Lecture capture is a technology where live lectures are recorded in a digital format and made ava... more Lecture capture is a technology where live lectures are recorded in a digital format and made available to students to view at their convenience. The use of this technology in higher education has steadily increased despite mixed results as to whether it is beneficial to student achievement. The current study utilized a two-group quasi-experimental design to examine the impact of lecture capture availability on academic performance in a large enrollment, two-term, second year biomedical science course. Academic performance was compared between two matched cohorts enrolled in the same biomedical science course taught by the same instructor in which one course did not have access to lecture recordings (2017–18 academic year, N = 433) and the other did (2018–19 academic year, N = 414). Academic performance was evaluated by comparing scores on identical exam questions and the final grade earned in the course. Student’s t-test revealed that lecture capture availability resulted in a decl...
SARA, the Student Advice Recommender Agent is a system somewhat like an early alert system, where... more SARA, the Student Advice Recommender Agent is a system somewhat like an early alert system, where predictive models of learners’ success combined with incremental data on learners’ activity in a course can be used to identify students in academic distress. With SARA, rather than give alerts to academic advisors or professors, we provide personalized advice directly to students. An advice string – “A note from SARA” is prepared for each student every week in a semester-long course. The system attempts to direct students to appropriate learning supports and resources according to their individual needs. We have observed a significant year over year improvement in unadjusted student grades after the SARA’s advice recommender was implemented in a 1200student freshman STEM course.
At the University of Saskatchewan, we are currently engaged in a multi-year research study to exa... more At the University of Saskatchewan, we are currently engaged in a multi-year research study to examine the use of Twitter as a back channel in large lecture courses (more than 100 students) to determine its impact on increasing students' sense of engagement with each other, the content, the instructor and the university community in general. In this first year, three courses in the disciplines of nursing, geography and psychology, with class sizes ranging from approximately 135 students to 350 students participated. In each course, the role and experience of the instructor on Twitter varied, which has provided us the opportunity to examine the success, challenges and suggestions for improvement in terms of how to implement Twitter in postsecondary classes.
Background: Flipped Classroom is a model that's quickly gaining recognition as a novel teaching a... more Background: Flipped Classroom is a model that's quickly gaining recognition as a novel teaching approach among health science curricula. The purpose of this study was four-fold and aimed to compare Flipped Classroom effectiveness ratings with: 1) student socio-demographic characteristics, 2) student final grades, 3) student overall course satisfaction, and 4) course pre-Flipped Classroom effectiveness ratings. Methods: The participants in the study consisted of 67 Masters-level graduate students in an introductory epidemiology class. Data was collected from students who completed surveys during three time points (beginning, middle and end) in each term. The Flipped Classroom was employed for the academic year 2012-2013 (two terms) using both pre-class activities and in-class activities. Results: Among the 67 Masters-level graduate students, 80% found the Flipped Classroom model to be either somewhat effective or very effective (M = 4.1/5.0). International students rated the Flipped Classroom to be significantly more effective when compared to North American students (X 2 = 11.35, p < 0.05). Students' perceived effectiveness of the Flipped Classroom had no significant association to their academic performance in the course as measured by their final grades (rs = 0.70). However, students who found the Flipped Classroom to be effective were also more likely to be satisfied with their course experience. Additionally, it was found that the SEEQ variable scores for students enrolled in the Flipped Classroom were significantly higher than the ones for students enrolled prior to the implementation of the Flipped Classroom (p = 0.003). Conclusions: Overall, the format of the Flipped Classroom provided more opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking, independently facilitate their own learning, and more effectively interact with and learn from their peers. Additionally, the instructor was given more flexibility to cover a wider range and depth of material, provide in-class applied learning opportunities based on problem-solving activities and offer timely feedback/ guidance to students. Yet in our study, this teaching style had its fair share of challenges, which were largely dependent on the use and management of technology. Despite these challenges, the Flipped Classroom proved to be a novel and effective teaching approach at the graduate level setting.
