaching across medical disciplines.

Assessment for Improvement: Two Models for Assessing a Large Quantitative Reasoning Requirement

We present two models for assessment of a large and diverse quantitative reasoning (QR) requirement at the University of Michigan. These approaches address two key challenges in assessment: (1) dissemination of findings for curricular improvement and (2) resource constraints associated with measurement of large programs. Approaches we present for data collection include convergent validation of self-report surveys, as well as use of mixed methods and learning analytics. Strategies we present for dissemination of findings include meetings with instructors to share data and best practices, sharing of results through social media, and use of easily accessible dashboards. These assessment approaches may be of particular interest to universities with large numbers of students engaging in a QR experience, projects that involve multiple courses with diverse instructional goals, or those who wish to promote evidence-based curricular improvement.

Effects of image-based and text-based activities on student learning outcomes

Research on benefits of visual learning has relied primarily on lecture-based pedagogy, not accounting for the processing time students need to make sense of both visual and verbal material[8]. In this study, we investigate the potential differential effects of text-based and image-based student learning activities on student learning outcomes in a functional anatomy course. When controlling for demographics and prior GPA, participation in in-class image-based activities is significantly correlated with performance on associated exam questions, while text-based engagement is not. Additionally, students rated activities as helpful for seeing images of key ideas and as being significantly less mentally taxing than text-based activities.

Decreased class size, increased active learning? Intended and enacted teaching strategies in smaller classes:

Small class size is often used as an indicator of quality in higher education, and some research suggests that instructors in smaller classes more often use activities that are learner-centered and that involve physical and mental activity on the part of learners, such as group work, simulations, and case studies. However, we have little information on how instructors change their pedagogical practice when they teach in large- versus small-class settings. In this study, we examine alignment between intended and enacted teaching strategies, or initial plans and specific ways in which instructors reported altering their teaching in the context of a university policy shift to smaller classes. Furthermore, we examine instructional challenges in this shift to call attention to professional development needs of small-class teaching and to best leverage the benefits of such activities for student performance and retention.