{"id":1,"date":"2018-04-03T13:04:53","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T18:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.edb.utexas.edu\/slam\/about\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T16:11:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T22:11:50","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.edb.utexas.edu\/slam\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Note: If you are a prospective graduate student, <\/span>please click here for more information. <\/a><\/span>This page also includes general tips for applying to graduate school, even if you are not applying to my lab or program.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Undergraduate Summer Fellows Program: Applications Now Open!<\/a><\/h2>\n

Click here for more information!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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The Toolkit for Building Better Learners<\/span><\/h2>\n

We are all\u00a0life-long learners<\/strong>. Whether we are learning for school or a degree, for work and to develop our careers, or as a part of pursuing personal hobbies and interests, learning is an important part of life. Given that most learning takes place outside of the classroom and in the hands of the individual learner, how can we empower learners to better manage their own learning?<\/p>\n

The Mindset: Interpretations of Difficulty<\/span><\/h3>\n

We are motivated to act in ways that are identity-congruent, that feel like a \u201cme\u201d thing to do. What identities come to mind and what they imply for actions are dynamically constructed in context.<\/p>\n

When we experience difficulties in the course of learning, how do we interpret this experience? Do we think to ourselves, \u201cthis is hard, it\u2019s impossible for me\u201d and give up? Or do we think, \u201cthis is difficult, but important\u201d and keep going? Which lens we take on to interpret the experience of difficulty can vary depending on the features of the immediate context. Drawing from social psychology, one part of my research involves understanding how identities and mindsets can be leveraged to encourage the motivation to start studying and persist in the face of challenge.<\/p>\n

For an example publication:\u00a0 Difficulty-as-improvement: The courage to keep going in the face of life\u2019s difficulties<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The Toolset: Desirable Difficulties<\/span><\/h3>\n

Many learners come into the learning situation with the assumption that \u201clearning should feel easy.\u201d What research from cognitive psychology demonstrates, however, is that the effective learning strategies that make learning stick are often the ones that introduce difficulties. That is, effective strategies engage learners more effortful and elaborately, and may introduce more experiences of failure early on during learning. For the very same reasons why these strategies are effective (they are active and challenging), however, learners often judge them to be ineffective (they feel hard).<\/p>\n

For an example publication:\u00a0 <\/b>No simple solutions to complex problems: Cognitive science principles can guide but not prescribe educational decisions<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Mindset-Toolset Link<\/span><\/h3>\n

Bridging social, cognitive, and educational psychology fields, my own research explores how we can empower people to become motivated and effectively self-regulated learners through the combination of the right mindset and the right toolset.<\/p>\n

For an example publication: Becoming better learners, becoming better teachers: Augmenting learning via cognitive and motivational theories<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

PI: Dr. Veronica X. Yan<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Associate Professor
Department of Educational Psychology
The University of Texas at Austin<\/p>\n\n\n