Learning Analytics & Online Learning
As more universities create online courses, there is a great need to understand how students are learning in these digital environments, and whether specific behaviors and strategies are correlated with course success. Examining students’ digital traces, like their click-events within a learning management system, can uncover important mechanisms that explain student learning outcomes. My current work utilizes data mining techniques to model learning behaviors in online STEM courses. I am also interested in using learning analytics to better understand and support underrepresented students taking online STEM courses.
Published Work
Rodriguez, F., Lee, H., Rutherford, T., Fischer, C., Potma, E., & Warschauer, M. (2021). Using clickstream data mining techniques to understand and support first-generation college students in an online Chemistry course. Proceedings of the 11th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference. [Link]
Rodriguez, F., Yu, R., Park, J., Rivas, M. J., Warschauer, M., & Sato, B. K. (2019). Utilizing learning analytics to map students’ self-reported study strategies to click behaviors in STEM courses. Proceedings of the 9th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference, 456-460. [Link]
Park, J., Yu, R., Rodriguez, F., Baker, R., Smyth, P., & Warschauer, M. (2018). Understanding student procrastination via mixture models. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Educational Data Mining [Link]. Best Paper Award.
Park, J., Denaro, K., Rodriguez, F., Smyth, P., & Warschauer, M. (2017). Detecting changes in student behavior from clickstream data. Proceedings of the 7th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference, 21-30 [Link]. Best Paper: Honorable Mention.
Study Strategies & Learning
Cognitive theories of learning have consistently demonstrated the benefits of spaced study sessions and self-testing as effective strategies for learning information. I am motivated to understand whether college students utilize these strategies and their relationship to course grades. Another goal of this work is to understand whether interventions aimed at improving spacing and self-testing can improve student learning and achievement, specifically among underrepresented groups.
Published Work
Rodriguez, F., Fischer, C., Zhou, N., Warschauer, M., & Massimelli Sewall, J. (2021). Student spacing and self-testing and their associations with learning in an upper division microbiology course. SN Social Sciences, 1-38. [Link]
Rodriguez, F., Rivas, M., Matsumura, L., Warschauer, M., & Sato, B. (2018). How do students study in STEM courses? Findings from a light touch intervention and its relevance for underrepresented students. PLoS ONE, 13(7), 1-20. [Link]
Rodriguez, F., Kataoka, S., Rivas, M., Kandandale, P., Nili, A., & Warschauer, M. (May 14, 2018). Do spacing and self-testing predict learning? Active Learning in Higher Education, 1-15. [Link]
Critical Thinking
Informed by dual-process theories of reasoning, I examine how college students reason when reading and evaluating popular science news articles. My work addresses how specific features in these articles (e.g., anecdotes, neuroscientific information) promote or inhibit scientific reasoning. I additionally consider ways to improve scientific reasoning in the classroom.
Published Work
Shah, P., Michal, A., Ibrahim, A., Rhodes, R., & Rodriguez, F. (2017). What makes everyday scientific reasoning so challenging? In Psychology of Learning and Motivation, vol. 66, 251-299. [Link]
Rodriguez, F., Rhodes, R. E., Miller, K. F., & Shah, P. (2016). Examining the influence of anecdotal stories and the interplay of individual differences on reasoning. Thinking & Reasoning, 22(3), 274-296. [Link].
Rodriguez, F., Ng, A., & Shah, P. (2016). Do college students notice errors in evidence when critically evaluating research findings? Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 27(3), 63-78. [Link]
Rhodes, R. E., Rodriguez, F., & Shah, P. (2014). Explaining the alluring influence of neuroscience information on scientific reasoning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(5), 1432-1440. [Link]