Overview
Background
As a teaching-focused academic, Louise Ainscough is passionate about education research, and how it can be applied to encourage the development of her students as learners, citizens and healthcare professionals. She teaches physiology and histology to a range of healthcare professional students, including occupational therapy, pharmacy, dentistry, physiotherapy, speech pathology, health science and medicine. Louise draws on her expertise in the scholarship of teaching and learning to develop curricula and assessment that is both evidence-based and rigorously evaluated. She has received funding through both UQ New Staff and Early Career research grants for projects in self-regulated learning and the related field of self-efficacy. She is also actively involved in supervising undergraduate research and Honours students, including mentoring these students in educational research methodologies and academic writing. Louise takes immense pleasure in guiding students in their development as learners, both on an individual basis and in large undergraduate classes. Louise is renowned for making learning fun. She takes the fear out of learning science, and encourages students to find their own voice as learners and future healthcare professionals.
Availability
- Dr Louise Ainscough is:
- Available for supervision
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Arts, The University of Queensland
- Bachelor of Applied Science, Queensland University of Technology
- Bachelor (Honours) of Applied Science, Queensland University of Technology
- Doctor of Philosophy, Queensland University of Technology
- Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education, The University of Queensland
Research interests
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Self-regulated learning
Self-regulated learning consists of the thoughts, feeling and actions that students utilise in order to achieve a learning goal. Self-regulated learners plan, set goals, choose appropriate study activities and reflect on past performance to maximise their learning. Our research team has developed 'meta-learning tasks' to help students reflect on their learning and study strategies. Recently, we have also developed online collaborative meta-learning tasks, where students share their strategies for learning through a group blog. The majority of our students report that the meta-learning tasks have a positive impact on their learning. Our research team is also analysing the student responses to meta-learning task to learn more about how students regulate their learning and how this correlates with their academic achievement, resilience, and understanding of complex concepts.
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Developing biology self efficacy
Self-efficacy is the strength of one’s belief in their ability to perform a given task or achieve a certain outcome. Self-efficacy falls between knowledge and action. An individual may have the skills to perform a task; however, a lack of confidence regarding ability can decrease performance or result in task avoidance. Academic self-efficacy has been correlated with both academic performance and persistence with study. Our research has shown that biology self-efficacy in first year students increases while students undertake a large biology course. Prior high school biology and chemistry experience increase self-efficacy at the beginning of semester, but do not predict self-efficacy at the end of semester. Interestingly, male students in our study were more self-efficacious than female students at both the beginning and end of semester. Some students also reported inaccurate self-efficacy beliefs - feeling over-confident or under-confident in their ability. These inaccurate self-efficacy beliefs may impact on study efforts, resilience and academic grades. Interventions to help students calibrate their self-efficacy beliefs may therefore be useful.
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Authentic assessment
The perceived relevance of a course to a student’s career is an important factor affecting student motivation. One method for enhancing the relevance of a course is to introduce authentic assessment. An assessment task is considered to be authentic if it requires skills that would be performed in the workplace or community and results in the creation of a product that has value beyond the classroom. I have recently completed two projects that evaluate new authentic assessment items. The first project investigates whether an information sheet assignment is an effective and authentic means to improve the perceived relevance of physiology to occupational therapy. The second project investigates an online role play activity where nursing students demonstrate their understanding of pathophysiology through dialogue with a doctor and a patient. This authentic assessment item is designed to test understanding of pathophysiology as well as developing communication skills required within the nursing workplace.
