Trending Now
June 7, 2024
ACME is hosting a Roger Smith Research Undergraduate Student. Maria is mainly involved with the iMAP project and we are excited for what she brings to the team. Here's what she has to say:
What are you currently studying at the U of A?
I’m going into my third year of a Bachelor of Secondary Education. I’m an art major and a social studies minor!
What do you hope to learn by doing your Roger Smith work with ACME?
I hope to learn what goes into academic research, along with how I can apply this research in my practice as a future high school teacher. I hope I can take the knowledge and experience from my Roger Smith work into the rest of my career
Why did you apply for the IMAP Roger Smith Project?
I think so much of the education system is very transactional, with grades being a type of currency we exchange for university admissions, scholarships, and coveted job opportunities. Unfortunately, I think many people view education as a sort of vocational investment they begrudgingly tolerate rather than a place to truly learn, expand your mind, and explore your passions. By researching and applying intrinsically motivating assessment practices, educators can create a much more enjoyable experience for students and this attitude around education can change for the better!
Original self portrait painted by Maria displayed with permission.
May 21, 2024
Dr. Daniels was recently invited by Faculti to describe her recent study on classroom assessment and basic psychological needs in a sample of students with dyslexia. Check out the recording and feel free to listen to other UAlberta researchers who have been highlighted such as Dr. Okan Bulut and Dr. Mark Gierl.
Daniels, L. M., Goegan, L. D., & Parker, P. C. (2023). The Role of Fairness and Basic Psychological Needs in Understanding Dyslexic Students’ Emotions in Classroom Assessment.
The full articles is available through our archive.
April 25, 2024
ACME is thrilled to announce that Michelle Brady has been awarded a Master's SSHRC award for her upcoming thesis work in which she will test how pre-service teachers' intentions to use evidence-based practices to support inclusion vary under different levels of classroom complexity. Stay tuned as this exicting work unfolds in Fall 2024.
ACME is also pleased to announce a new SSHRC IDG with Dr. Oksana Babenko in the Department of Family Medicine. The project focuses on updating lifelong learning scales to better reflect not only advances in technology but psychological perspectives of learning.
February 16, 2024
Psst...Hey Undergraduate Students...Dr. Daniels' application for a Roger Smith Summer Research Student has been accepted! Keep your eyes open for information from the Faculty of Education and consider applying if you are interested in a spending a summer with ACME.
https://sites.google.com/ualberta.ca/educ-info/research/students-and-research/roger-s-smith-award
February 5, 2024
ACME's work with Lakeland Centre for FASD is really taking off. Our newest ACME member Michelle is taking the lead on creating reports that vary according to principles of plain language summaries and motivation. It is gonig to be so good. Check out information on Lakeland Centre for FASD by clikcing here.
January 10, 2024
Drs. Daniels and Pei hung out today with the FASD team at Catholic Social Services to wrap up their collaborative work on motivation and frontline support staff. It was such an honour to learn from these amazing people.
The final report is available by clicking the image.
January 8, 2024
This afternoon, I did one of my favourite things: give a motivation session through the Graduate Teaching and Learning Program. Hanging out with 100 graduate students from all across campus who decided to spend an hour learning something about motivation is my idea of a good time. Pre-COVID we met in person and I encountered some of the most sincere and genuine graduate students who knew they wanted *more* for their future students. And they got excited that motivation theory and practices had tangible things for them to try. Being online means fewer follow-up conversations, but lots of opportunities for chat boxes and equally good questions. In fact, the question keep getting better: equity, gamification, neurodiversity, test anxiety. In keeping with my current program of research, I've really been shifting the content towards motivation and assessment rather than just instruction. There is something important in that connection and I am so excited for six months of research-focused sabbatical to dive into these possibilities. The slides for today's presentation are linked here.
December 8, 2023
Good food. Good conversation. And a little secret Santa to end the year.
September 25, 2023
More than a year ago, Tania joined the ACME lab but in the hustle and bustle of a full return to campus, we didn't get a chance to ask her some questions. Living by better late than never, here's some things Tania shared with us:
1. The U of A was the best choice for me and I’m glad I had the opportunity to join the ACME team. It is the best place for growth, flourishing, and research.
2. I hope to combine my scientific interests as a researcher with my practical work as a counseling psychologist to help people and develop knowledge about inspiration and motivation.
3. I'm currently researching inspiration and I'm also part of a lifelong learning research project. In the future, I would like to participate in research on internal motivation, values, and inspiration. I’d also be interested in exploring how people get inspired by each other and creative ideas. I hope to learn more about inspiration and how it relates to emotions, basic psychological needs, intrinsic motivation, values, self-efficacy, and self-actualization.
5. I am passionate about creative writing and I want to become a writer in the future!
September 1st, 2023
Why did you choose to come back to UofA and join the ACME team? Throughout my undergraduate degree I worked in various education settings. I knew I wanted to combine my interest in psychology and education. UofA is one of four CPA accredited universities that combine school and clinical psychology. However, UofA is the only one with ACME! Dr. Daniels’ area of research was both exciting and interesting to me. After meeting Dr. Daniels and other wonderful ACME team members, I knew ACME was a good fit.
Welcome Michelle
What career path are you working towards? I hope to work as a clinical psychologist and collaborate with other professionals to identify needs and provide supports to neurodiverse children - both on the individual and systems level.
What kind of research are you hoping to take part in? I am hoping to take part in research that considers the complexity of classroom environments while finding ways to support teachers and students.
We're glad to have you
What do you hope to learn through your involvement with ACME? I look forward to learning more about the role of motivation and emotion in the classroom. I hope to grow as an academic, and lifelong learner, and develop skills that can be used to conduct pragmatic research.
What is one thing that people would be surprised to learn about you? I have travelled to 23 countries (and counting…)
Successful defence
August 2, 2023
congrats to kendra wells on her successful MEd thesis defense. We are so excited you are continuing into the phd!
