Sharday Ewell
Here we feature our collaborators! Below you can find information about their current research, their life in science, and why EDU-STEM is important to them.
Reinforcing Positive Study Habits: Sharday Ewell
Education has been transformed in late years with the increased use of technology, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, many of our EDU-STEM colleagues have collaborated together in a newly published paper in the Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education (JMBE) entitled “Eight Recommendations to Promote Effective Study Habits for Biology”. This paper, which examines how instructors can provide scaffolding for student online learning, was pioneered by Sharday Ewell.
Last summer at EDU-STEM’s annual meeting, Sharday pitched and brainstormed with many network members the beginning of this newly published paper on helping students develop good study habits in an online learning environment. With the switch to virtual teaching in a pandemic, a common misconception among instructors is that students are familiar with technology having grown up in an era where social media is widely used and prevalent. As a result, many instructors tend to neglect teaching students proper ways to use technology and the internet to facilitate their learning. Sharday and her collaborators suggest several small changes such as providing learning objectives for technology use in addition to content areas and the implementation of multiple opportunities to provide students with feedback to help students make meaning of material posted online.
Sharday herself has had lots of experience as an instructor in K12 education. Sharday has had a love for science and neuroscience in particular since middle school when she attended a brain awareness week. She fell in love with research during undergrad, but decided to pursue teaching after completing her PhD where she felt like she could make an impact sparking a love for science in the younger generation. In the midst of teaching 7th grade science, Sharday began to also teach science classes at the local community college where she found a desire to return into the field of science. Now, beyond just technology use, Sharday is also looking into student self-regulated study habits as a postdoc in Cissy Ballen’s lab. In particular, Sharday is investigating how student study habits can be improved over time and the role of the instructor in this learning.
In the future, Sharday hopes to continue teaching at the collegiate level and have her own biology education research group. She hopes that she would be able to provide lab space and opportunities for students who might not otherwise have many opportunities to get into research such as at a minority serving institution. Between hanging out with her dog Polo or participating in events for her sorority (alpha kappa alpha), Sharday hopes to continue furthering research in student study habits as well as understanding what challenges students continue to face and how we can continue to support them as instructors and institutions.