Profile
Jeff Graham (Dr. Jeff) is a cognitive psychologist with interests in computer-assisted instruction, neural network modeling, and health psychology. He received his M.A. from the University of Western Ontario and his Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo. As an Associate Professor at the University of Otago (Dunedin, New Zealand) Jeff developed connectionist models of children's arithmetic and studied an accelerated learning curriculum for early childhood mathematics. Since 1988 Jeff has used computers to teach psychology. With the help of many student volunteers Jeff and his colleagues have developed educational software projects like Sniffy, the Virtual Rat, a simulation of behavioural concepts in learning, and DeckChair Tutor, an online learning toolkit for teaching, assessment, and psychology experiment hosting.
Instructional Software development
DeckChair Tutor is a web-based learning software platform for presenting content and recording student learning and performance online. It has been developed over more than 10 years for use in the PSY100 computer lab. With the University and the UTM Psychology Department’s help, Dr. Graham and colleagues formed DeckChair Learning Systems Inc. (deckchairtutor.com, deckchairlearning.com) to commercialize this invention. The start-up company was awarded funds from the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE - Market Readiness) in 2008 and 2009.
Sniffy the Virtual Rat
Sniffy the Virtual Rat has been a valuable tool for Psychology, Animal Studies, and Independent Study courses since 1995, enabling students to simulate and experience operant and classical conditioning of a rat in an experimental setting.
Sniffy the Virtual Rat gives educators the opportunity to offer a virtual behavioural laboratory experience without the need to use live animals and allows students to learn how to design, run, and conduct rigorous scientific experiments.
Sniffy the Virtual Rat Version 4.0 is now available on both the Apple and Microsoft App Stores. Educators interested in continuing to use or introduce Sniffy into their curriculum now have an easy way for students to acquire software for their own computers.