The Faculty Chronicles (TFC) podcast, sponsored by the Touro Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), is about building community, connection, and conversation. It will bring to life the stories behind the great works of Touro faculty, across disciplines in all our schools, focusing on classroom innovation in teaching and learning, science, business, medicine, education, wellness and more.
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Unknown
Hello and welcome to The Faculty Chronicles, TFC, a podcast sponsored by the Turow Center on Excellence in Teaching and Learning and the Office of the Provost. Your TFC podcast hosts Army Professor Gina Bardwell and Dr. Elizabeth Enni. Across academic disciplines, Turow faculty are producing great work, and the Faculty Chronicles wants you to hear all about it. TFC Podcasts will highlight faculty chatting about their favorite project and research, teaching, learning, science, medicine, technology and so much more.
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So let's get busy building community connection and continuous conversation to provide our next faculty chronicle. Guest is on deck waiting to chat.
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Unknown
Hello, everyone. It is my pleasure today to introduce and welcome Dr. Pol.
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Unknown
Ahem, to the faculty Chronicles podcast sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Kettl, the Center of Excellence in Teaching and Learning. I'm your host, Professor Gina Bardwell. Dr. Pole, ahem, is an assistant professor of occupational therapy at Touro University School of Health Sciences. S H. S as an occupational therapist. She has extensive experience working in various settings with a diverse group of individuals.
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Unknown
She graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in psychology, received her Master of Science in occupational therapy from New York University and her Doctor of Occupational therapy from Boston University. As well as her Doctor of education. From John Hopkins University. She is a certified Aging in Place specialist and helped to develop and supervise the rehabilitation departments into adult home facilities.
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Unknown
Prior to working at Tural University, she taught at the IU Brooklyn and the SUNY Downstate Occupational Therapy programs. Dr. Ham developed and implemented a program for her dissertation research. When she was a student at Johns Hopkins Doctor of Education Program. The program is called the Academic Self-regulation Program, which is designed to help students become self-regulated learners and improve the way they study and learn.
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She's currently implemented this program to be officially part of the TURAL University School of Health Sciences in hopes of helping students to become
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self aware, strategic and confident learners. Again, we are honored to speak with you today about the academic self-regulation program, Dr. Ham and Arturo s H. S and to hear about the exciting project you are working on.
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Unknown
So let's get started. Would you give us a bit of backstory about yourself? How did you become interested in occupational therapy and teaching? Well, first, thank you, Gina, for having me. I really appreciate this opportunity. So as a warning, my story is a bit sad, but I cry. So originally I had wanted to become an opera singer, and I was formally trained in classical opera as a soprano.
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Unknown
And I started singing at five years old, and I was planning on going to the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. But one day I woke up coughing and my voice was cracking a bit, but I still ended up singing the song at a recital that I had that day. And it was I remember it was a nice French song called Shine Mom, Poppy On, but it really tested the limits of my vocal range.
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Unknown
And suddenly my voice gave out and I was literally like having a panic attack and felt so embarrassed and stressed. And it was honestly very painful to do the song. And my voice was very thin and I was like, my gosh, what happened? So later I went to an ear, nose and throat specialist and found out that I had a vocal cord hemorrhage or a bleed in my vocal cords.
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Unknown
And I was put on complete vocal rest for I think it was a couple of weeks. But when I tried to get back to singing, I still felt a bit of a strain and pain in my voice. And it was definitely not like before. And this was all when I was in high school, by the way. And so my family and I, we gathered to discuss my future plans, and they were very supportive.
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Unknown
They wanted me to think of my experiences of singing as just wonderful memories and great experiences. But honestly, they were more concerned about my health and me personally. I felt as if pushing through and sacrificing my health was just not really worth it. But I still took up singing as a hobby, though. And to add to the cherry on top, my grandmother had a stroke when I was in high school and this was a very terrifying experience for me because I never witnessed anything like this in person before.
