Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences researcher is dedicated to understanding the role of assessment in supporting motivation and learning

Dr. Ken Cor

Ken Cor is a clinical associate professor and assistant dean of assessment and evaluation in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences who was recently appointed as a provost fellow in the Vice-Provost Programs office. He earned undergraduate degrees in education and engineering, plus a master's in education at the University of Alberta and his PhD at Stanford University.

Ken is an educational researcher trained in measurement and evaluation. He teaches health-science education research methods and oversees program evaluation for the faculty.

We contacted Ken to learn more about him and his work.

What is the focus of your research?

I study issues in higher-educational assessment. My early research investigated the role of different types of feedback in motivating learning. Much of my more recent research explores how to establish the quality of the tests and other assessments we use to evaluate what students know and can do. In my role with evaluation in our program, I’m also able to study interesting questions such as what variables in admissions processes predict success in a pharmacy program.

What sort of impact do you hope your research will make? 

The better we understand the role assessment plays in motivating and supporting learning, the better we can tailor our strategies to support students. Ensuring high-quality tests, exams and other types of assessment in higher education is an important issue of fairness and equity. Sharing the results of efforts to evaluate the quality of different aspects of higher-education programming supports broader overall improvement in health sciences education.

What led you to this area of study?

I have a passion for education and statistics, which is a big part of understanding the measures we use to indicate the quality of tests and assessments. I’m also interested in motivation. I struggled to maintain mine as I made my way through higher education. I completed a chemical engineering degree before finding my way to what interested me most. Understanding the interplay between assessment and student motivation and studying issues in higher education are things that I find very interesting.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of your work?

Working with students and collaborating with peers to support their scholarship in education.

What do you find the most challenging?

Balancing the competing demands of an academic role and maintaining a work-life balance can be a challenge. When someone figures out the right way to do it, I’d be grateful if you would connect them with me. I’d like to hear how they do it! (Insert smiling emoticon.)

What is something your colleagues would be surprised to learn about you?

I worked at a cemetery to make money in the summers of my first degree.

What's the No. 1 thing you tell your graduate students?

Telling them that they’ve been successful so far, which is the best evidence that they will continue to be successful moving forward. I also encourage them to focus on what is inherently interesting to them and work will feel less and less like work.

If you hadn't become a researcher, what do you think you'd be doing instead?

Teaching. Luckily, I still get to do some teaching in my role with my affiliation with the Master’s of Health Sciences Education program in the Faculty of Education. I co-teach an introduction to educational research methods course to health science professionals. If I had to leave the academic setting, I’d try to head back to the K-12 system to teach and support students to pursue their interests.