Tracii Ryan

University of Melbourne | MSD · Centre for the Study of Higher Education

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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-...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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‐...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...