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Unknown
And to think that it would happen to someone close to me was just very devastating. And so she received occupational therapy as part Harper Rehab. And at the time, I didn't even know what kind of rehab she was receiving, but I found out it was occupation and therapy, and I was very intrigued and drawn into how OTI addressed not only my grandmother's physical needs, but her social and emotional needs as well.
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Unknown
And the profession is very holistic and addresses the whole person. And I wanted to be in a health care profession, which I could help people go back to engaging in their daily activities and to be independent again. So I did a lot of research and I volunteered at different settings, and I spoke to different adoptees about their jobs.
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Unknown
And this only confirmed that I wanted to become an OT. And so as I started working as a O.T., I worked with field work students and also with new OTS and had the opportunity to teach them what I knew as I was supervising them. And I really enjoyed the teaching aspect as well. But actually it's been like that for a long time since I tutored students individually and in groups when I was a student at UCLA and also as an OT student.
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Unknown
And then I became an adjunct instructor and I fell in love with teaching students. Eventually, I became a full time professor at Touro University, but I still work once a week at an outpatient clinic for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And this clinical experience is what keeps me sharp and up to date clinically and hones my teaching skills.
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Unknown
You know, Dr. Hamm, thank you so much for sharing that heartfelt story. I really appreciate it. And I believe our audience, our listeners do, too, because it really ties into how you got started and what was the impetus for you really getting into this kind of work. So my second question is how did you become interested in student academic self-regulation?
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Unknown
As an educator, I've come to realize that some students are juggling so many responsibilities, some are married with children and some work while being a student, which all leaves them less time to study. And they're also juggling so many personal responsibilities as well. And through the interactions and conversations that I've had with some students, some were not aware of how they could best study and learn.
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Unknown
And some students are not effective, active, self-directed learners and don't really engage in self-regulation when they're learning. So I thought that this program would be beneficial to the students at TURO. I absolutely think you're right. And so will you describe what your academic self-regulation program looks like? Sure. So while academic self-regulation or in other words, self-regulated learning is a skill that helps students to become self-directed in their learning processes, so learners actively manage their own learning experiences and active academic self-regulation is an active and cyclical process in which students plan for a task.
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Unknown
They set goals for themselves. They use strategies in their studying, they monitor their own performance and they reflect on their process of learning. And so employing these self-regulation techniques helps students course correct in a way and become more self-aware and independent and strategic learners since they're able to realize which strategies are actually effective or not as they are as they monitor their own studying.
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Unknown
It's also going to reduce the amount of time spent studying which they're going to like so they can do other things since they're going to be studying more effectively. And students will be able to process new information that they've learned and integrate the information more effectively and transfer the info and skills across contexts. And they're going to retain all that information better, which is going to help them on their licensing exams.
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Unknown
And engaging in self-regulated learning has also been shown to improve their clinical skills. Well, so you have developed a six session academic self-regulation program for these students and the program emphasizes among many skills self-efficacy. How's the program going to be structured? So this is a structured program that's grounded in evidence and research. And so there is a cyclical process to improving academic self-regulation.
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Unknown
So these are a series of sessions that are structured and they kind of build on each other. And most of my time spent as a doctoral student at Hopkins has been dedicated to developing and refining this program. And so the program has been thoroughly evaluated and the process of how the program has been implemented, as well as the program outcomes through a mixed methods design.
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Unknown
And so the program encompasses components of Zimmerman's who is a pioneer in self-regulated learning but his self-regulated learning model. And so there are three phases of the model. One is for thought performance. And then the last is self-reflection. So quickly, the thought phase is a prep step that really sets the stage for self-regulated learning. And so here the self-regulated learner analyzes a task before the actual learning occurs, and they set goals and strategically plan how they're going to achieve the learning goals.
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Unknown
The performance phase, the next phase is where the learner implements the learning tasks and strategy is that they've learned about and they manage their own learning through self-monitoring. And the last phase is
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self reflection and where they assess their progress in relation to their goals and change their behaviors accordingly. And so this all cycles back to fourth thought.