June 23, 2023 CPA Annual Meeting in Toronto. Presentations. Awards. Learning. And Friends.
CPA Posters!
CPA Awards!
CPA Posters!
CPA Posters!
May 3, 2023
Dr. Daniels would like to thank Dr. Virginia Tze for nominating her to be a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association as well as all those who supported the application. We're all looking forward to celebrating at CPA in June and continuing the important work of motivation and emotions in psychology.
April 17 , 2023
Thanks for checking out our emotions symposium. Click here for a copy of our full AERA paper and relevant references.
April 14 , 2023
The learning and reconnecting at AERA 2023 is just amazing. It is so good to hear great sessions, celebrate awards with colleagues, and reconnect (or connect for the first time) over inspiring ideas.
March 20 , 2023
Not sure which wonderful ACME student took the time to send this note of encouragement to Dr. Daniels - but she is thankful for you all!
February 16, 2023
Congratulations to Gabrielle Pelletier on hosting a very successful Human Library on childhood trauma for pre-service teachers. The event was so meaningful and could not have happened without her brave speakers and dedicated graduate student peers to help her out. We hope the participants carry the learnings from this day for a long time.
February 15, 2023
ACME will look forward to seeing you at CPA in Toronto as the acceptances came rolling in today. There's also a few of us going to Chicago for AERA. So many interesting motivation things to talk about!
October 3, 2022
My tiny smile in this picture does not do my happiness justice. Congratulations to Devon Chazan on her successful candidacy exam. Her multi-method study on non-binary body image and emotions will be starting up soon.
September 13, 2022
We're so happy for Dr. Patti Parker and the establishment of her new lab - the MAT-Lab at Thompson Rivers University. We are excited for many years of collaboration. Check out her research here: https://sites.google.com/view/mat-laboratory/home
September 7, 2022
Congratulations to Gabrielle Pelletier on a successful candidacy exam. Her work on trauma informed practices and teachers' mindsets will be in full action this year. Keep your eyes open!
September 6, 2022
Wondering what Dr. Daniels' new grant is about? Check out this Illuminate article for a sneak peak: https://illuminate.ualberta.ca/content/sshrc-funded-research-project-explores-new-frontiers-increasing-student-well-being
It's been too long
July 29, 2022
Since we had an in person thesis defence, but today we were able to gather to hear Sierra talk about her research on body appreciation before and during the pandemic. And she passed with flying colours. It's also good to have the lunch and cupcakes back!
It's official
July 15, 2022
Dr. Daniels is thrilled to launch a new 5-year SSHRC funded program of research designed to bring motivation principles to bear on assessment in higher education. Needless to say, we're very excited!
Posters - take 1
Our UX inspired posters were a hit. The content and the form garnered a lot of attention.
CPA Symposium
Our symposium based on the CJSP special issue was inspiring.
Posters - take 2
The ACME students were as on pointe as the posters. They chatted up a storm.
May 31, 2022
We are so pleased to welcome a new undergraduate volunteer into the lab this summer. Sarah was awarded a competitive Roger Smith Undergraduate Research Award to work with the ACME team on our project exploring Black students' perspectives on assessment and motivation. We thought you'd like to get to know her:
What are you currently studying at the U of A? I'm in Secondary Education, majoring in physical sciences and minoring in math. I'm working towards becoming a high school science teacher with the intention of pursuing my masters in either secondary education or educational psychology.
Why did you apply for our Roger Smith Project? I believe this project will not only better inform how I can approach promoting motivation in my future classroom but also develop my research skills.
What do you hope to learn by volunteering with ACME? I'm excited to engage in a collaborative research environment as well as grow a deeper understanding of motivation and assessment in educational contexts.
trying something new
May 6, 2022
At our lab meeting today we started talking about "User Design" and how there is so much to learn by taking the user's perspective when trying to maximize uptake of output. We're going to throw our hat at this for our many upcoming posters at CPA. Come check them out or give it a try yourself.
Congratulations Devon
May 1, 2022
Congrats to Devon Chazan on her SSHRC Doctoral Award on studying body image measures and their impact on schooling.
Hello TRU
March 30, 2022
ACME is so happy to announce that Dr. Patti Parker is taking up an Assistant Professor position in Social Psychology at Thompson Rivers University starting July 1, 2022. We will miss you but are so happy to see you launched and staying in Canada!
Busy lab = lots of submissions
February 15, 2022
Looks like CPA abstracts have been reviewed. ACME will be sharing the results of a wide range of projects and look forward to seeing you there!
New Volunteers for a New Project
January 21, 2022
ACME is so pleased to have Victoria and Jastinne joining our project on Black students' perspectives on assessment and motivation. Recruitment is starting now!
This study is the third in a series of exploring this topic. The other two involved university athletes and students with Learning Disabilities and all three lay the groundwork for Dr. Daniels' newest program of research that uses motivation theory as a framework for classroom assessment.
Recent Publications
December 14, 2021 - Happy reading everyone!
Daniels., L. M., Goegan, L. D. & Parker, P. C. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 triggered changes to instruction and assessment on university students' self-reported motivation, engagement and perceptions. Social Psychology of Education, 24, 299–318.
Frenzel, A., Daniels, L. M., & Burić, I. (2021). Teacher Emotions in the Classroom and Their Implications for Students. Educational Psychologist, 54(4), 250-264.
Goegan, L. D., Dueck, B. S., & Daniels, L. M. (2021). Are you feeling successful?: Examining post-secondary students’ perceptions of success with an expectancy value lens. Social Psychology of Education 24, 985-1001.
Parker, P. C., Perry, R. P., Coffee, P., Chipperfield, J. G., Hamm, J. M., Daniels, L. M., & Dryden, R. P. (2021). The impact of student-athlete identity on psychosocial adjustment during a challenging educational transition. Psychology of Sport & Exercise.
