Tracii Ryan

Tracii Ryan
  • Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology)
  • Senior Lecturer at University of Melbourne

About

58
Publications
176,652
Reads
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5,111
Citations
Introduction
Tracii is a Senior Lecturer in Higher Education whose research expertise bridges the disciplines of psychology and education. Tracii’s current research focus centres on the student experience in higher education, particularly related to mental health, wellbeing, belonging, the uses of technology, and improving feedback practices.
Current institution
University of Melbourne
Current position
  • Senior Lecturer
Additional affiliations
March 2018 - present
University of Melbourne
Position
  • Research Associate
April 2016 - December 2019
Monash University (Australia)
Position
  • Research Associate
July 2013 - October 2013
RMIT University
Position
  • Academic Marker
Education
February 2011 - February 2015
RMIT University
Field of study
  • Psychology
January 2009 - December 2010
RMIT University
Field of study
  • Psychology
January 2002 - December 2008
Monash University (Australia)
Field of study
  • Psychology and Linguistics

Publications

Publications (58)
Article
Prevalence studies indicate that higher degree research (Master's and Doctoral) students experience high rates of psychological distress. As a result, universities are seeking evidence-based interventions to better support the mental wellbeing of this student cohort. The present study contributes to that evidence base by asking higher degree resear...
Article
Although high PhD attrition rates are a matter of international concern, the factors that lead doctoral researchers to leave their programmes are not well understood. The present study addresses that issue by exploring factors that prompted thoughts of discontinuing among 1017 PhD researchers (PhDRs) at a public, research-intensive Australian unive...
Article
Research indicates that effective learner-centred feedback requires learner agency, impact and sensemaking. While scholars are focusing on supporting agency and impact, limited research has addressed sensemaking. This is problematic, because if learners fail to understand feedback, impact is likely to be reduced. In response, this study examines (n...
Article
Current conceptualisations of feedback contend that it should be a learner-centred process. In practice, however, text-based feedback comments from teachers are a convenient and common source of feedback information, despite appearing to be contra-indicative of learner-centred models. This raises the question of how teachers can tackle the design o...
Article
Due to recent conceptual shifts towards learner-centred feedback, there is a potential gap between research and practice. Indeed, few models or studies have sought to identify or evaluate which semantic messages, or feedback components, teachers should include in learner-centred feedback comments. Instead, teacher practices are likely to be primari...
Article
Full-text available
This study presents a scoping review of research on artificial intelligence (AI)- driven virtual patients (VPs) for communication skills training of healthcare students. We aimed to establish what is known about these emergent learning tools, to characterise their design and implementation into training programmes. The preferred reporting items for...
Article
Full-text available
Research demonstrates that assessment feedback created using audio, video, and screencast recordings can offer advantages over text-based feedback. However, the majority of research and experience in this domain has largely been limited to a single disciplinary or cohort context. This project aimed to empirically investigate if recorded feedback (i...
Article
Full-text available
Numerous nations implement Student Perception Surveys (SPS) in their schools to assess teaching for student learning improvement. However, research suggests no significant change in teachers’ practices following such student voice-based assessment initiatives, noting their struggle to act upon it. Utilizing the pyramid of student voice as a key fra...
Chapter
Full-text available
The mental wellbeing of higher education students has become a salient issue facing higher education worldwide. This increased attention can be at least partially attributed to prevalence studies which indicate that the severity of mental health difficulties is growing across student populations, and a high proportion of students—higher than the ge...
Chapter
Full-text available
Sustainable and systemic approaches to addressing mental health are critical in higher education, as studies consistently show that university students and academic staff have higher rates of psychological distress than the general population. These issues have undoubtedly been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, where social distancing, mandated...
Article
Full-text available
The engagement of students is a recognised challenge for teachers. Technology offers some practical student engagement tools, and this paper examines the use of low-stakes online tests and immediate dialogic feedback to improve behavioural engagement. The academic exploration of low-stakes tests and dialogic feedback has been extensive, and they ar...
Article
Full-text available
Research demonstrates that students generally find digitally recorded assessment feedback comments to be more satisfying than text-based feedback comments. However, positive perceptions of digitally recorded feedback may be impacted by the confidence and experience of the educator who is providing the comments. As such, this paper reports on an exp...
Article
Full-text available
Between the years of 2003–2015, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has identified a global trend signalling a decline in a sense of school belonging for secondary school students. Research has identified several factors that are positively related to school belonging, such as teacher support and academic motivation. However,...
Presentation
Full-text available
ePortfolios in higher education are assumed to be effective at developing and determining complex student competencies and skills highly correspondent to self-regulated learning (SRL). Research validating this assumption, however, is sparse and of varying quality. Drawing on a recent, systematic review of relevant literature by the presenter’s rese...
