A&S Teaching & Learning Community of Practice 2026-27: What Students Tell Us: Reflection, Motivation, and Belonging in Course Design

This session features two presentations:

Understanding Student Learning Through Structured Reflection 

Presenter: Haley Zubyk, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Human Biology Program, Department of Cell & Systems Biology

Course evaluations can provide useful feedback, but responses can be inconsistent or focused on students' overall impressions rather than their learning experiences. This presentation explores the use of structured end-of-term student reflections as a complementary approach to understanding how students achieve course learning outcomes and which course elements most effectively support their learning. Drawing on implementation in a large undergraduate Human Biology course, I will share the reflection framework, examples of student responses, and key insights that emerged regarding assessment design, tutorials, and student learning. Participants will leave with practical ideas for adapting structured reflections to their own courses and disciplines.

From Gatekeeping to Meaning-Making: Student Beliefs, Motivation, and Confidence in a Large First-Year Math Course  

Presenters:

Schinella D'Souza, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Mathematics
Camelia Karmianpour, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Mathematics

This is a joint project with Bernardo Galvão-Sousa and Sasha Gollish. First-year mathematics often operates as a high-stakes gateway associated with anxiety and diminished confidence. MAT188, the service first-year linear algebra course for engineering students offered at the department of mathematics in collaboration with the First Year Office at FASE, is instead designed around meaning-making: connecting linear algebra to engineering applications, students' goals, and conceptual understanding. Drawing on our Fall 2025 study—entrance and exit surveys and two student focus groups—we share what students told us about their beliefs, motivation, confidence, feedback use, and definitions of success. We close by previewing the study's next phase: a comparative study between a traditional grading and standards-based grading offering of the same course. 

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