Overcoming challenges in large human anatomy and physiology courses: an investigation into how students interact with course resources, both human and digital

This dissertation examines the characteristics that lead to performance differences in a large human anatomy and physiology course series. The dissertation is presented as three studies. The first study looks at both the gender of the instructor (in this case a teaching assistant) and the gender of the student to see if the interaction affects student performance in the course. Of particular interest is if a gender mismatch between instructor and student affects performance. The second study examines whether small nudges to student behavior result in measurable change to student performance. Examples of small nudges include emailing the student after missing an assignment or reminding students of office hours after an exam. This research uses a randomized control trial test the effects of different levels of nudging on performance in the course and allows instructors to tailor their messages to students with maximum impact. The third study investigates how student interactions with course materials changed after a forced online transition in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The study examines the amount of time students spent reading the textbook and completing assessments as well as grades in the course both before and during the pandemic.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Swigart, James Paul

Contributors dc:contributor

• Delaney, Jennifer
• Hinze-Pifer, Rebecca
• Hood, Denice
• Lindgren, Robb

• Student Interaction
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• Teaching Assistant
• Gender Mismatch
• Randomized Control Trial
• Nudges
• COIVD-19
• Pandemic
• Online Transition
• Digital Textbook

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 James Swigart

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115554

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F115554