
e: emsparck@gmail.com w: erinmsparck.com Erin M. Sparck Ph.D., Cognitive Psychology, UCLA Based in Austin, TX Curriculum Vitae About Erin My Research Notable Projects Desirable Difficulties Notable Projects Campus-Wide Remote Instruction Survey I am leading a research team whose mission it is to solicit actionable, course-level feedback from all students at UCLA about their experiences with remote instruction. This feedback is meant to help instructors improve their courses and provide critical information to campus stakeholders about what is working and what is not working in the remote environment disaggregated by course-level information and student demographics. I have been involved in the design and implementation of the survey across multiple quarters. This process included: Acquiring, merging, and normalizing data from multiple sources Analyzing the data using inferential statistics to detect significant differences between populations Writing a dozen publicly available reports Delivering presentations to multiple stakeholder groups at varying levels of detail The Spring 2020 survey received nearly 5,000 responses which led to the production of a series of reports summarizing both the quantitative and qualitative data and ending with actionable "teaching take-aways." I needed to provide low-level, data-intensive reports for certain groups, while also surfacing presentations with important information for the highest levels of campus administration. The 2020-2021 surveys have generated more than 100,000 responses across the different quarters. Results suggest that the overall experience of UCLA students during remote instruction has been positive. Revision to Student Evaluation of Teaching Form I have led a multi-year project with a committee of distinguished faculty members to revise and improve UCLA's standard course evaluation form, shifting the focus away from questions related to student satisfaction with the course to questions about concrete aspects of the course known to improve student learning. I have helped design the new questions, based an extensive literature review, with the goal that the responses will provide more informative feedback to instructors, will be less prone to bias, and focus students on concrete observations about specific aspects of the course rather than overall statements about their general satisfaction. I have led the implementation and data analysis of three pilot research studies in more than 50 courses with more than 2,500 total responses. Our team has iterated on the form using a data-driven approach based on the results of the pilot studies and the feedback we have received from student interviews as well as student and faculty surveys that I have conducted. Instructional Improvement Grant Support I consult and work with instructors across campus who have received grants related to education research and help them with all stages of designing a research study. Current projects include designing and analyzing a series of longitudinal surveys for a program providing interdisciplinary research experiences to students interested in sustainability and working with a group of scientists using natural language processing algorithms to create a more organized and more succinct way to report course evaluation data. Past projects include assessing the effectiveness of educational interventions in STEM classrooms, both broadly as well as those targeted to boost the performance of underrepresented minority students, and a naturalistic study in a newly established music course uniquely designed to bring students from diverse fields together to build community. This project involved frequent observations and concluded with a comprehensive student focus group and detailed report of the findings. Ongoing Program Assessment I help run surveys and analyze the data for various programs across campus on a recurring basis as well as with consult with programs about survey design and research projects related to promoting student success. Currently I work closely with PEERS (a program to promote academic excellence and professional development for students, mostly underrepresented and first-generation, in science and math) and the URC-HASS (a unique and leading research center focused on promoting undergraduate research in the humanities, arts, and social sciences). I have also previously worked with teams focusing on the assessment and curricular reform of General Education (GE) science courses and academic counseling.

e: emsparck@gmail.com

w: erinmsparck.com

Erin M. Sparck

Ph.D., Cognitive Psychology, UCLA

Based in Austin, TX

Notable Projects

Campus-Wide Remote Instruction Survey

I am leading a research team whose mission it is to solicit actionable, course-level feedback from all students at UCLA about their experiences with remote instruction. This feedback is meant to help instructors improve their courses and provide critical information to campus stakeholders about what is working and what is not working in the remote environment disaggregated by course-level information and student demographics.
I have been involved in the design and implementation of the survey across multiple quarters. This process included:
- Acquiring, merging, and normalizing data from multiple sources
- Analyzing the data using inferential statistics to detect significant differences between populations
- Writing a dozen publicly available reports
- Delivering presentations to multiple stakeholder groups at varying levels of detail
The Spring 2020 survey received nearly 5,000 responses which led to the production of a series of reports summarizing both the quantitative and qualitative data and ending with actionable "teaching take-aways." I needed to provide low-level, data-intensive reports for certain groups, while also surfacing presentations with important information for the highest levels of campus administration. The 2020-2021 surveys have generated more than 100,000 responses across the different quarters. Results suggest that the overall experience of UCLA students during remote instruction has been positive.

Revision to Student Evaluation of Teaching Form

I have led a multi-year project with a committee of distinguished faculty members to revise and improve UCLA's standard course evaluation form, shifting the focus away from questions related to student satisfaction with the course to questions about concrete aspects of the course known to improve student learning.
I have helped design the new questions, based an extensive literature review, with the goal that the responses will provide more informative feedback to instructors, will be less prone to bias, and focus students on concrete observations about specific aspects of the course rather than overall statements about their general satisfaction.
I have led the implementation and data analysis of three pilot research studies in more than 50 courses with more than 2,500 total responses. Our team has iterated on the form using a data-driven approach based on the results of the pilot studies and the feedback we have received from student interviews as well as student and faculty surveys that I have conducted.

Instructional Improvement Grant Support

I consult and work with instructors across campus who have received grants related to education research and help them with all stages of designing a research study.
Current projects include designing and analyzing a series of longitudinal surveys for a program providing interdisciplinary research experiences to students interested in sustainability and working with a group of scientists using natural language processing algorithms to create a more organized and more succinct way to report course evaluation data.
Past projects include assessing the effectiveness of educational interventions in STEM classrooms, both broadly as well as those targeted to boost the performance of underrepresented minority students, and a naturalistic study in a newly established music course uniquely designed to bring students from diverse fields together to build community. This project involved frequent observations and concluded with a comprehensive student focus group and detailed report of the findings.

Ongoing Program Assessment

I help run surveys and analyze the data for various programs across campus on a recurring basis as well as with consult with programs about survey design and research projects related to promoting student success.
Currently I work closely with PEERS (a program to promote academic excellence and professional development for students, mostly underrepresented and first-generation, in science and math) and the URC-HASS (a unique and leading research center focused on promoting undergraduate research in the humanities, arts, and social sciences).
I have also previously worked with teams focusing on the assessment and curricular reform of General Education (GE) science courses and academic counseling.