Article
Student perception surveys (SPS) play an increasing assessment role envisioned to improve teaching. Yet, it is unclear what their impact is on teachers' practice. Data collected from Australian teacher interviews, student focus groups and SPS based on validated frameworks of effective teaching revealed no significant change in teachers' practice; i...
Article
The COVID-19 pandemic required instructors to rapidly redesign subject delivery for the online environment. In dealing with this emergency situation, instructors may have focused their energies primarily on transitioning learning and assessment activities to the online context rather than working to support the socioemotional aspects of learning, s...
Article
Full-text available
Research has shown that successful school outcomes and positive mental health and wellbeing are positively correlated with a sense of school belonging. However, most studies have investigated the bivariate relationships and reported causal inferences of school belonging with other variables. The purpose of the present study is to examine the cross-...
Article
Digital recordings can be an efficient method of providing feedback comments to students; however, the vast majority of empirical studies have focused on tertiary contexts. In response, this article presents a mixed-methods survey study of secondary students’ engagement, preferences and perceived impact of digitally recorded feedback. Participants...
Article
Keystroke logging and clickstream data, both emergent areas of study in the field of learning analytics, present promising alternative methods of detecting and preventing contract cheating. The current study examines whether analysis of keystroke and clickstream data can detect when a student is creating their own authentic writing or transcribing...
Article
One of the main challenges for online learners is knowing how to effectively manage their time. Highly autonomous settings, such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), put additional pressure on learners in this regard. However, little is known about how learners organize their time in terms of sessions or blocks of time across a MOOC. This study...
Article
Massification is a reality facing universities around the world. While increased access to higher education has significant social and economic benefits, rapid growth in class sizes challenges institutions to maintain quality standards while teaching at scale, amidst ongoing cost pressure. This paper analyses this issue within the Australian higher...
Article
Full-text available
Despite an increasing focus on assessment feedback, educators continue to find that simply replicating an effective feedback practice from one context does not guarantee success in the next. There is a growing recognition that the contextual factors surrounding successful practices need to be considered. This article reports on a large-scale mixed...
Article
Digital technologies, such as smartphones and tablets, can be useful in academic settings by allowing browsing for additional information, organizing the study process online, and facilitating communication between peers and instructors. On the other hand, several recent studies have shown that digital technology use can, in some circumstances, be...
Chapter
Full-text available
In contemporary higher education, learner behaviour is increasingly traced by digital systems. As such, there is a strong potential for data mining over time to track and represent learner actions in the context of their assessment performance. This chapter explores how learning analytics can assist educators to design impactful feedback processes...
Article
Feedback can occur before and after assessment submission, but needs to be useful in order for students to improve their subsequent performance. Arguably, undergraduate students, and particularly international, online and new students, are especially in need of feedback to effectively engage in academic and disciplinary expectations. Therefore, thi...
Article
Assessment feedback is one of the most important components of the learning process. However, student and educator dissatisfaction with feedback practices continues to remain a significant problem in higher education. To better understand the barriers to effective feedback, the present study explores feedback challenges identified by 3807 students...
Article
Full-text available
Assessment feedback is increasingly being provided in digital modes, from electronic annotations to digital recordings. Digitally recorded feedback is generally considered to be more detailed than text‐based feedback. However, few studies have compared digital recordings with other common feedback modes, including non‐digital forms such as face‐to‐...
Article
Full-text available
Passive Facebook use, which involves engaging in non-socially orientated behavior on the popular social networking site, is associated with a range of negative outcomes, including social anxiety, loneliness, jealousy, and depressed mood. Research indicates that passive Facebook use may also be related to a tendency to engage in social comparison wi...
Experiment Findings
Full-text available
Museums are challenged to provide learning opportunities to a diverse audience. Visitors come to museums with varied backgrounds, motivations, interests, and prior knowledge. Based on these factors they regulate their learning experience, choosing what, where, and when to engage and learn. This pilot study was designed to investigate how learning o...
Conference Paper
Feedback practices represent a significant investment in resources and emotion for educators and students. While there are pockets of excellence, research continues to highlight that feedback practices cannot be simply parachuted from one context to another and be expected to work just as effectively. This paper presents twelve underlying condition...
Chapter
This chapter provides a synthesis of recent research into how technology can support effective feedback. It begins by adopting a definition of feedback in line with recent advances in feedback research. Rather than viewing feedback as mere information provision, feedback is viewed as an active process that students undertake using information from...
Article
Full-text available
