Fiore Sicoly, Ph.D. (U. of Waterloo)

fsicoly@georgianc.on.ca

I was born in Italy and moved to Canada at age six… grew up in northern Ontario…did my undergraduate work at the University of Western Ontario…obtained my Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo…worked in applied research, mostly with the Toronto District School Board (eventually as Research Manager)…taught for two years at Concordia University in Montreal…and have been with the Laurentian University program at Georgian College since August of 2005. Currently I teach Scientific Methods & Analysis (1 and 2) and also Introductory Psychology.

For much of my working life I felt I was searching for something that was very elusive. At Georgian College I have found a deep fulfillment and joy that was missing during my earlier period of employment.  I get tremendous satisfaction from teaching and interacting with students.  My goal has been to make the learning process exciting, challenging, relevant, and fun.  Teaching and learning is most effective when students see the personal relevance of the material and so I try to make connections to real-life applications in every class.

Current Research
I have just completed and submitted for publication an article entitled Accuracy and Bias in Self-Monitoring: The Role of Ecological Validity and Reliability. This was completed with the help of several students who are also named as authors.  In previous research, weak correlations between self-estimated and actual performance were interpreted as a failure of college students’ metacognitive skills. We examined self-monitoring accuracy in a sample of 220 students by comparing confidence and predicted marks with actual grades on instructor-designed tests across five different college courses. In contrast to prior research, we found very strong correlations (Median = .70) between self-estimated and actual performance. Nonetheless, we also observed bias in the expectations of low performers (overestimation) and high performers (underestimation). When favorable conditions of measurement are in place, such as ecological validity and reliability, it appears that college students are much better at estimating their learning and comprehension than has been previously assumed.

Recent Publications

Bernard, R., Zhang, D., Abrami, P.C., Sicoly, F., Borokhovski, E., & Surkes, M.A. (2008). Exploring the Structure of the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal: One Scale or Many Subscales? Thinking Skills and Creativity 3, 15–22

Sclater, J., Sicoly, F., Abrami, P.C., & Wade, C.A. (2006). Ubiquitous technology integration in Canadian public schools: Year one study.  Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 32(1), 9-33.

Sicoly, F. (2002). What do school-level scores from large-scale assessments really measure? Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice. 21(4), 17-26.

Sicoly, F.  (2002). Stability of school-level scores from large-scale student assessments. Applied Measurement in Education, 15(2), 173-185.