Assessment and Wellbeing
November 4, 2021
Check out Dr. Daniels' conversation with the European Lifelong Learning Platform on assessment and wellbeing.
The psychology of setbacks
October 10, 2021
ACME congratulates Dr. Patti Parker - our current post-doc on her successful IDG SSHRC grant in collaboration with Dr. Daniels and Dr. Amber Mosewich from Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation. The plan is to build a secondary control intervention to help student athletes manage the psychology of setbacks. Check out Patti's website for more information on what this excellent emerging scholar is up to: https://drpattiparker.wordpress.com/
Meet Kenni
1. Why did you choose to come back to UofA and join the ACME team? I have always wanted to return to U of A for graduate studies. I was intrigued by the profound changes that I saw in my students as a result of COVID-19, and decided I wanted to do emotions research. ACME is the perfect place for me to be able to explore my interests and take part in related research that is also inspiring to me.
2. What career path are you working towards? I hope to one day work at a Canadian university doing my own research and teaching preservice teachers.
3. What kind of research are you hoping to take part in? My interests are pretty wide, but I am most excited to study relationships between people and the impact that that has on their motivation.
4. What do you hope to learn through your involvement with ACME? I hope to learn more about motivation and emotions, as well as research in general. I would like to gain skills for presenting my research too.
5. What is one thing that people would be surprised to learn about you? I am a second degree black belt in Taekwondo!
Meet Tessa
1. Why did you choose to come back to UofA and join the ACME team? After exploring all the graduate study programs, I was drawn to both the PSE program and the ACME lab. Dr. Daniels’ areas of research were something that sparked my interest right away and I knew I would love to be a part of. I saw applying for this program and joining the ACME team as a rich learning opportunity to expand my knowledge & interests and learn from various skilled researchers.
2. What career path are you working towards? Throughout my teaching career, I have always gravitated towards working with students that presented challenging needs. I would love the opportunity to continue to work alongside educators and multidisciplinary teams in school settings to provide support necessary for successful inclusion.
3. What kind of research are you hoping to take part in? I am looking forward to taking part in research that takes a closer look at teachers’ attitudes, perceived competence, and confidence teaching in complex, inclusive classrooms. I am also looking forward to exploring different factors that contribute to the effectiveness of inclusion and how it supports (or fails to support) the development of typically developing students, students that are coded, and teachers in these classrooms.
4. What is one thing that people would be surprised to learn about you?
My goal is to travel to every continent in the world. So far, I’ve been to 4!
More interest in boredom than we expected
September 17, 2021
Our boredom project in partnership with Dr. Virginia Tze at UManitoba has attracted so much attention from students.
Thank you to everyone who signed up in record time. And stay tuned for the rest of this five-part intervention to roll out over the course of 2022.
An exciting new partnership!
September 10, 2021
ACME is so excited to be partnering with Catholic Social Services to build some motivation resources for their frontline care workers. The project is co-investigated with Dr. Jacquie Pei. She and Lia have been waiting many years to carve out time for this work and it feels so good to dive in. The work is supported by a SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant.
Bittersweet
July 1, 2021
We wish we were talking about the type of chocolate in her baking, but we don't. ACME is thrilled to share that Dr. Lauren Goegan has taken up a faculty position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba in Inclusive Education. It's actually not bittersweet - it's completely sweet! Lauren we will miss you so much but know that our collaborations are just beginning. Can't wait to meet the students who will be lucky enough to be the first in your lab!
Congratulations Bryce
June 29, 2021 Bryce Dueck successfully defended her master's thesis on using VR to help pre-service teachers manage public speaking anxiety. She's hanging around for a PhD and we're so excited to see what comes next for her.
June 28, 2021
ACME is proud to announce that Dr. Daniels is the 2021 recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Psychology Award given annually from the Psychologists' Association of Alberta. Thank you to all the students and colleagues who supported her nomination.
Farewell...but not goodbye
June 21, 2021
The ACME students got together to celebrate the end of the semester and send Devon back home to Montreal. We will miss her smiley face but one of the cool things about COVID-19 is that it is has taught us to to do great work and collaborate from anywhere!
May 3, 2021
We had an in-person gathering and it was so so so very good. COVID has put a strain on many things but I am very thankful for the energy, hard work, and positive thinking these ladies continue to bring. Maybe it's because they study motivation and emotions!
Introducing Dr. Lily Le
March 26, 2021
Please meet the newest ACME PhD - Dr. Lily Le. Her SDT approach to sexting dissertation is already under review and we are looking forward to the translational work she has planned. So well deserved.
Pre-registration
February 11, 2021
Our post-doctoral researcher Dr. Parker has just completed ACME's first pre-registration! So good to be learning and trying new things to improve the rigour of our research!
More good news
February 9, 2021
Congratulations to Gabrielle Pelletier on being awarded an AGES Scholarship for her upcoming research on trauma-informed teaching practices.
Kitchen Table
January 26, 2021
Dr. Daniels was pleased to apply motivation theory to children's reading in an invited presentation for Edmonton and Calgary Public Libraries. We hope you check out the the recorded session.
Intersections of Gender Thesis Grant
December 21, 2020 Congratulations to Devon Chazan for being awarded a grant to support the development and design of a non-binary body image measure as part of her upcoming dissertation.
Meet Raeann
December 1, 2020
Raeann is a first year Masters student in the School and Clinical Child Psychology Program. We are excited to have her volunteer with the ACME team on the academic dishonesty project.
Q1: What are you looking forward to most about your SCCP program?
A1: I am most looking forward to learning how to apply the theories and research methods I learn in my courses to create impactful research for my community.
Q2: What areas of research are you interested in?
A2: My main area of interest is working with neurominority students, specifically students with autism. My focus is on studying academic achievement and educational quality of life.
Q3: What do you hope to learn by volunteering with ACME?
A3: I hope to better understand the theories of emotions and motivation and how they influence academic achievement. I also hope to learn new research methods that may inspire my future research projects.