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That may result in performance control cetera. And so this process is not coarse or discipline specific, which is the beauty of it. So improving the students self-regulate and learning will be a valuable skill that can help not only them in school, but as future health care practitioners. And so the short term outcomes of the program are increased knowledge on academic goal setting, increased knowledge on how to self monitor.
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Unknown
One study habits in relation to one's goals, and increased knowledge on how to engage in self-reflective practice and the intermediate outcomes of the program are increased use of self regulatory strategies and academic self-efficacy, or in other words, confidence in one's own academic abilities in using those strategies and the program will aim to achieve these short term and intermediate outcomes as far as self efficacy goes, or the confidence in their academic ability and increased use of the self-regulatory strategies may lead to an improved level of confidence of the students using those strategies and students who are more confident in using those strategies tend to employ the use of more strategies during their learning, and this will
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lead to improved academic self-regulation and academic performance. You know, it's so true that
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confidence seems to be
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the common thread in so many courses.
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but here you're teaching them
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you know, how to regulate themselves,
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across the board as they learn new academic skills and
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strategies. So this is such an important program.
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Unknown
my next question is why was it your impetus to select first generation students for your research? So the academic self-regulation program is first, it's open to all Touro students who could use the extra support. However, my research targeted first generation students in higher education since they face numerous challenges that placed them at risk academically. They have little to no guideposts, and they lack the insights and experiences to help them navigate the higher education journey.
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Unknown
Now, of course, there are exceptions and variations, but according to the literature, in comparison to continuing generation students or students who are who are not first gen students, first gen students in higher ed tend to be employed more hours per week outside of school while being a student. They may devote less time to their studies. They face greater financial challenges.
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Unknown
They integrate to a lower degree at their institution with their faculty peers and different activities that are going on. They have a lower level of self-regulated learning, academic engagement, and also have fewer access and knowledge to the support resources that are available. And really, the success of First gen students in higher education has implications for societal equity since most first gen students are from ethnic minority backgrounds and from low socioeconomic backgrounds and retaining first gen students in the health professions is extremely important to contributing to a more diverse health care workforce which will provide the healthcare community with a diverse and specialized population of health care providers.
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Unknown
So in your research, where have you found that these students are most challenged? Is it time management or something else? Yes. So the literature review and needs assessment that I conducted with the students to be a surveys and interviews while I was a doctoral student, showed that students struggle with academic self-efficacy as it pertained to engaging in the self-regulated learning.
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Unknown
And definitely students presented with challenges and time management as well, and difficulty organizing their notes and writing an effective summary when the lecture was long and very complex. Also, the students mentioned having challenges with being able to focus their attention well enough to finish their assigned work when they were feeling, I guess, moody or restless during studying and the students ability to remember the technical details of a concept for an exam and use association to ensure recall was also a challenge.
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Unknown
Furthermore, they had difficulties in their test preparation, which led to cramming at the last minute for an exam and they were also unaware of the different learning strategies to help them become more effective learners and retain information for a long time. So really, higher education institutions are not a parallel playing field in which all students have an equal chance to flourish.
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Unknown
So understanding how barriers may impact academic achievement for first generation students is necessary for removing the barriers. Well, what are some self-regulation? Teaching strategies for helping students develop more, let's say, resiliency and confidence while they're being confronted with all the stresses of academics and and maintaining their personal lives? Right. So one is to set academic goals for oneself.
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Unknown
So goals are very powerful statements about your intention, and they're motivated by your plans and desires and what you hope to achieve and goals are really what help keep you focused. And it forces you to be specific and they hold you accountable. So if you tend to procrastinate or have low motivation or face any personal problems that are affecting your schoolwork, setting goals will get you back on track.
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Unknown
Another strategy that I like and found to be helpful for me and many students is called the Pomodoro Technique. So this is the secret to effective time management. And Pomodoro means tomato in Italian. And so it's a time management method used to improve productivity while studying. And so this technique relies on the use of a timer before it was a or I don't know if some people have.
