Research with CourseWorks

Hartman, J.D & The REAL CHEM Research Team (2026). Case study: Large gains in gateway chemistry: REAL CHEM enables strong gains when combined with a retake-based pedagogical model. Manuscript in preparation. University of California, Riverside, Arizona State University, & Carnegie Mellon University.

Bernal, E. (2026). REAL CHEM white paper: Supporting diverse learners in a fully online general education chemistry course. REAL CHEM. California State University, Long Beach.

Henderson, J.B. , Bass, S.M., Dwyer, R.P. , Larson, K. , Mead, C., Stein, A., & Yaron, D.J. (2026). REAL CHEM action research through the learnlab summer school. In Craig, S. D., Arner, T., & McNamara, D. S. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Learning Engineering Research Network Convening (LERN 2026): From Insights to Implementation, Learning Engineering in Action. LERN Convention Proceedings.

Stein, A., Ciou, S. T., Cui, T., Larson, K., Lee, L., Li, S., … & Yaron, D. J. (2026). Designing for student engagement with AI in courseware: Lessons from iterative improvements to DOT in REAL CHEM. In Craig, S. D., Arner, T., & McNamara, D. S. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Learning Engineering Research Network Convening (LERN 2026): From Insights to Implementation, Learning Engineering in Action. LERN Convention Proceedings.

Yaron, D.J., Dwyer, R.P., & The REAL CHEM Research Team, (2026, February). How students really use courseware: Visualizing student pathways in integrated chemistry courseware [Poster presentation]. Gates Foundation Digitally Enabled Teaching & Learning Research Convening, San Diego, CA.

Mead, C., Dwyer, R.P., Larson, K., Stein, A., Yaron, D.J., Czerwinski, E., Nkrumah, T., & Roscoe, R., (2026, February) Keeping chemistry relevant: Tracking student sentiment in REAL CHEM [Poster presentation]. The Learning Engineering Research Network Convening (LERN 2026), Arizona State University.

Dwyer, R.P., & Yaron, D.J., (2026, February). Reasoning LLMs are competent courseware reviewers [Poster presentation]. Gates Foundation Digitally Enabled Teaching & Learning Research Convening, San Diego, CA.

Dwyer, R.P., & Yaron, D.J., & The REAL CHEM Research Team, (2026, February). Not all practice is equal: Learning across activity types in chemistry courseware [Poster presentation]. Gates Foundation Digitally Enabled Teaching & Learning Research Convening, San Diego, CA.

Larson, K., Stein, A., Yaron, D.J., Dwyer, R.P., Mead, C., Henderson, B., & The METALS Capstone Team, (2026, February). DOT as an embedded AI learning partner in REAL CHEM [Poster presentation]. Gates Foundation Digitally Enabled Teaching & Learning Research Convening, San Diego, CA.

Hartman, J.D. & Eichler, J., (2026, February). Mastery learning in large-enrollment general chemistry [Poster presentation]. Gates Foundation Digitally Enabled Teaching & Learning Research Convening, San Diego, CA.

Swann, J., Severino, M., Perrett, K., Kline, T., Mead, C., & Anbar, A. (2025). Enhancing Eclipse Education: A Universal Design Approach to Comprehensive, Ready-to-Use Curricula for Diverse Classrooms. Bulletin of the AAS, 56(9). Doi: 10.3847/25c2cfeb.cbe8687f.

Mead, C., Kassis, S., Doud, N., Brownell, S., Luke, C., Hall, S. J., & Disbrow, C. (2025, December). Comparative effectiveness of virtual and in-person field experiences in teaching observation skills. Oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in New Orleans, LA.

Smith-Konter, B.R., Khan, A., Affinati, S., Baker, A., Denny, J., Gagné Landmann, A.L., Garcia, J., LaPlante, A. Lenegan, R., Riggs, N., Tamer, A.J., Tierney, C.,  and Anbar, A.D.  From crater to classroom: Designing digital field experiences in Northern Arizona. Oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in New Orleans, LA.

Asher, M. W., Hartman, J. D., Blaser, M., Eichler, J. F., & Carvalho, P. F. (2025). The promise of mastery-based testing for promoting student engagement, self-regulated learning, and performance in gateway STEM courses. Computers & Education, 237, 105387.

April Murphy, Stephen E. Fancsali, Steve Ritter, Neil Heffernan, Debshila Basu Mallick, Jeremy Roschelle, Danielle McNamara, Joseph Jay Williams, John Stamper, Norman Bier, and Jeff Carver. 2025. Sixth Annual Workshop on A/B Testing and Platform-Enabled Learning Engineering (PELE). In Proceedings of the Twelfth ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale (L@S ’25). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 407–409. https://doi.org/10.1145/3698205.3733962

Koedinger, K. R., Blaser, M., McLaughlin, E. A., Cheng, H., & Yaron, D. J. (2025). Mathematics matters or maybe not: An astonishing independence between mathematics and the rate of learning in general chemistry. JACS Au, 5(3), 1268-1278.