In this paper, we present some of our recent experiences with a data visualization tool and offer... more In this paper, we present some of our recent experiences with a data visualization tool and offer some use cases where the visualization tool can potentially drive programmatic change in universities. The Ribbon Tool provides an interactive visualization of student flows through academic programs, progressing over time to either successful completion (graduation) or attrition. Through effective use of the Ribbon Tool by those who can effect curriculum change, their ability to generate persuasive arguments for change are enhanced. This paper presents some use cases and commentary on actual usage of the Ribbon Tool to call for programmatic change across a university.
Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)
Many students entering an engineering program have a strong appreciation of the importance of mat... more Many students entering an engineering program have a strong appreciation of the importance of math- and science-based skills for their future career as an engineer, but often have little grasp of what it means to be entering a professional college. For this reason, many engineering programs in Canada include some form of an “Introduction to the Engineering Profession” in their first-year program. The University of Saskatchewan’s College of Engineering has been working toward the launch of a completely redesigned first year program. This project has afforded the College an opportunity to apply a novel and transferable approach to shaping this “Introduction to the Engineering” experience. The structure of the proposed new first year program has allowed for short and intensive “Introduction to Engineering” modules, which bookend each of the regular session terms. This timing makes them an orientation for the program, allowing for timely deep dives into matters of importance to eng...
The purpose of this two-year quantitative study was to determine the usefulness of the micro-blog... more The purpose of this two-year quantitative study was to determine the usefulness of the micro-blogging tool Twitter in large classes for improving the students' sense of community and belonging. Three instructors of large classes were recruited to test the outcomes of using Twitter as a learning tool, one each from the Departments of Geography and Psychology, and the College of Nursing. Twitter was used as a learning tool to allow students to engage in discussion and ask questions in real time during class as well as outside of class. The method used by the authors included surveys that measured students' perception of their sense of community and belonging, their engagement with the Twitter portion of the course, and their thoughts on the use of Twitter for academic purposes in a higher-education classroom setting. Data about students' use of Twitter was further collected using the Twitter Archiving Google Spreadsheet tool. The authors conclude this study showed that Twitter, if integrated into the course and supported by instructor and/or assistants who are familiar with the use of Twitter, improved the sense of community reported by students.
Following publication of the original article [1], author 2 pointed out that his name has since c... more Following publication of the original article [1], author 2 pointed out that his name has since changed from Adiba Islam to Adiba Ashrafi.
Background: Flipped Classroom is a model that’s quickly gaining recognition as a novel teaching a... more Background: Flipped Classroom is a model that’s quickly gaining recognition as a novel teaching approach among health science curricula. The purpose of this study was four-fold and aimed to compare Flipped Classroom effectiveness ratings with: 1) student socio-demographic characteristics, 2) student final grades, 3) student overall course satisfaction, and 4) course pre-Flipped Classroom effectiveness ratings.
Methods: The participants in the study consisted of 67 Masters-level graduate students in an introductory epidemiology class. Data was collected from students who completed surveys during three time points (beginning, middle and end) in each term. The Flipped Classroom was employed for the academic year 2012–2013 (two terms) using both pre-class activities and in-class activities.
Results: Among the 67 Masters-level graduate students, 80% found the Flipped Classroom model to be either somewhat effective or very effective (M = 4.1/5.0). International students rated the Flipped Classroom to be significantly more effective when compared to North American students (X2 = 11.35, p < 0.05). Students’ perceived effectiveness of the Flipped Classroom had no significant association to their academic performance in the course as measured by their final grades (rs = 0.70). However, students who found the Flipped Classroom to be effective were also more likely to be satisfied with their course experience. Additionally, it was found that the SEEQ variable scores for students enrolled in the Flipped Classroom were significantly higher than the ones for students enrolled prior to the implementation of the Flipped Classroom (p = 0.003).
Conclusions: Overall, the format of the Flipped Classroom provided more opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking, independently facilitate their own learning, and more effectively interact with and learn from their peers. Additionally, the instructor was given more flexibility to cover a wider range and depth of material, provide in-class applied learning opportunities based on problem-solving activities and offer timely feedback/ guidance to students. Yet in our study, this teaching style had its fair share of challenges, which were largely dependent on the use and management of technology. Despite these challenges, the Flipped Classroom proved to be a novel and effective teaching approach at the graduate level setting.