November 20, 2020
Starting January 2021 the ACME post-docs will be beginning a study on looking at unique groups of students' experiences of the relationship between assessment and motivation. We are thankful to Killam Trusts for funding this research and are very excited!
November 5, 2020
We've got new Research Briefs available thanks to the undergraduate students in EDPY 303 Classroom Assessment. Dr. Daniels and her TA team want to thank all 200 students who completed the primarily asynchronous condensed course this term for their learning and their willingness to let their perspectives on assessment be used to inform research. It is that type of synergy that makes UAlberta a top research university in Canada! We hope you are safely enjoying your practicum and putting good assessment practices into use.
October 10, 2020
ACME congratulates Dr. Lauren Goegan one of our post-docs on her successful IDG SSHRC grant in collaboration with Dr. Daniels. Students with Learning Disabilities - look for Dr. Goegan's invitations because she wants to hear your voice! Also, check out Lauren's new website for more information on what this excellent emerging scholar is up to: https://laurengoegan.wordpress.com/
September 16, 2020
ACME Is happy to Welcome Sierra as our newest Master's student. Take a minute to get to know a bit about her:
1. Why did you choose to come to the U of A and join the ACME team?
It has been a long-term dream of mine to become a clinical child psychologist. When I was browsing through potential programs as the "next step" in fulfilling this dream, the SCCP program at U of A and Dr. Daniels' ACME lab stood out to me right away. Not only could I be trained in clinical work, but also in school settings - which I saw as a great opportunity to broaden my practice. I also loved the concept of being able to join a team of welcoming researchers who could guide me along this new and exciting chapter of my life, and equip me with the skills I would need to contribute to research in a meaningful way.
2. What kind of research are you hoping to take part in?
I am hoping to take part in research that investigates how young people view their bodies, and how this image of themselves reflects on their daily life. I am also interested in researching eating disorders and eating behaviours, and what motivations are behind the food we choose (and choose not) to eat everyday.
3. What do you hope to learn through your involvement with ACME?
I am excited to learn more about past and current student projects, and discuss what theories of motivation and emotion each member of the lab identifies with. I am also looking forward to working as a collaborative team and learning the "tips and tricks" of a good researcher!
4. What are your interests and hobbies outside of school?
I love being outside and keeping active! Throughout my undergraduate degree I had the opportunity to play both college volleyball and basketball, and still continue to play both sports. Other hobbies of mine include: hiking, swimming, running, and baking - I love all things chocolate and sweet!
5. What is one surprising fact about you?
I grew up on a ranch in northern Alberta, so naturally I have become quite skilled in riding horses and rounding up cows!
September 11, 2020
Open Access
ACME is thrilled to have started a "community" to log all its work in the Education and Research Archives hosted through UAlberta libraries. Now we'll have everything in one place for everyone to access and the digital preservation will meet best practices! Check it out through this link
July 14, 2020
Let us introduce Dr. Patti Parker! We are so pleased she decided to move during a pandemic to join our team, even if we're all meeting by zoom.
What brought you to the UofA and the ACME lab?
Early last spring when I was searching for suitable postdoc positions, I met with Dr. Lia Daniels (Director of ACME) at an international education conference. I was already familiar with her work in the field of motivation and achievement emotions and I wanted to be part of all the exciting projects going on at ACME. I would say this meeting was a big part of the reason I came to the UofA/ACME lab.
What are you hoping to accomplish during your postdoc?
One of the big projects I will be working on is building an online intervention that reduces the negative effects of student boredom in university. I will be working on this project in collaboration with Drs. Tze (UManitoba) and Daniels. There are also several manuscripts I am writing in the areas of sport, education and aging that I'd like to get published. Additionally, I plan to write a grant proposal.
What are your career goals?
I've always had a passion to come alongside vulnerable individuals to create opportunities for them to experience success. For example, I've worked as a college assistant athletic director and met with many student athletes struggling to balance their sport schedules and maintain their grades. I've also worked with older adults overcoming health challenges who need motivation to stay physically active. Through these experiences, I've come to appreciate that vulnerabilities exist in many forms--all of which may benefit from targeted intervention and support. I'd like to learn how to best motivate struggling individuals to experience success by developing a research program that provides tools (interventions, support systems, opportunities, etc.) that will help them be successful.
What is the best piece of motivational advice you’ve learned in your research?
Some advice I learned early in graduate school when feeling overwhelmed is to break things down into manageable "steps". Sometimes, research projects, or tasks, can appear overly daunting when you look at them in their entirety. This advice was very motivating to help me manage large projects (or theses) by taking a "one-step-at-a-time" approach. There's a feeling of relief that comes in finishing a task--as small as it may be--that can get you moving in a forward direction. It seems simple, but it has helped me a lot in the past.
What does an ideal weekend look like for you?
An ideal weekend would involve a get-away to do some hiking or exploring with my partner. We enjoy hikes in the mountains and I'm really looking forward to exploring some new trails now that we are living much closer to the mountains!
July 13, 2020
ACME is pleased to re-introduce Lauren Goegan - now Dr. Goegan, as one of two ACME post-docs that started July 1st! Although Lauren has been around for a bit, we took the time to find out a little more about her and her plans for her post-doctoral position.
What has been your favourite part of being a long-standing member of ACME?
Over the last five years, I’ve really enjoyed learning from the others in the lab and seeing how the motivation theories that we work with can be incorporated into so many different domains. We all have our areas of interest that weave together so nicely, and its fun to see how others work with the same theories.
What career path are you working towards?
I am hoping to obtain an academic position where I can combine my love of research, teaching, and supporting students in their academic pursuits.
How do you foresee your research evolving in your post-doc?
I’m looking forward to building on my dissertation research and exploring the transition of students with learning disabilities to postsecondary education. Additionally, I’m excited to get into the schools in the Fall and talk to students in elementary schools about their mindsets and see how they make sense of the ideas from the theories that we work with all the time.