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Unknown
It's like a tomato shaped kitchen timer, but any timer works to break down a workflow into 25 minute intervals, followed by a five minute break. And this is going to be repeated 3 to 5 times until the tasks at hand are completed. And longer breaks, typically 15 to 20 minutes are taken after every four Pomodoro. And during the break and the breaks are very important.
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Unknown
It's strongly advised that they choose to focus on an activity that really differs from the task at hand. You know, I live by the Pomodoro technique. I use it. I think that's taught me to. I should come sit in on your class. No, I think it's terrific. thanks. So in preparation for the launch of this program, what new attributes and skills have you discovered about yourself as a program developer or designer and researcher?
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Unknown
So I consider myself to be student centered and focused on student learning and success. I want to empower students and help them to take an active role in their learning experiences and develop the independence to become successful in their academic journey. By empowering students to take ownership of their learning and become self-regulated learners. They will become more equipped to carry forward the skills that they've learned when they become health care practitioners and with the goal of student success in mind.
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Unknown
This is what contributed to me developing the academic self-regulation program. You know, what can we do to help students become active, self-directed and self regulated learners? How can we improve the student's level of confidence in their academic abilities and their approaches to studying as a researcher and program developer? I ensure that the program that I develop is based on the needs of the targeted population, and I also make sure that it's evidence based and it's implemented as it's intended to be designed and implemented to ensure adherence to the program protocol so that
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it's intended to meet its short, intermediate and long term goals.
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Unknown
I'm also very attuned to student feedback which can be received through our session discussions and an anonymous survey at the end on what their experiences are with the program and ways that it can improve because it's all about program improvement. And so developing a program is is honestly, it's very time consuming and it requires a lot of hard work.
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Unknown
And I find that it also requires collaboration with others attention to detail, adaptability, problem solving and creativity. And my research area of interest primarily revolves around how students can improve their learning and succeed in academia. I want to become aware of the existing research to base my practice and expand my knowledge base and understanding, and this can really help shape my work as an educator, clinician and program developer.
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Unknown
I also want to fill fill in the gaps in the existing literature and contribute to developing knowledge in the field of education. What are a few important learning outcomes that you'd like students to be able to apply at the close of the sixth session Academic self-regulation program? At the close of the program, I hope that students can become proficient in regulating their own learning.
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Unknown
Hopefully they will develop the skills to analyze the task that they need to accomplish, create academic goals for themselves, implement the various strategies that they've learned to help them study and learn more effectively, self-monitor their own learning, as well as engage in self-reflection. And hopefully the students will have an increased level of confidence in their knowledge and their use of the different self-regulated learning strategies is and are able to carry the skills with them through throughout the program and beyond.
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Unknown
And really the academics at Terho suggests are very rigorous and it may become easy for students to compare themselves to each other. And so helping students to develop their academic, self-regulated skills can increase their sense of self-efficacy and motivation towards their learning, which can level the playing field a bit. And this mindset is very beneficial even after they graduate.
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Unknown
And I truly hope that the academic self-regulation program helps our students to become successful in their learning as it's designed for students. And it would really mean the world to me to see them, see them succeed. Well, my Dr.. Him, Thank you. Thank you so much for sitting down with us today and sharing all this great work you are doing in the academic self-regulation program for the University School of Health Sciences Occupational Therapy Department.
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Unknown
And please promise that you will not be a stranger and that you will return for an update very soon. I will add that I did see a terrific picture of you with all of the students, and I was so excited. And just to look at that and I was saying to myself, This is to be terrific. Yeah, it's a great group.
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Unknown
It's very exciting and I'm great. It had a good turnout and but yeah, Gina, thank you. It was a real pleasure to be able to share my work with you and everybody. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. And yes, I promise that I'm not going to be a stranger and I will return for an update. So thank you again.
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Unknown
And thank you.
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Unknown
Thank you for tuning in to the Faculty Chronicles TFC Turtles Podcast featuring the projects and work of faculty throughout the Turtle College and University system. TMC is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Kettl, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. We hope you like what you heard and will keep listening. So join us next time on The Faculty Chronicles as we highlight and share faculty achievements that build community connection and continuous conversation.