Godin, E., Mead, C., Narish, M., Swann, J.L., Hunsley, D., Kirk, S., Tamer, A. J., Davey, B., Bruce, G. and Anbar. A.D. (2025) Navigating New Terrain: Exploring Educator Perspectives on Virtual Field Trip Training through TPACK. Oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in New Orleans, LA.

Backman, D., Clark, C., Harman, P., Tamer, A.J.,  Anbar, A.D., and Mead, C.J. (2025) STEM Immersion and Virtual Field Trips to Astronomical Observatories: Bringing Authentic Science Learning Experiences to Teachers, Students, and the Public. Oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in New Orleans, LA.

Bass, S.M., Carpenter, T., & Henderson, B., (2025, September). Impact of semester timing on student outcomes in the first course of a general chemistry sequence [Poster presentation]. Provost’s Teaching and Learning Symposium, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Archer, H. N., Simon, M. N., Mead, C., Prather, E. E., Brunkhorst, M., & Hunsley, D. (2024). Bringing Lecture-Tutorials Online: An Analysis of A New Strategy to Teach Planet Formation in the Undergraduate Classroom. Astronomy Education Journal. doi: 10.32374/AEJ.2024.4.1.090ra

Hartman, J. D., & Eichler, J. F. (2024). Implementing mastery grading in large enrollment general chemistry: Improving outcomes and reducing equity gaps. Education Sciences, 14(11), 1224.

Mead, C. & Larson, K. (2024, July). REAL Explorations in chemistry. Oral presentation at the International Consortium for Innovation and Collaboration in Learning Engineering (ICICLE) conference in Tempe, AZ.

Mead, C. & Larson, K. (2024, July). Oral presentation at the International Consortium for Innovation and Collaboration in Learning Engineering (ICICLE) conference in Tempe, AZ.

Swann, J.L, Narish, M., Kirk, S., Tamer, A.J, Anbar, A.D., and Mead, C (2024) Oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in Washington, DC.

Hewitt, H. B., Simon, M. N., Mead, C., Grayson, S., Beall, G. L., Zellem, R. T., Tock, K., & Pearson, K. A. (2023). Physical Review Physics Education Research, 19(2), 020156. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.19.020156

Bier, N., Stamper, J., Moore, S., Siegel, D., & Anbar, A. (2023). OLI Torus: a next-generation, open platform for adaptive courseware development, delivery, and research. In Companion proceedings of the 13th international learning analytics and knowledge conference.

Bier, N., Stamper, J., Moore, S., Siegel, D., & Anbar, A. (2023). OLI Torus: a next-generation, open platform for adaptive courseware development, delivery, and research. In Companion proceedings of the 13th international learning analytics and knowledge conference.

Oehmke, T., Rollins, M., Tamer, A.J., Bruce, G. and Anbar, A.D. (2023) Poster presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, CA.

Bruce, G., Swann, J.L., Kirk, S., Narish, M., Hunsley, D., Tamer, A.J.  Rauscher, T., Stummer, C., Mead, C, and Anbar, A.D, (2023). Poster presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, CA.

Tamer, A.J., Steward, K, Macalalad, E., Baybayan-Tanaka, K., Barcase, K, Kaui, T., Bruce, G., Hunsley, D. and Anbar, A. (2023) Oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, CA.

Ruberto, T., J., Mead, C., Anbar, A. D., Semken, S. (2023). Comparison of in-person and virtual Grand Canyon undergraduate field trip learning outcomes. Journal of Geoscience Education, 71(4), 445–461. doi: 10.1080/10899995.2023.2186067

Mead, C., Bruce, G., Taylor, W., Buxner, S., & Anbar, A. D. (2022). Gamifying virtual exploration of the past 350 million years of vertebrate evolution. Frontiers in Education, 7, 836783. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.836783.

Anbar, A.D., Tamer, A.J., Mead, C.J. (2022). Poster presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in Chicago, IL.

Tamer. A.J.,, Barcase, K., Bruce, G., Narish, M., Mead, C.J and Anbar, A.D. Oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in Chicago, IL.

Swann, J.L, Manfredi, L, Sackey, S, Brunkhorst, M, Hunsley, D, Mead, C, Anbar, A.D. and Tamer, A.J. (2022) Oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in Chicago, IL.

Supriya, K.1, Mead, C.1, Anbar, A. D., Caulkins, J. L., Collins, J. P., Cooper, K. M., LePore, P. C., Lewis, T., Pate, A., Scott, R. A., & Brownell, S. E. (2021). Undergraduate biology students received higher grades during COVID-19 but perceived negative effects on learnings. Frontiers in Education, 6, 759624. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.759624.

