The TailorEd Study looks at the relationships between:
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classroom design (for example, mobile vs. stationary desks),
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teaching formats (lecture, discussion, small group work, use of classroom technology, etc.), and
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student performance (measured by grades), and student characteristics (race, gender, major, etc).
Its goal is to test the claims made in learning space design researchers that active learning formats (such as discussion and small group work) improve learning, especially for students marginalized in educational settings due to their gender, race, and other identity characteristics. Faculty and students teaching/taking classes included receive an email notifying them of inclusion of their class in the study, which directs them to this webpage, that provides information about the study, explains where to direct questions, and informs about how to opt out of the study. There are also signs posted in all study classrooms notifying faculty and students that the classroom is part of the TailorEd Study.
For frequently-asked questions about the study, see our
FAQ page
The study uses
aerial classroom photography
at 30-second intervals to capture classroom activities in real time. Researchers will then run these photos through a machine learning algorithm to categorize the activities depicted in order to determine the proportion of the class allocated to different activities. These course "pedagogical profiles" will be compared to student learning outcomes (in the form of grades) to identify relationships between different types and distributions of classroom activities and student learning, differentiated by:
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course factors (such as discipline and level),
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classroom characteristics (such as the presence/absence of mobile furniture, writable walls, multiple projectors, and smartboards), and
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student information (demographics, course grade and GPA, etc).
Reports/publications based on this study will focus on aggregate findings across all courses included in the study, not on individual courses, faculty, or students. Faculty will not be identified at all, and students/student information will be identified using a unique identifier (NOT their student ID#) generated for the purpose of this study only. There is some small risk of identifiability in the
photos
as sample photos illustrate, people who know the individuals depicted may be able to recognize them. To mitigate this, individuals included in classroom photographs will never be identified in any part of this study, limiting the risk of identifiability more broadly. The photos also depict a "public" event (class meetings), and therefore do not contain sensitive or compromising information.
All records and research materials associated with this study will be kept in a secure location (password-protected computer/cloud backup). Only members of the research team will have access to project records and research materials.
Participation in this study is voluntary and won't affect your employment or performance
review at Santa Clara University. You are free to opt out of the study at any time and to
see research materials in which you are included (photos or reports on the study). If any
member of the class (faculty or student) objects at any time to participating in the study,
the course will be removed from the study and all data associated with that course will be
permanently deleted.