How Do Students Experience BIOL 315? A Study of Learning and Skill Development

Summary

We are looking for current and former students of BIOL 315 at the University of Calgary, as well as past Teaching Assistants, to share their experiences with the course. BIOL 315 is a biology course that teaches students how to work with data, use statistics, and code in R. We want to understand what students feel they learned, how their confidence with these skills changed, and what they thought of the course overall. We also want to hear from Teaching Assistants about what it was like to teach the course. Your feedback will be used to improve BIOL 315 for future students. Students will be asked to complete a short anonymous online survey (about 22-27 minutes). Interested students and Teaching Assistants will be invited to take part in a group conversation (about 60-90 minutes).

Eligibility

Currently recruiting participants: Yes

Eligible ages: 18 to 65

Accepts healthy participants: Yes

Inclusion criteria:

You are eligible to participate if you are:

1) 18 years of age or older
2) A current student enrolled in BIOL 315 at the University of Calgary in Fall 2026 or Winter 2027, OR a former student who has previously completed BIOL 315 at the University of Calgary in the last 5 years, OR a Teaching Assistant who has taught in BIOL 315 at the University of Calgary in the last 5 years.
3) Able to read and respond in English

Exclusion criteria:

You are not eligible to participate if you are:

1) Under 18 years of age
2) Have never taken or taught BIOL 315 at the University of Calgary

Participate

Fill out the following form if you want to participate in this research

Method of contact

UCalgary Notice of Collection
The University of Calgary (UCalgary) respects your privacy and is committed to ensuring the privacy of all students, staff, and community members. Your personal information is being collected under the authority of section 4(c) of the Protection of Privacy Act (POPA). It will be collected, used and disclosed for the purposes outlined in UCalgary’s Notice of Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information and managed in accordance with UCalgary’s Privacy Management Program. Your personal information may be input into automated systems to generate content or make decisions, recommendations, or predictions. If you have questions regarding this notice or UCalgary’s collection, use, or disclosure of your personal information, please contact accessandprivacy@ucalgary.ca.

Additional information

Contact information

If you are interested in participating in this study, please contact Emma Gregoire at emma.gregoire@ucalgary.ca. You can also express interest using the web form below.

Principal investigator:

Ariane Cantin

Clinical trial:

No

REB-ID:

REB26-0845