Mead, C., Bruce, G, Taylor, W., Buxner, S. & Anbar, A. D. (2021, December). Gamifying virtual exploration of the past 350 million years of vertebrate evolution: Presenting effectiveness data from Surviving Extinction. Oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in New Orleans, LA.

Mead, C., Ruberto, T. J., Bruce, G., Semken, S., Aggarwal, R., & Anbar, A. D. (2021, August). Evolving concepts in virtual field trips: New capabilities and democratizing VFT creation. Invited oral presentation at the Ecological Society of America meeting held virtually.

R. Glassey and O. Bälter, “Sustainable Approaches for Accelerated Learning,” Sustainability, vol. 13, no. 21, pp. 11994, 2021.

O. Bälter, R. Glassey and M. Wiggberg, “Reduced Learning Time with Maintained Learning Outcomes,” in Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, 2021, pp. 660-665

Mead, Chris & Anbar, Ariel & Horodyskyj, Lev & Bratton, Donald. (2020). Education Through Exploration: A Model for Using Adaptive Learning to Teach Laboratory Science Online. 10.1088/2514-3433/abb3ddch7.

Nawaz, S., Kennedy, G., Mead, C., & Bailey, J. (2020). Moments of confusion in simulation-based learning environments. Journal of Learning Analytics, 7, 118–137, doi: \url{10.18608/jla.2020.73.9}.

Chris Mead, Sanlyn Buxner, Geoffrey Bruce, Wendy Taylor, Steven Semken & Ariel D. Anbar (2019): Immersive, interactive virtual field trips promote science learning, Journal of Geoscience Education, DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2019.1565285

Pardos, Z. A., & Horodyskyj, L. (2019). Analysis of Student Behaviour in Habitable Worlds Using Continuous Representation Visualization. Journal of Learning Analytics, 6(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2019.61.1

Mead, C. & Anbar, A. D. (2019, December). Using computer learning analytics to support learning design, evaluation, and teaching. Oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, CA.

Horodyskyj, L. B., Mead, C., Belinson, Z., Buxner, S., Semken, S., & Anbar, A. D. (2018). Habitable Worlds: Delivering on the Promises of Online Education. Astrobiology, 18, 86–99, doi: 10.1089/ast.2016.1550.

Nawaz, Sadia & Kennedy, Gregor & Bailey, James & Mead, Chris & Horodyskyj, Lev. (2018). Struggle town? Developing profiles of student confusion in simulation-based learning environments.

Mead, C., Davis, H. B., Swann, J. L., & Anbar, A. D. (2018, December). What kinds of digital learning experiences do educators want? Poster presented at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in Washington, DC.

O. Bälter, D. Zimmaro and C. Thille, “Estimating the minimum number of opportunities needed for all students to achieve predicted mastery,“Smart Learning Environments, vol. 5, no. 15, 2018.

Perera, V., Mead, C., Buxner, S., Horodyskyj, L., Semken, S., Lopatto, D., & Anbar, A.D. (2017). Students in fully online programs report more positive attitudes toward science than students in traditional, in-person programs. CBE–Life Sciences Education, 16, ar60, doi: 10.1187/cbe.16-11-0316.

O. Bälter and D. Zimmaro, “Keystroke-level analysis to estimate time to process pages in online learning environments,” Interactive Learning Environments, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 476-485, 2017.

Liu, R., & Koedinger, K. R. (2017).Closing the loop: Automated data-driven cognitive model discoveries lead to improved instruction and learning gains. Journal of Educational Data Mining, 9(1), 25–41.

Mead, C., Horodyskyj, L., Buxner, S., Semken, S., & Anbar, A. (2017, April). Advances in Assessments of Astrobiology Learning Outcomes and Data-Driven Student Support. Oral presentation at the Astrobiology Science Conference in Mesa, AZ.

Mead, C., Horodyskyj, L., Buxner, S., Semken, S., & Anbar, A. D. (2016, December). Measuring scientific reasoning through behavioral analysis in a computer-based problem solving exercise. Poster presented at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, CA.

Mead, C., Horodyskyj, L., Buxner, S., Semken, S., & Anbar, A. D. (2016, December). Different behavioral patterns of success for men and women in an online introductory science course: Addressing the course grade gender gap. Oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, CA.

Koedinger, K. R., Kim, J., Jia, J. Z., McLaughlin, E. A., & Bier, N. L. (2015).Learning is not a spectator sport: Doing is better than watching for learning from a MOOC.Proceedings of the Second ACM Conference on Learning@Scale, 111–120.

Koedinger, K. R., Brunskill, E., Baker, R. S. J. d., McLaughlin, E. A., & Stamper, J. (2013).New potentials for data-driven intelligent tutoring system development and optimization.AI Magazine, 34(3), 27–41.

Lovett, M., Meyer, O., & Thille, C. (2008).The Open Learning Initiative: Measuring the effectiveness of the OLI statistics course in accelerating student learning.Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2008