About the authors

The Growth & Goals Module is developed by members of the Flynn Research Group at the University of Ottawa. The Flynn Research group is primarily focused on Chemistry Education Research (CER) and works to develop innovative tools and methods to support students learning.

The Growth & Goals module is a Self-Regulated Learning (SRL), Growth Mindset, and Metacognition Module for post-secondary learning and beyond. The module allows students to address their strengths and weaknesses, to identify their current mindset towards their goals and learning, and to develop the SRL skills necessary to take control of their learning. University students have to learn in many different formats, often confront failure, and manage many different courses and life expectations simultaneously. To be successful, students need to know and continually monitor their learning plus develop autonomy and professional capacity skills. The Growth & Goals module aims to help students with this and to develop the framework and skills necessary to manage their learning and be successful in a post-secondary setting. For more information, visit our website here.

Meet the team:

Alison Flynn

Author | alison.flynn@uottawa.ca

Alison Flynn is a bilingual Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Ottawa. She is a 3M National Teaching Fellow, Canada’s highest recognition for excellence in education at the post-secondary level and a member of the Global Young Academy. Her work includes developing open-access online learning tools and flipped course structures to support student learning, especially in high enrolment classes. Her research group studies student learning in organic chemistry. As uOttawa’s Chair in University Teaching, she developed and is evaluating a new Growth & Goals Module for students.

Elizabeth Campbell Brown

Instructional Designer  | ecampbel@uottawa.ca

Elizabeth Campbell Brown has been an instructional designer at the University of Ottawa’s Teaching and Learning Support Service for the past 19 years. Her interest in current brain research and how it challenges our former understanding of the brain, learning and, therefore, how we design for learners made working on the Growth & Goals module a compelling project to participate in. Most of her work over the past 5 years has focused on developing fully online courses and workshops, collaborating with faculty from across disciplines in both French and English. 

Ellyssa Walsh

Author  | ewals075@uottawa.ca

Ellyssa Walsh is a third year honours B.Sc. Biomedical Sciences student at the University of Ottawa. She lead the transition of the Growth & Goals module into Pressbooks. Ellyssa worked to format, edit, and review the module so that it can be published in more accessible ways for students. Ellyssa also worked on formulating an interactive version of the module, as well as a non-course specific version that can act as a self-help guide for students or other professionals. Ellyssa is an active member in her school community and believes that students should have ample opportunities to enrich their education and experiences at University.

Emily O’Connor

Author  | eocon058@uottawa.ca

Emily O’Connor is a professional engineer and a 3rd year honours B.Sc. Psychology student at the University of Ottawa. She was part of the development and evaluation teams of Growth & Goals and acted as project manager for the team from 2017-2019. She worked on improving the content and the usability of the module through feedback from both students and instructors. She also looked at data collected from the pilot implementation to evaluate the efficacy of the module. She was involved in supporting module adopters through implementation in their classes.

Fergal O’Hagan

Author  | fergalohagan@trentu.ca

Fergal O’Hagan is an Associate Professor, Teaching Intensive at Trent University, Peterborough, ON. O’Hagan’s disciplinary background in Kinesiology lead him to a successful 20 year career as a physical medicine rehabilitation clinician and program developer. After completion of his PhD at the University of Toronto, O’Hagan joined the Department of Psychology at Trent. Since 2008 he has been teaching and conducting research relating to injury rehabilitation and prevention. More recently he has been researching ways to enhance learning in post-secondary settings, including implementation, development and research on the Growth and Goals module. 

Gisèle Richard

Graphic Designer | gisele.richard@uottawa.ca

Gisèle Richard is a specialist with uOttawa’s Teaching and Learning Support Service with extensive experience in graphic design, user interface, user experience, and as a design specialist.

Kevin Roy

Author  | kroy059@uottawa.ca

Kevin Roy is a medical student at the University of Ottawa. Kevin also completed an Honours Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Ottawa. Kevin is driven to help reduce the financial barriers that students face to access post-secondary education in Canada. Kevin is passionate about the student experience and has organized many social and networking events for his peers through his involvement in student government.

Robyne Hanley-Dafoe

Author  | robynehanley@trentu.ca

Robyne holds the role of Senior Educational Developer at the Centre for Teaching and Learning, at Trent University. As a multi-award-winning psychology and education instructor, with over 13 years of teaching and research, Robyne works across educational landscapes bringing researched informed practices to everyday applications that are realistic, universal and sustainable. Outside of Trent, Robyne is a professional speaker, author, and consultant who specializes in resiliency, wellness and performance.