What are your interests and hobbies outside of academia?
One of my big hobbies is baking. I love to try out new recipes! I oftentimes bring my baking to our lab meetings, so that might not be completely outside of academia. I enjoy going on weekend road trips to get out of the city and explore the surrounding areas. I am also a big sports fan and watch football every Sunday of the season.
What is one thing that people would be surprised to learn about you?
No matter how motivated I have been in the past, I have still been unable to learn how to ride a bike. I lack all balance, no matter the effort I put in. When people say it’s like riding a bike, it has a different meaning for me.
July 8, 2020
Please share broadly: Dr. Daniels is teaching EDPY 616 Achievement Motivation in Winter 2021. This course is only offered every two years so don't miss your chance!
June 24, 2020
Dr. Daniels received a $10,000 partnership grant from the UAlberta KIAS institute and the Alberta Teachers Association to investigate elementary students' mindsets. The school has been using growth mindset messages for almost two years and we are excited to come alongside the teachers to find out how it is affecting students.
Check back in the fall for more updates!
May 25, 2020
Congratulations to Dr. Goegan on successfully defending her dissertation today - COVID-19 did not stop us from marking this with a 2-metre celebration. Her work on student success in post-secondary is already published so check it out.
Goegan, L. D., & Daniels, L. M. (2020). Students with LD at postsecondary: Supporting success and the role of student characteristics and integration. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 35(1), 45-56.
Goegan, L. D., & Daniels, L. M. (2019). Academic Success for Students in Postsecondary Education: The Role of Student Characteristics and Integration. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 1-27.
May 13, 2020
We thought we'd ask UofA students how the COVID-19 changes to instruction and assessment impacted their motivation. Look at this astounding shift for a mastery-approach goal item.
The top graph represent responses prior to instructional and grading shifts in response to COVID-19 and the bottom is after.
This research is supported by a Support for the Advancement of Scholarship grant from the University of Alberta.
April 10, 2020
With Dr. Virginia Tze as the PI, Dr. Daniels is excited to announce a new SSHRC Insight Grant that will create online interventions to help students combat boredom. We're very excited for the research itself and to continue this partnership with the University of Manitoba.
ACME on Zoom
April 1, 2020
Despite the date, it's no joke that life is very very different these days. ACME just had its first ZOOM meeting with members in many different provinces and homes. I won't try to admit that it isn't different, but I am thankful that we can keep meeting and thinking and writing even during these times of physical distancing. Take care everyone.
January 27, 2020
We're always looking for exciting ways to stretch motivation research into exciting new spaces. The Gateway agrees with this piece on Lily's upcoming dissertation work on sexting. This work is exciting and important and we're so happy Lily is pursuing this project.
December 10, 2019
Many months ago Dr. Daniels spent some time talking to CTL about combating boredom in post-secondary classrooms. The podcast is here if you'd like to check it out. And remember, there are lots of ways to get scholarly results and applications out there!
November 25, 2019
ACME is starting up a number of interesting projects this year and, in true ACME fashion, we've made some logos! One project branches out to the world of virtual reality and the other stretches us into a scholarship of application. They are very different and very exciting. Stay tuned as they unfold this year and maybe over the next several years as we see how it all plays out.
VR for Pre-service Teachers
Motivation Awareness Resources
November 20, 2019
Do these faces look familiar?
It's the same master's students that successfully defended theses this summer. We celebrated them again as they walked across the stage at convocation last week. Thank you to their families for coming to support them. They all stuck around for the PhD so we'll be doing this again a couple years from now.
Until then, congratulations ladies!
November 6, 2019
ACME is happy to welcome our very first honour's student Adam Beeby. Here are his responses to a few getting to know you questions:
What program are you in? - I am in Bachelor of Arts Psychology (Honours).
What area of research are you interested in? - I am still figuring this out, but generally, I am interested in the psychology of emotion and motivation influencing educational and sports performance and the roles that anxiety, and stress play in both education and sports contexts.
What career path are you working towards? - I plan on pursuing graduate studies in psychology.
What are your hobbies outside of school? - An avid soccer player. I have been playing since I was very young. Very big sports fan, as well.
October 23, 2019
Andrew has wrapped up his work as a Roger Smith Research student with the lab and is off to finish his last teaching practicum. We wish you the very best. We're hopeful to submit the paper he helped with on academic success in the near future.
August 16th, 2019
Our third master's student successfully defended her thesis today. Look for Julia's SSHRC-funded doctoral research on motivation and leisure reading over the next few years. Congratulations Julia!
July 18, 2019
Spent the morning talking about "fake growth mindsets" and how we "over-simplify" difficult concepts with a great group of examiners. Congratulations to Gabrielle Pelletier on her successful master's defence about pre-service teachers' growth mindsets.
Sabbatical
June 30, 2019
I've packed up my stuff, organized my office, crossed off the list, and am ready to try out a sabbatical.
Congratulations!
June 27, 2019
Congratulations to Devon Chazan for successfully defending her master's thesis on body image, academic interference, and achievement emotions. We're so excited for her to submit this for publication and see what her PhD research looks like.
ACME Lab Space
June 18, 2019: Ever wonder where you can find ACME students? It's the fourth floor of Education North in this lovely lab with a window! We've been putting personal touches on like crazy lately. Grad school is a long road so we might as well be comfortable.
May 9, 2019 Welcome Andrew!
We are so pleased to welcome a new undergraduate pre-service teacher into the lab. Andrew was awarded a competitive Roger Smith Undergraduate Research Award to hang out with ACME this summer. Specifically he's taking on some research related to teachers' and students' perceptions of success. We thought you'd like to get to know him:
Who are you? Hello, I’m Andrew and I have just completed my first practicum in elementary education. I am a spring course and APT away from completing the after-degree education program. My first degree was in Anatomy and Cell Biology, so research is not completely foreign to me and I am genuinely excited to be participating in a bit of research again!
