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Current Student Profiles

Rebecca Maymon, PhD6


I am a research assistant for the Achievement Motivation and Emotion (AME) Research Group, working under the supervision of Dr. Nathan Hall. I completed my B.A. in psychology at Rutgers University, where I also worked as a research assistant in the Social Perception Lab under the supervision of Dr. Lee Jussim. My research interests include achievement motivation and emotions, motivation related to technology use in academic contexts, peer support and sense of belonging in university settings, and statistical methods and modeling. Currently, I am examining motivational strategies used by university students in the face of technology failures.

Recent Achievements

  • Recent achievements include a travel award from the Learning Environments Across Disciplines partnership to present at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association in Toronto, Canada; two McGill Graduate Excellence Fellowships; an Educational and Counselling Psychology Graduate Research Mobility Award for travel to Konstanz, Germany in a research exchange; and an Education Graduate Students’ Society Travel Award to present at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Chicago, IL. I have also participated in a number of professional development workshops on statistical methodologies including structural equation modeling, multilevel modeling, and Bayesian nonparametric regression for educational research.

Recent Publications, Conference Presentations, Proceedings and Invited Addresses

  • Maymon, R., Hubbard, K., Wang, H., & Hall, N. C. (2015, August). Technological difficulties in academia: A study of attributions and emotions in college students. Paper to be presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Canada.
  • Maymon, R., Rahimi, S., & Hall, N. C. (2015, April). Academic technology failures: An experimental study of college students’ motivation and emotions. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
  • Maymon, R., Hall, N. C., Goetz, T., Rahimi, S., & Astahova, M. (2014, August). Gendered effects of attributions and emotions on academic computing in German college students. Poster presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC.
  • Maymon, R., Hall, N. C., Perry, R. P., & Hladkyj, S. (2014, April). Perceived control and failure preoccupation in academic computing: Effects on cognitions, emotions, and achievement outcomes. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.

Zaynab Sabagh, PhD6


Research interest: Higher education, Faculty well-being and engagement, self-determination, self-regulation, volition Current project: Assessment of learning outcomes in economics and engineering; my dissertation: faculty well-being and engagement Employment: Lab member in Higher Education Research Group supervised by Dr. Alenoush Saroyan Undergraduate degree: BSc in Electrical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Iran Graduate degrees: MSc in Childhood Studies, The University of Edinburgh, UK and MA in Learning Sciences, 㽶Ƶ, Canada

Recent Achievements

  • Fonds de recherchesur ladzééet laculture (FQRSC) Doctoral Fellowship

Recent Publications, Conference Presentations, Proceedings and Invited Addresses

  • Sabagh, Z. & Saroyan, A. (2014).Professors’ Perceived Barriers and Incentives for Teaching Improvement.International Education Research, 2 (3), 18-40.
  • Sabagh, Z., Saroyan, A., & Salimzadeh, R. (2015).Professors’ Motivational Beliefs and Engagement in the Improvement of Teaching: Exploring Goal Orientation and Implicit Theories.Manuscript under review.
  • Sabagh, Z., Saroyan, A., & Hall, N. C. (2015)Antecedents, consequences, and correlates of burnout among academics: A systematic review. Manuscript in preparation.

Raheleh Salimzadeh, PhD7


I did English literature in my undergrad. I am currently writing my comprehensive examination. My research interests include emotion regulation, coping with stress, and well-being.

Recent Achievements

  • I was awarded the Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel (GREAT) award for presenting at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting 2015

Recent Publications, Conference Presentations, Proceedings and Invited Addresses

  • Salimzadeh, R. & Mohammadi, M. (2009). “The effects of cooperative learning strategy training on reading comprehension and motivation of Iranian intermediate EFL learners.” Paper presented at the 7thinternational annual conference ofTeaching English Language and Literature Society of Iran (TELLSI)on TEFL/ TESOL: “New Horizons in Language Education", October 20-22, 2009, Yazd, Iran.
  • Salimzadeh, R., & Saroyan, A. (2014, March).Faculty members’ and department chairs’ perceptions of leadership style. Paper presented at the annual conference of Education Graduate Students' Society annual Conference, 㽶Ƶ, Montreal, Canada
  • Salimzadeh, R., Sabagh, Z., Saxena, A., Saroyan, A., & Kazemitabar, M. (2014, July). Developing and using a framework for fostering reflection on teaching.Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Chicago, U.S.A.
  • Saxena, A., Saroyan, A., Agnew, L., Sabagh, Z.,Salimzadeh, R., & Segura, A. (2014, August). Developing a reflective framework to create a computer based learning environment to support educator self-reflection. Paper accepted for presentation at the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Special Interest Group 20thMeeting – Computer-supported Inquiry Learning, Malmö, Sweden.
  • Salimzadeh, R. (2015, March).Faculty members’ emotions: a review of the lieterature. Paper presented at the annual conference of Education Graduate Students' Society annual Conference, 㽶Ƶ, Montreal, Canada
  • Salimzadeh, R. (2010).“Enhancing EFL reading comprehension and motivation: The effects of cooperative learning strategy training on reading comprehension and motivation of EFL learners”.Berlin: VDM Publication.