Lecture capture is a technology where live lectures are recorded in a digital format and made ava... more Lecture capture is a technology where live lectures are recorded in a digital format and made available to students to view at their convenience. The use of this technology in higher education has steadily increased despite mixed results as to whether it is beneficial to student achievement. The current study utilized a two-group quasi-experimental design to examine the impact of lecture capture availability on academic performance in a large enrollment, two-term, second year biomedical science course. Academic performance was compared between two matched cohorts enrolled in the same biomedical science course taught by the same instructor in which one course did not have access to lecture recordings (2017–18 academic year, N = 433) and the other did (2018–19 academic year, N = 414). Academic performance was evaluated by comparing scores on identical exam questions and the final grade earned in the course. Student’s t-test revealed that lecture capture availability resulted in a decl...
SARA, the Student Advice Recommender Agent is a system somewhat like an early alert system, where... more SARA, the Student Advice Recommender Agent is a system somewhat like an early alert system, where predictive models of learners’ success combined with incremental data on learners’ activity in a course can be used to identify students in academic distress. With SARA, rather than give alerts to academic advisors or professors, we provide personalized advice directly to students. An advice string – “A note from SARA” is prepared for each student every week in a semester-long course. The system attempts to direct students to appropriate learning supports and resources according to their individual needs. We have observed a significant year over year improvement in unadjusted student grades after the SARA’s advice recommender was implemented in a 1200student freshman STEM course.
At the University of Saskatchewan, we are currently engaged in a multi-year research study to exa... more At the University of Saskatchewan, we are currently engaged in a multi-year research study to examine the use of Twitter as a back channel in large lecture courses (more than 100 students) to determine its impact on increasing students' sense of engagement with each other, the content, the instructor and the university community in general. In this first year, three courses in the disciplines of nursing, geography and psychology, with class sizes ranging from approximately 135 students to 350 students participated. In each course, the role and experience of the instructor on Twitter varied, which has provided us the opportunity to examine the success, challenges and suggestions for improvement in terms of how to implement Twitter in postsecondary classes.
Background: Flipped Classroom is a model that's quickly gaining recognition as a novel teaching a... more Background: Flipped Classroom is a model that's quickly gaining recognition as a novel teaching approach among health science curricula. The purpose of this study was four-fold and aimed to compare Flipped Classroom effectiveness ratings with: 1) student socio-demographic characteristics, 2) student final grades, 3) student overall course satisfaction, and 4) course pre-Flipped Classroom effectiveness ratings. Methods: The participants in the study consisted of 67 Masters-level graduate students in an introductory epidemiology class. Data was collected from students who completed surveys during three time points (beginning, middle and end) in each term. The Flipped Classroom was employed for the academic year 2012-2013 (two terms) using both pre-class activities and in-class activities. Results: Among the 67 Masters-level graduate students, 80% found the Flipped Classroom model to be either somewhat effective or very effective (M = 4.1/5.0). International students rated the Flipped Classroom to be significantly more effective when compared to North American students (X 2 = 11.35, p < 0.05). Students' perceived effectiveness of the Flipped Classroom had no significant association to their academic performance in the course as measured by their final grades (rs = 0.70). However, students who found the Flipped Classroom to be effective were also more likely to be satisfied with their course experience. Additionally, it was found that the SEEQ variable scores for students enrolled in the Flipped Classroom were significantly higher than the ones for students enrolled prior to the implementation of the Flipped Classroom (p = 0.003). Conclusions: Overall, the format of the Flipped Classroom provided more opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking, independently facilitate their own learning, and more effectively interact with and learn from their peers. Additionally, the instructor was given more flexibility to cover a wider range and depth of material, provide in-class applied learning opportunities based on problem-solving activities and offer timely feedback/ guidance to students. Yet in our study, this teaching style had its fair share of challenges, which were largely dependent on the use and management of technology. Despite these challenges, the Flipped Classroom proved to be a novel and effective teaching approach at the graduate level setting.