Why do you want to become a teacher? I initially wanted to become a teacher so I could positively impact the lives of struggling adolescents while coaching basketball. A few working and volunteering experiences later, I have developed a passion for education and a desire to help our future generations by teaching elementary aged students.
What do you want to teach? I am hoping to teach Grade 3 – 6 elementary as a generalist.
Why did you apply for our Roger Smith Academic Success Project? Motivation and academic success are things that I have constantly been thinking about and reflecting on ever since I began my education degree. I am really excited about the research that is being conducted by this group!
What do you hope to learn by volunteering with ACME? I hope to learn about other people’s perceptions regarding academic success. I am also interested to learn a bit more about research processes in education and how knowledge dissemination is carried out in a field where practices should be evidence based more so than they currently appear to be.
May 5, 2019 Updated List of Students
It's bittersweet to move students into the alumni category. ACME has had a great year with many new grads. We're also thrilled to move three students into the PhD program, welcome a new master's students, and pick up a few new volunteers as well.
May 2, 2019 New and Late Accolades!
Congratulations to Dr. Erin Buhr and Dr. Katherine Vink on successfully defending their dissertations earlier this year. We wish you well as in your careers as psychologists!
New congratulations to Julia Farmer and Bryce Hoy who have both been awarded scholarships for the upcoming year. Thanks to SSHRC for recognizing the importance of Julia's research on reading and to the University of Alberta for an entrance scholarship for Bryce! We are looking so forward to your exciting research.
April 9, 2019 Reflections on AERA 2019
I attended my first AERA in 2007 and never looked back. This is where I found my people and every year had my passion for motivation and emotion research re-kindled, if it had waned over the course of the academic year. It's where my impostor syndrome was drowned out by people who believed in and built up my skills. This year was a different sort of AERA with more chances to give students the support that was once given to me. I had so many wonderful conversations with doctoral students, many of whom are young women, just trying to figure out where they fit in this academic world. I hope they all feel like they fit at AERA - and more specifically in Division C and SIG Motivation. As I look to my upcoming sabbatical, I have so much thinking, reflecting, and planning to do as this crazy thing called an academic career moves into its second decade. It's different than I thought but so very very good. Thanks AERA!
January 18, 2019
Flashback Friday - that's a thing right? Here's a couple pieces written about Dr. Daniels since starting at the UofA that we thought you might find interesting.
https://ist.ualberta.ca/blog/between-ug/hey-lia-how-do-you-google
https://illuminate.ualberta.ca/content/smart-thinking-about-motivating-students
https://illuminate.ualberta.ca/content/dr-lia-daniels-motivation-education
If you're interested in what's new with Dr. Daniels, she is taking sabbatical July 1 2019- June 30, 2020. We are so excited to see what new thoughts she returns with!
November 29, 2018
Meet Rob, our newest Volunteer in the Lab!
Rob is currently a student in the Faculty of Education and we are excited to have him volunteering with the ACME team. He is current working on a project looking at pre-service teachers’ perceptions of academic success. As an introduction to the lab, we decided to ask him a bit about himself.
Why did you want to become a teacher? I chose teaching as my second career because I enjoy working with students. It's both challenging and rewarding. Young people are the most valuable resource on the planet, so we need to work with them to encourage positive societal change.
What do you want to teach? Teaching is a chance to build positive relationships, which are a foundation for individual and community growth. For me, teaching is both an opportunity to teach and be taught. Adults can learn a lot from the enthusiasm, passion, and idealism of students. It's important not to overlook students as potential sources of wisdom.
Why you wanted to volunteer with ACME? Emotions and motivation are part of the core of the human experience. It is wonderful to be able to assist others in their investigations of such important research topics. I am very thankful for the opportunity to volunteer with Dr. Daniels and her team at ACME.
What do you hope to learn by volunteering with ACME?
It's exciting to be in a place like ACME where I can learn about the research process both through a theoretical and a practical lens. It is also fascinating to gain a deeper appreciation of the factors which underlie and coexist within human emotion and motivation.
Anything else you want to share? Whenever I can, I take the time for meditation. I've been on two 10-day silent meditation retreats, and I hope to go on another one soon.
November 13, 2018
Meet Bryce our new lab Volunteer!
Bryce is currently applying for a Master of Education in the School and Clinical Child Psychology Program. We are excited to have her volunteer with the ACME team on our O-PARC project. As an introduction to the lab, we decided to ask her a bit about herself.
What do you want to study in School and Clinical Child Psychology? I am interested in studying anxiety in child and youth populations. In particular, I would like to study the efficacy of CBT school interventions for children and youth with anxiety and related disorders.
Why did you want to volunteer with ACME? I wanted to volunteer with the ACME lab as I wanted to broaden my research experience to labs outside of the Faculty of Science and Arts. Likewise, I was particularly drawn to the collaborative nature between Dr. Daniels and the other lab members.
What is the most important thing you have learned so far? The most important thing I have learned so far is the value of working with such diverse and capable women. Dr. Daniels and the current lab members are all incredibly intelligent, competent and selfless. Even though I have been volunteering with them for two months, they have made themselves available to assist me on various projects and other academic work. Given this, I could not imagine volunteering anywhere else.
Anything else you want to share? If you are interested in volunteering in a lab that provides ample support to its volunteers please consider the ACME lab.
August 12, 2018
We're kicking the new academic year (technically it starts in July right?) off right! Gabrielle and Devon were representing the lab at APA and won awards for the Division 52 - International Psychology Poster Contest.
Click the <Poster> tab at the top to check out their award winning work.
July 26, 2018
Congratulations to ACME collaborator Dr. Tze at the University of Manitoba for being awarded an APA Division 15 Early Career Educational Psychology Research Grant! We look forward to an exciting year of research with you.
