Mariana Silva

Research Statement

My research work is often motivated by the challenges I encounter when I teach. They provoke my curiosity to understand how students learn, how I can enhance their learning motivation, and how I can improve my learning goals and assessments. My research interests have been focused in three areas: (a) improvement of assessment tools, (b) development of collaborative learning activities to promote student’s interaction, and (c) innovation and improvement of courses via communities of practice.

A) Assessment tools

• Improving assessments with frequent testing and second-chance exams

• Investigating the effect of cheating during computer-based testing

• A drawing-based tool for online assessments

B) Collaborative Learning Activities

• Using software to encourage collaboration

• Collaborative activities as part of an intervention study

C) Working with other faculty to improve teaching and learning

• Innovation and improvement of courses via community of practices

• Development of a web-tool to build project teams based on student’s preferences

• Faculty Development Workshop