Works
Search Professor Louise Ainscough’s works on UQ eSpace
2017
Journal Article
Assessing students' ability to critically evaluate evidence in an inquiry-based undergraduate laboratory course
Colthorpe, Kay, Abraha, Hyab Mehari, Zimbardi, Kirsten, Ainscough, Louise, Spiers, Jereme G. , Chen, Hsiao-Jou and Lavidis, Nickolas A. (2017). Assessing students' ability to critically evaluate evidence in an inquiry-based undergraduate laboratory course. Advances in Physiology Education, 41 (1), 154-162. doi: 10.1152/advan.00118.2016
2016
Journal Article
Changes in biology self-efficacy during a first-year university course
Ainscough, Louise, Foulis, Eden, Colthorpe, Kay, Zimbardi, Kirsten, Robertson-Dean, Melanie, Chunduri, Prasad and Lluka, Lesley (2016). Changes in biology self-efficacy during a first-year university course. CBE Life Sciences Education, 15 (2) 19, 19.1-19.12. doi: 10.1187/cbe.15-04-0092
2015
Journal Article
Know thy student! Combining learning analytics and critical reflections to develop a targeted intervention for promoting self-regulated learning
Colthorpe, Kay, Zimbardi, Kirsten, Ainscough, Louise and Anderson, Stephen (2015). Know thy student! Combining learning analytics and critical reflections to develop a targeted intervention for promoting self-regulated learning. Journal of Learning Analytics, 2 (1), 134-155. doi: 10.18608/jla.2015.21.7
2014
Journal Article
Development of an electronic role-play assessment initiative in bioscience for nursing students
Craft, Judy and Ainscough, Louise (2014). Development of an electronic role-play assessment initiative in bioscience for nursing students. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 52 (2), 172-184. doi: 10.1080/14703297.2014.931241
2011
Journal Article
Human corneal epithelial equivalents constructed on Bombyx mori silk fibroin membranes
Bray, Laura J., George, Karina A., Ainscough, S. Louise, Hutmacher, Dietmar W., Chirila, Traian V. and Harkin, Damien G. (2011). Human corneal epithelial equivalents constructed on Bombyx mori silk fibroin membranes. Biomaterials, 32 (22), 5086-5091. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2011.03.068
2011
Journal Article
Effects of fibroblast origin and phenotype on the proliferative potential of limbal epithelial progenitor cells
Ainscough, S. Louise, Linn, May L., Barnard, Zeke, Schwab, Ivan R. and Harkin, Damien G. (2011). Effects of fibroblast origin and phenotype on the proliferative potential of limbal epithelial progenitor cells. Experimental Eye Research, 92 (1), 10-19. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2010.10.004
2009
Journal Article
Discovery and characterization of IGFBP-mediated endocytosis in the human retinal pigment epithelial cell line ARPE-19
Ainscough, S. Louise, Feigl, Beatrix, Malda, Jos and Harkin, Damien G. (2009). Discovery and characterization of IGFBP-mediated endocytosis in the human retinal pigment epithelial cell line ARPE-19. Experimental Eye Research, 89 (5), 629-637. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2009.06.005
2006
Journal Article
Vitronectin supports migratory responses of corneal epithelial cells to substrate bound IGF-I and HGF, and facilitates serum-free cultivation
Ainscough, S. Louise, Barnard, Zeke, Upton, Zee and Harkin, Damien G. (2006). Vitronectin supports migratory responses of corneal epithelial cells to substrate bound IGF-I and HGF, and facilitates serum-free cultivation. Experimental Eye Research, 83 (6), 1505-1514. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2006.08.012
2004
Journal Article
Analysis of p63 and cytokeratin expression in a cultivated limbal autograft used in the treatment of limbal stem cell deficiency
Harkin, D.G., Barnard, Z., Gillies, P., Ainscough, S.L. and Apel, A.J.G. (2004). Analysis of p63 and cytokeratin expression in a cultivated limbal autograft used in the treatment of limbal stem cell deficiency. British Journal of Ophthalmology, 88 (9), 1154-1158. doi: 10.1136/bjo.2003.037853
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Louise Ainscough is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Available projects
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Self-regulated learning projects
Available for honours and undergraduate research students
Self-regulated learning broadly encompasses the thoughts, feelings and actions that occur when students engage in a learning task. Self-regulated learning provides an educational framework for understanding how students can take ownership of their learning and make improvements to learning as they progress through life.
In conjunction with my collaborators, I can offer a broad range of research projects involving self-regulated learning. Past projects have focused on study strategies, academic resilience, difficult concepts in physiology, and self-efficacy.
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Understanding how students gain and evaluate new learning strategies
Available for honours and undergraduate research students
The project involves an intervention study using blackboard social media to encourage undergraduate students to explore and use new learning strategies. During this intervention, students have the opporunity to learn about new strategies from their peers. Available research projects involve evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention study.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Understanding why students do not use effective learning techniques and how universities can better encourage them to
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Jason Lodge
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Doctor Philosophy
Developing Professional Identity of Biomedical Science Students
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Lisa Akison, Associate Professor Kay Colthorpe
Media
Enquiries
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