Alpa Gautam

Dr. Gautam teaches undergraduate and graduate systems physiology and cell physiology, helping students connect foundational concepts to complex physiological problems. Her teaching and scholarly interests center on designing formative and summative assessments that reveal students’ reasoning and inform instructors’ teaching decisions. This work includes developing the Metacongitive Teaching Framework (MTF) to help instructors align instruction and assessment, examine students’ application of foundational knowledge, and use assessment results to guide instructional changes. She emphasizes collaborative problem-solving, reflection, and revision as opportunities for students to help students recognize when, why, and how to apply foundational knowledge to solve unfamiliar problems. She also explores how to integrate AI into learning in ways that support independent reasoning, critical evaluation, and student agency.