Maedeh Kazemitabar, PhD6


I am interested in several themes: 1) Emotions and emotion regulation in individual and social learning environments, 2) Behavioral and physiological detection of regulated emotions, 3) Analysis of emotions in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and, and 4) emotional and motivational factors in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). I have been working on several projects as a member of the ATLAS laboratory and within the Learning Environments Across Disciplines (LEADS) research partnership funded by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and headed by Dr. Susanne Lajoie at 㽶Ƶ. The projects that I have been working on include: a) The Empathy Project, b) Bioworld, and c) MetaProf. I received my Bachelor of Science at Sharif University of Technology, and my Master of Arts at 㽶Ƶ.

Recent Publications, Conference Presentations, Proceedings and Invited Addresses

  • Kazemitabar, M. & Lajoie, S. P. (2015, March). Multimodal emotion regulation: An analysis of facial, postural and vocal expression of emotions towards detection of emotion regulation. Graduate Symposium of the Department of Education (GSDE), Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
  • Kazemitabar, M. & Lajoie, S. P. (2015, April). Emotion regulation: Can it be observationally detected in a technology rich learning environment? Education Graduate Student Society (EGSS), 㽶Ƶ, Montreal, Canada.
  • Kazemitabar, M. & Lajoie, S. P. (2014). A Multimodal analysis of emotion regulation. Graduate Student Consortium at 3rd LEADS annual meeting, Montreal, Canada.
  • Kazemitabar, M. & Lajoie, S. P. (Accepted, 2015). A multimodal methodology to the detection of emotion regulation. Paper to be presented at the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Biennial Meeting, Limassol, Cyprus.
  • Kazemitabar, M. & Lajoie, S. P. (2014). A multimodal methodology to the detection of emotion regulation. Paper presented at the 13th EGSS Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada.
  • Saroyan, A., Kazemitabar, M., Sabagh, Z., bateman, D., Lajoie, S. (2013). A conceptual framework to analyse microteaching data: Towards enabling teachers to reflect on their teaching. Paper presented at the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Biennial Meeting, Munich, Germany.
  • Lajoie, S., Poitras, E., Naismith, L., Summerside, C., Kazemitabar, M., Tressel, T., Lee, L., & Wiseman, J.(2013). Using process data to examine self-regulatory behaviors during clinical problem solving using technology. Symposium submission to the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Biennial Meeting, Munich, Germany.
  • Lajoie, S., Poitras, E., Naismith, L., Gauthier, G., Summerside, C., Kazemitabar, M., Tressel, T., Lee, L., & Wiseman, J. (2013). Modelling domain-specific self-regulatory activities in clinical reasoning. Presented at the 16th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED), Memphis, TN.
  • Lajoie, S., Cruz-Panesso, I., Summerside, C., Poitras, E., Hmelo-Silver, C., Wiseman, J. Lu, J., Chan, L.K., Kazemitabar, M. (2013). Technology rich learning environments to support emotional regulation: A case study of the relationship between physician regulation and patient coping. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

Sonia Rahimi, PhD6


I am currently interested in researching the use of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies in both undergraduate and graduate students. More specifically, I am interested in procrastination and self-regulation failure. I work in the AME (Achievement Motivation and Emotion) Lab under the supervision of Dr. Nathan Hall. I completed a Masters of Arts in Educational Psychology at 㽶Ƶ, and a Bachelor or Arts in Psychology and Philosophy at Carleton University.

Recent Achievements

  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS)- Doctoral
  • I volunteered as the VP Student Life for the Educational Graduate Students Society

Recent Publications, Conference Presentations, Proceedings and Invited Addresses

  • Wang, H., Hall, N. C., & Rahimi, S. (2015). Self-efficacy and causal attributions in teachers: effects on burnout, job satisfaction, illness, and quitting intentions. Teaching and Teacher Education, 47, 120-130.
  • Rahimi, S., Wang, H., Hall, N. C., & Sticca, F. (2015, April). Social comparisons and adjustment in teachers: Variable- and person-centered approaches. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
  • Rahimi, S., Wang, H., Hall, N. C., & Maymon, R. (2015, April). Effects of social comparisons on emotions in teachers. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
  • Rahimi, S. (2014, June). Improving burnout and attrition in teachers: A motivational perspective. Invited address at the Department of Empirical Education Research, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.

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