Since the early 2010s the literature has shifted to view feedback as a process that students do where they make sense of information about work they have done, and use it to improve the quality of their subsequent work. In this view, effective feedback needs to demonstrate effects. However, it is unclear if educators and students share this underst...
Article
Assessment feedback allows students to obtain valuable information about how they can improve their future performance and learning strategies. However, research indicates that students are more likely to reject or ignore comments if they evoke negative emotional responses. Despite the importance of this issue, there is a lack of research exploring...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Research demonstrates that assessment feedback created using audio, video, and screencast recordings can offer advantages over text-based feedback. However, the majority of research and experience in this domain has largely been limited to a single disciplinary or cohort context. This project aimed to empirically investigate if recorded feedback (i...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
This paper explores how rich forms of digital media can be used to enhance assessment and feedback design in an online or blended delivery subject. This innovative design facilitates dialogical feedback processes by leveraging digital recordings created by educators and students. The aim of this design is for educators to explicate their evaluative...
Presentation
The question of whether social networking site use causes positive or negative social outcomes is becoming increasingly salient. Emerging research suggests that either outcome is possible; some individuals enhance their offline social networks, while others end up ostracised and alone. Most of this research has taken a deductive approach and focuse...
Article
Full-text available
The use of social media is rapidly increasing, and one of the major discussions of the 21st Century revolves around how the use of these applications will impact on the social relationships of users. To contribute to this discussion, we present a brief narrative review highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of social media use on three key a...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Research reveals that effective assessment feedback is clear, specific, and sensitive to the individual. In practice, comments on assessment tasks are commonly provided in a text-based format, which can be perceived by students as ambiguous and impersonal. Digitally recorded comments, in the form of audio, video, or screencast recordings, may prese...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Feedback comments on summative assessment tasks are an important part of students' learning experience. Recently, researchers have noted that digitally recorded comments can be beneficial for both students and educators. This paper compares the clarity, usefulness and satisfaction of digitally recorded and text-based feedback comments produced by 1...
Article
Full-text available
Scholars have suggested that there are multiple pathways to problematic Facebook use, and each are linked to the types of activities that users engage in. However, these concepts have yet to be empirically explored. The present paper addresses this gap in the literature by presenting a pilot study based on a sample of 59 (50 females, 9 males) probl...
Article
Full-text available
Empirical research has emerged that supports the existence of Facebook addiction. However, most studies have methodological limitations. In particular, the assessment of Facebook addiction is often varied and unjustified, which compromises construct validity. The purpose of the current study is to perform a qualitative exploration of Facebook addic...
Article
Full-text available
Background and aims: Recent research suggests that use of social networking sites can be addictive for some individuals. Due to the link between motivations for media use and the development of addiction, this systematic review examines Facebook-related uses and gratifications research and Facebook addiction research. Method: Searches of a large a...
Article
Full-text available
Through social media platforms (e.g., YouTube, Face book), twerking became an online phenomenon in 2013 among young people in many Western countries, but has yet to appear in any scholarly discussions. This paper explore show well psychologists who are working with young people are ‘keeping up’ with a rapidly changing social landscape of popular yo...
Article
Full-text available
As social media use is rising among adolescents, the issue of whether this use leads to positive or negative outcomes warrants greater understanding. This article critically reviews the literature related to this important topic. Specifically, we examine how social media use affects social connectedness in terms of three elements of adolescent deve...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
While the founders of Facebook speak of its ability to “make the world more open and connected” (Facebook, 2012), clinical and anecdotal evidence suggests that, for some individuals, Facebook use can become problematic. Empirical research supporting these claims is beginning to emerge, however studies have thus far relied exclusively on adapted mea...
Article
Full-text available
Three-dimensional virtual learning environments (3DVLEs), such as Second Life, have been used in education for some time. Although many writers have addressed where, how, and why 3DVLEs are applied in education, only a few articles have concentrated on the coalface of running a learning project within them. This paper looks at the experience of usi...
Article
Full-text available
Background: The pressures of working in contemporary health care environments can result in health professionals becoming focused on their own domain. This focus, while understandable, diminishes the ability to provide holistic care for patients and clients. This multidisciplinary project sought to introduce post graduate students to the work of th...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Three-dimensional virtual learning environments (3DVLEs), such as Second Life, have been used in education for some time. Although many writers have addressed where, how, and why 3DVLEs are applied in education, only a few articles have concentrated on the coalface of running a learning project within them. This paper looks at the experience of usi...

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