July 15, 2018
Our successful social media snowball also secured Julia's thesis feedback. Check out the Research Brief Tab for the first glance at some descriptive statistics about reading in this sample.
July 12, 2018
Congratulations to Lindsey Nadon on successfully defending her master's thesis comparing medical students and pre-service teachers on their achievement goals and burnout. Best wishes with your move to Montreal and new PhD program.
June 19, 2018
Devon's thesis data came rolling in thanks to social media. The descriptives point to body image being a problem for both men and women and for some a distraction from school work. Stay tuned as she digs into the data more formally.
Check out the Research Brief Tab for the full version.
June 1, 2018
Welcome to June! If you haven't seen it, the Motivation Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association has a new website. It's full of great resources so consider bookmarking it: http://motsig.org/
May 29, 2018
The awards keep rolling in. Congratulations to Lauren Goegan on receiving the prestigious University of Alberta Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship to continue supporting her important doctoral research on students' with learning disabilities motivation.
April 18, 2018
ACME is thrilled to announce that both Julia Farmer and Gabrielle Pelletier were awarded SSHRC Master's Scholarships. We are so excited for their research and you should be too. Look for it coming your way via social media in the next little bit!
April 3, 2018
We can tell the semester is wrapping up because everyone is busy making Research Briefs! It was a busy semester. We'll release a total participant count in May.
March 19, 2018
We're having fun translating research principles into user-friendly products. Here's a few we've made in the last month. Thanks to the Teaching and Learning Enhancement fund at UofA and SSHRC for supporting these types of initiatives.
February 7, 2018
Dr. Daniels is pleased to announce a formal association with the Centre for Research in Applied Measurement and Evaluation (CRAME). Check out the Centre's new website: https://sites.google.com/ualberta.ca/crame
January 18, 2018
Hold on to your hats folks because next week ACME goes into the second round of data collection for the SMaRT intervention. Thank you in advance to our colleagues teaching the undergraduate assessment course for letting us embed our modules into the course and for thinking that motivation and assessment are relevant to each other.
January 12, 2018
End of semester was so busy that we traded our Christmas celebration for a New Year's gathering at Dr. Daniels' house. There was tons of food, a magic show, and lots of knock-knock jokes.
Remember to not do research alone - collaboration is the way to go!
December 15, 2017
Have a great break from the ACME lab. We wrapped up an excellent semester. How was your's?
December 14, 2017
Well that happened quickly! This semester just flew by.
One more research brief to wrap up 2017. Check out the Research Brief Tab for the full version.
November 2, 2017
Here's a glimpse into our vignette study. Thank you so much to the participant pool! Check out the research brief tab for the full version.
November 1, 2017
We had an excellent summer with our Roger Smith Student Rhonda and her hard work was recently recognized at an awards celebration. Thanks again Rhonda and best wishes on your advanced teaching placement!
October 23, 2017
Remember all that data we were collecting...we've put together our first Research Brief from the fall. Check it out under the Research Brief's tab or find it on twitter.
October 12, 2017
ACME has been producing Research Briefs for our projects since we started. It was something that Dr. Daniels did as part of her lab during her PhD and she loved the idea of not just making them for internal reasons, but using them as a way to get information about the results of the research back to participants themselves. Since then, she's written them into grant applications and taught every student who has come through ACME not only how to produce them, but about their value for participants. Dr. Babenko found an outlet to disseminate the idea of Research Briefs and you can access it here! Do you give results to participants? We'd love to hear about it.
October 5, 2017
If you can believe it, we've got THREE new faces in the lab. Meet Gabrielle:
Why have you chosen to come to UofA?
As I was looking for a program in school psychology, I found that this one trained you to be a clinical child psychologist as well. To me, this seemed like a great and unique opportunity. Also, living on the east coast for my whole life, I was looking to move to this side of the country for a new adventure!
What are you looking forward to most about your program?
I am looking forward to all the new experiences that the SCCP program will bring to me. From practical experience with children to participating in conferences and getting to interact with experts in various fields of psychology.
What are you hoping to learn as part of the ACME Team?
As part of the ACME Team, I am excited to learn about other people’s passions in research. I am also looking forward to learning what it's like to be part of a collaborative team where we can all support each other in different ways.
What kind of research are you hoping to take part in?
I am hoping to look at teacher’s motivations in working with various clinical populations. I am also interested in how these children feel when it comes to pressures of academic achievement. How do the relationships with their teachers impact their motivation and confidence to achieve?
Anything else you want to share?
I am looking forward to continuing my education at the UofA and feel very lucky to be part of such a welcoming team!
September 29, 2017
Meet Devon
Why have you chosen to come to UofA?
I moved from Montreal to Edmonton for the university’s School and Clinical Child Psychology program. I love that it focuses on children/adolescents, as I hope to one day become a practicing child psychologist.
What are you looking forward to most about your program?
I’m really excited about all of the hands-on experience that I will gain through practical work in the university’s clinic. It will be great to finally put some of what I’ve learned in my courses into practice.
What are you hoping to learn as part of the ACME Team?
I’m hoping to have the chance to collaborate with others in the lab and have the opportunity to be involved in all different kinds of research projects. I’m looking forward to learning more about preparing for presentations and conferences.
What kind of research are you hoping to take part in?
I’m interested in studying various aspects of self-esteem and how they affect academic motivation.
Anything else you want to share?
I’m very grateful and excited to be a new member in the ACME lab and to see what it has in store!
September 28, 2017
We thought you might like to know a little bit about the newest members of ACME. Here's a little bit about Julia!
Why have you chosen to come to UofA?
I have been working towards my dream of becoming a practicing psychologist since the first year of my undergraduate degree at Dalhousie. I moved from Nova Scotia to Edmonton to be with my partner and I saw U of A as the perfect school for me to continue to pursue my goal. During my undergraduate degree, I had come across a lot of interesting research that had been conducted at the U of A, which really made a positive impression on me.
What are you looking forward to most about your program?