In this paper, we present some of our recent experiences with a data visualization tool and offer... more In this paper, we present some of our recent experiences with a data visualization tool and offer some use cases where the visualization tool can potentially drive programmatic change in universities. The Ribbon Tool provides an interactive visualization of student flows through academic programs, progressing over time to either successful completion (graduation) or attrition. Through effective use of the Ribbon Tool by those who can effect curriculum change, their ability to generate persuasive arguments for change are enhanced. This paper presents some use cases and commentary on actual usage of the Ribbon Tool to call for programmatic change across a university.
Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)
Many students entering an engineering program have a strong appreciation of the importance of mat... more Many students entering an engineering program have a strong appreciation of the importance of math- and science-based skills for their future career as an engineer, but often have little grasp of what it means to be entering a professional college. For this reason, many engineering programs in Canada include some form of an “Introduction to the Engineering Profession” in their first-year program. The University of Saskatchewan’s College of Engineering has been working toward the launch of a completely redesigned first year program. This project has afforded the College an opportunity to apply a novel and transferable approach to shaping this “Introduction to the Engineering” experience. The structure of the proposed new first year program has allowed for short and intensive “Introduction to Engineering” modules, which bookend each of the regular session terms. This timing makes them an orientation for the program, allowing for timely deep dives into matters of importance to eng...
The purpose of this two-year quantitative study was to determine the usefulness of the micro-blog... more The purpose of this two-year quantitative study was to determine the usefulness of the micro-blogging tool Twitter in large classes for improving the students' sense of community and belonging. Three instructors of large classes were recruited to test the outcomes of using Twitter as a learning tool, one each from the Departments of Geography and Psychology, and the College of Nursing. Twitter was used as a learning tool to allow students to engage in discussion and ask questions in real time during class as well as outside of class. The method used by the authors included surveys that measured students' perception of their sense of community and belonging, their engagement with the Twitter portion of the course, and their thoughts on the use of Twitter for academic purposes in a higher-education classroom setting. Data about students' use of Twitter was further collected using the Twitter Archiving Google Spreadsheet tool. The authors conclude this study showed that Twitter, if integrated into the course and supported by instructor and/or assistants who are familiar with the use of Twitter, improved the sense of community reported by students.
Following publication of the original article [1], author 2 pointed out that his name has since c... more Following publication of the original article [1], author 2 pointed out that his name has since changed from Adiba Islam to Adiba Ashrafi.
Background: Flipped Classroom is a model that’s quickly gaining recognition as a novel teaching a... more Background: Flipped Classroom is a model that’s quickly gaining recognition as a novel teaching approach among health science curricula. The purpose of this study was four-fold and aimed to compare Flipped Classroom effectiveness ratings with: 1) student socio-demographic characteristics, 2) student final grades, 3) student overall course satisfaction, and 4) course pre-Flipped Classroom effectiveness ratings.
Methods: The participants in the study consisted of 67 Masters-level graduate students in an introductory epidemiology class. Data was collected from students who completed surveys during three time points (beginning, middle and end) in each term. The Flipped Classroom was employed for the academic year 2012–2013 (two terms) using both pre-class activities and in-class activities.
Results: Among the 67 Masters-level graduate students, 80% found the Flipped Classroom model to be either somewhat effective or very effective (M = 4.1/5.0). International students rated the Flipped Classroom to be significantly more effective when compared to North American students (X2 = 11.35, p < 0.05). Students’ perceived effectiveness of the Flipped Classroom had no significant association to their academic performance in the course as measured by their final grades (rs = 0.70). However, students who found the Flipped Classroom to be effective were also more likely to be satisfied with their course experience. Additionally, it was found that the SEEQ variable scores for students enrolled in the Flipped Classroom were significantly higher than the ones for students enrolled prior to the implementation of the Flipped Classroom (p = 0.003).
