Oral Assessments of UBC Faculty of Science’s First Year Seminar in Science (Scie113) Students: From Best Practices to Measuring Impact on Students’ Learning
Project Lead: Nicola Fameli (Lecturer, Physics and Astronomy)Co-Lead: Adele Ruosi (Senior Science Education Specialist, Physics and Astronomy) Project Summary The goal of this project is to build an inventory of oral proficiency assessment practices that highlights strengths, challenges, and recommendations based on the experiences of instructors in UBC Faculty of Science’s First Year Seminar in […]
Teaching for Empowerment: Strategies for Helping Undergraduate Students Develop a Scholarly Voice in their Writing
Project Lead: Nazih El-Bezre (Lecturer, Journalism, Writing, and Media) Project Summary This project aims to study the strategies that undergraduate students use when they face a new rhetorical situation. These strategies could range from adopting the writing conventions of academia to avoiding them when they conflict with previous rhetorical experiences to outright opposition. These choices […]
AI Integration in Teaching: Examining Instructors’ Use, Perceptions, and Pedagogical Considerations
Project Lead: Anna Dawczyk (Lecturer, Sociology) Project Summary Despite the rapid increase in research on students’ AI use, instructor perspective remains strikingly underexamined—leaving a critical gap in our understanding of how AI is shaping teaching practices. This project investigates the pedagogical impact of AI in university teaching by examining how instructors incorporate AI into teaching […]
Making Connections: Weaving anti-colonial science into a novel biology course
Project Lead: Bridgette Clarkston (Associate Professor of Teaching, Botany)Co-Lead: Jackie Chambers (Teaching & Learning Manager, Beaty Biodiversity Museum) Project Summary This study takes place in Biology 307: Natural History Collections and Biodiversity Science, a new undergraduate biology course that weaves anti-colonial science throughout the course. The goal is to investigate the impact of this course […]
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Instructional Videos in Restorative Dentistry for First-Year Dental Students
Project Lead: Luana Carlvalho (Assistant Professor of Teaching, Oral Health Sciences (Dentistry)) Project Summary This study will assess the impact of instructional videos on first-year dental students’ learning in the simulation lab. Since 2020, Restorative Dentistry modules have incorporated procedure-based videos to support the development of essential psychomotor skills. The research will evaluate their effectiveness […]
Building curriculum for a new discipline: Taking a comprehensive look at Urban Forestry learning competencies through engaging student voices
Project Lead: Sara Barron (Assistant Professor of Teaching, Forest Resources Management)Co-Leads: Andrew Almas (Assistant Professor of Teaching, Forestry); Elisa Kwun (Program Coordinator, Forestry) Project Description Urban forestry is an emerging discipline. Our proposed project builds on a previous appreciative inquiry approach to build consensus on shared curricular outcomes for international urban forestry programs in higher […]
From agency to action? Tracking student engagement with the climate crisis
Project Lead: Sara Harris (Professor of Teaching, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences)Co-Leads: Abhirami Senthilkumaran (Honorary Research Associate, Forestry); Fernanda Tomaselli (Assistant Professor ofTeaching, Forestry); Tara Ivanochko (Professor of Teaching, Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences) Project Description We propose to create a validated instrument to measure self-efficacy, agency, and action related to the climate crisis, among […]
Assessing the effectiveness of audio-based learning materials (in the form of podcasts) as compared to conventional text-based reading materials
Project Lead: Vikas Menghwani (Assistant Professor of Teaching, Earth, Environmental & Geographic Sciences (UBCO)) Project Description This project explores how the format of learning materials influences student engagement and learning. Specifically, it investigates whether podcasts (audio-based) are more effective for helping students grasp core concepts in science education, as compared to journal articles (text-based). By […]
Investigating student behaviours in multi-access courses and impacts on learning and academic success
Project Lead: Patricia Hingston (Assistant Professor of Teaching, Food, Nutrition and Health)Co-Leads: Azita Madadi Noei; Jonathan Martiniuk; Ana Noee Project Description The purpose of this project is to investigate the positive and negative impacts of multi-access course delivery on student learning and academic success to determine if it beneficial for students for UBC to continue […]
Strategic approaches to the learning environment within a small postgraduate medical education subspecialty residency program at Canadian research-intensive universities
Project Lead: Kyla J. Hildebrand (Head – Division of Immunology, Pediatrics) Project Description Medical residents are physicians completing postgraduate training within a specific discipline of practice. Accreditation standards require residency training programs to have a comprehensive curriculum plan specific to the discipline (CanRAC, 2018, p.10). Small subspecialty residency programs may struggle to meet accreditation requirements […]