I am honestly most looking forward to getting to pursue research that inspires me and continues to make me feel excited about psychology. The more I have come to learn about psychology, and current areas of research in the field of School and Clinical Child Psychology, the more excited I am to begin to work on my own research.
What are you hoping to learn as part of the ACME Team?
As part of the ACME Team, I am hoping to learn so much more about the process of conducting experimental research. I am also hoping to learn more about the areas of study within motivation and emotion research.
What kind of research are you hoping to take part in?
I am really interested in motivation and emotions and how these factor into observable behaviours. I love research that contains combinations of quantitative and qualitative components to the study. People really fascinate me and I would love to look more closely into why individuals choose to act in certain ways.
Anything else you want to share?
I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work with such a welcoming and supportive team in the ACME lab.
September 25, 2017
In case you missed it the first time...Here's the link for 50 downloads of Dr. Daniels' recent papers on emotions and immediate score reporting now available in Learning and Individual Differences. https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1VnMT3QACxVu7n
September 19, 2017
Have you ever thought about the ways motivation theory might influence our interactions with certain groups of people? ACME was so pleased to come along side Dr. Jacqueline Pei and her community partners to create some online resources. Check them out: http://arpdcresources.ca/consortia/shifting-mindsets/
September 18, 2017
At the end of every year I pause and think "let's not collect data this year." And then I throw that statement out the window over the summer when excellent opportunities show up to collect great data and advance the field of motivation and emotion in exciting ways. This year, we have TONS of data collection happening just this fall. Let me break it down for you:
1. we've got some vignettes in our Ed Psych Participant Pool to look at how pre-service teachers weigh different types of evidence
2. we're collecting validity evidence with our collaborators in Germany
3. we're continuing to look at motivation and immediate test feedback
4. we're running the SMaRT intervention!
This last one is so exciting for me because it is the main product for my current SSHRC Grant. I can't believe we've got all this going on. If you are one of our participants, thank you! We can't do this work without. And thanks to my incredible graduate students too! Let's get some data!
August 9, 2017
Check out a video on emotion contagion that ACME created to highlight the information learned from faculty members and students as part of their recent grant from the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund.
FINAL Emotions video.mp4June 30, 2017
This was a busy week for ACME students. Congratulations to Jona Frohlich for successfully defending her master's thesis and to Dr. Amanda Radil on the successful defence of her doctoral dissertation. These are big milestones and you both did an excellent job. ACME will miss you both but we are also excited for what the future holds for you.
June 22, 2017
ACME extends its sincere congratulations to Dr. Virginia Tze on securing a tenure track position in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba. They are lucky to have you and we are so excited to see what sort of collaborations unfold between UofA and UofM in the future!
June 16, 2017
ACME is raking in the CPA poster prizes this year. Congratulations to Lauren and Lindsey on their hard work.
June 9, 2017
Remember Tracy Durksen? She created the first ACME website! And was an incredible graduate student. She's got a recent publication based on her dissertation work with Dr. Daniels. It's in Teaching and Teacher Education and deals with motivation and professional development. Until July 27 you can get a full copy of the paper by clicking this link: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1VAfY,GtqvcHTW
June 2, 2017
I am so pleased to introduce Rhonda Baldrey, a fourth year elementary education student at the University of Alberta! Rhonda won a Roger s. Smith Research Award to work with ACME this summer. She was instrumental in collecting PAC MAN data and will be part of a variety of projects this summer. Here's what she had to say:
- What do you want to teach? Ideally, I would love to teach kindergarten to grade 3 students. My experience working with children in this age group so far has been both positive and rewarding. Their energy and enthusiasm to learn new things makes me excited to become an educator.
· Why you wanted to volunteer with ACME/apply for the Rogers Smith to work with Lia? I thought it would be a wonderful experience to be exposed to educational research as an undergraduate education student. The math component of this research project is what initially attracted me to apply for the Roger S. Smith award as math has always been my favorite subject. Lia’s project stood out to me from the rest of the projects as I was interested in researching motivational and engagement levels children experience while playing math games.
· What are you hoping to learn? I hope I learn how I can better motivate children in math and in other subject areas in an educational setting. I also hope I learn how to provide support and offer resources to parents to help them further engage their child in math. My goal as a preservice elementary educator will be to take the knowledge gained from working on this project and apply it to a classroom setting to make it more motivational stimulating.
· What is the most important thing you have learned so far? The most important thing I have learned so far from working on the PAC MAN project is that in order for the child to be engaged and motivated to play the math games, the parents need to be equally engaged.
· Anything else you want to share? I am honoured to be a part of the PAC MAN project and have the opportunity to work with Lia, Lauren and Jona. I am excited to learn more about the research process and what a researcher’s job entails.
May 23, 2017
The PAC MAN Project was a huge success with 124 families coming by to participate. Now we need to look into the data!
May 9, 2017
Dr. Daniels has a new publication and you can view it here:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959475217302001
Abstract: Test-taking is an emotion-laden event for many students. Typically, negative emotions are highest at the start of an examination and are replaced by positive emotions as the exam progresses. The impact of computer-based testing and immediate score reporting on students’ emotions has not been examined. In Study 1, we evaluated university students’ emotions at the end of a computer-based exam and found positive emotions more strongly endorsed than negative. In Study 2, we replicated this finding and used a quasi-experimental pre-post design to examine how emotions changed in response to real examination scores. Exam scores presented immediately had significant positive effects on relief, pride, and hope and negative effects on anxiety and shame even after controlling for the corresponding emotion at the end of the exam. The one exception was anger, which was not impacted by examination score. No interaction effects were found.
March 27, 2017
It's been a week of awards! This week ACME students helped Dr. Daniels celebrate receipt of two UofA awards: The Coutts Clarke Research Award which will help support Dr. Daniels' research on emotions in computer-based testing environments and the Graduate Student Association Award for Outstanding Supervision.
Flash back photos