Conclusions: Overall, the format of the Flipped Classroom provided more opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking, independently facilitate their own learning, and more effectively interact with and learn from their peers. Additionally, the instructor was given more flexibility to cover a wider range and depth of material, provide in-class applied learning opportunities based on problem-solving activities and offer timely feedback/ guidance to students. Yet in our study, this teaching style had its fair share of challenges, which were largely dependent on the use and management of technology. Despite these challenges, the Flipped Classroom proved to be a novel and effective teaching approach at the graduate level setting.
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Papers by Ryan Banow
health science curricula. The purpose of this study was four-fold and aimed to compare Flipped Classroom effectiveness
ratings with: 1) student socio-demographic characteristics, 2) student final grades, 3) student overall course satisfaction,
and 4) course pre-Flipped Classroom effectiveness ratings.
Methods: The participants in the study consisted of 67 Masters-level graduate students in an introductory epidemiology
class. Data was collected from students who completed surveys during three time points (beginning, middle and end) in
each term. The Flipped Classroom was employed for the academic year 2012–2013 (two terms) using both pre-class
activities and in-class activities.
Results: Among the 67 Masters-level graduate students, 80% found the Flipped Classroom model to be either
somewhat effective or very effective (M = 4.1/5.0). International students rated the Flipped Classroom to be significantly
more effective when compared to North American students (X2 = 11.35, p < 0.05). Students’ perceived effectiveness of
the Flipped Classroom had no significant association to their academic performance in the course as measured by their
final grades (rs = 0.70). However, students who found the Flipped Classroom to be effective were also more likely to be
satisfied with their course experience. Additionally, it was found that the SEEQ variable scores for students enrolled in
the Flipped Classroom were significantly higher than the ones for students enrolled prior to the implementation of the
Flipped Classroom (p = 0.003).
Conclusions: Overall, the format of the Flipped Classroom provided more opportunities for students to engage in
critical thinking, independently facilitate their own learning, and more effectively interact with and learn from
their peers. Additionally, the instructor was given more flexibility to cover a wider range and depth of material,
provide in-class applied learning opportunities based on problem-solving activities and offer timely feedback/
guidance to students. Yet in our study, this teaching style had its fair share of challenges, which were largely dependent
on the use and management of technology. Despite these challenges, the Flipped Classroom proved to be a novel
and effective teaching approach at the graduate level setting.
health science curricula. The purpose of this study was four-fold and aimed to compare Flipped Classroom effectiveness
ratings with: 1) student socio-demographic characteristics, 2) student final grades, 3) student overall course satisfaction,
and 4) course pre-Flipped Classroom effectiveness ratings.
Methods: The participants in the study consisted of 67 Masters-level graduate students in an introductory epidemiology
class. Data was collected from students who completed surveys during three time points (beginning, middle and end) in
each term. The Flipped Classroom was employed for the academic year 2012–2013 (two terms) using both pre-class
activities and in-class activities.
Results: Among the 67 Masters-level graduate students, 80% found the Flipped Classroom model to be either
somewhat effective or very effective (M = 4.1/5.0). International students rated the Flipped Classroom to be significantly
more effective when compared to North American students (X2 = 11.35, p < 0.05). Students’ perceived effectiveness of
the Flipped Classroom had no significant association to their academic performance in the course as measured by their
final grades (rs = 0.70). However, students who found the Flipped Classroom to be effective were also more likely to be
satisfied with their course experience. Additionally, it was found that the SEEQ variable scores for students enrolled in
the Flipped Classroom were significantly higher than the ones for students enrolled prior to the implementation of the
Flipped Classroom (p = 0.003).
Conclusions: Overall, the format of the Flipped Classroom provided more opportunities for students to engage in
critical thinking, independently facilitate their own learning, and more effectively interact with and learn from
their peers. Additionally, the instructor was given more flexibility to cover a wider range and depth of material,
provide in-class applied learning opportunities based on problem-solving activities and offer timely feedback/
guidance to students. Yet in our study, this teaching style had its fair share of challenges, which were largely dependent
on the use and management of technology. Despite these challenges, the Flipped Classroom proved to be a novel
and effective teaching approach at the graduate level setting.