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Dr. Alexandra Patzak
PhD, Simon Fraser University
Assistant Professor
Educational Psychology

Contact Information

Send email to Dr. Patzak

Phone: This information is not available
Email: apatzak (@gmu.edu)

George Mason University
Fairfax Campus
West Building 2204
4400 University Dr.
MS 6D2
Fairfax, VA 22030

Profile

Alexandra is an Assistant Professor in the College of Education and Human Development. She primarily teaches graduate-level courses focusing on educational psychology, research methods and educational measurement. She holds a Magister (equivalent to MSc) in Psychology, with a specialization in Educational Psychology, Research Methods and Evaluation from the University of Vienna, Austria, and received her PhD in Educational Psychology from Simon Fraser University.

Broadly speaking, Alexandra’s research aims to understand how learners enact agency in their education—through their choices, self-regulation, metacognition, and motivation—by examining both adaptive and counterproductive learning processes across educational contexts and identifying evidence-based ways to support more effective and autonomous engagement.

 

Research Interests

Alexandra’s research examines how learners enact agency in their education—how they make choices, regulate their learning, and engage autonomously, using self-regulated learning, metacognitive, and motivational perspectives grounded in self-determination theory. Her work focuses on understanding both effective and counterproductive expressions of agency, including how learners make suboptimal choices or misapply strategies, and on identifying evidence-based ways to support more adaptive, autonomous engagement. She examines these processes in real educational contexts, such as university courses, classroom activities, and digital learning environments, using mixed-methods approaches, including qualitative inquiry, quantitative analysis, and triangulation. Ultimately, her goal is to advance both theoretical understanding and practical strategies that help students and educators foster meaningful, agentic learning experiences.

Recent Publications

Patzak, A., & Zhang, X. (2025). Blending teacher autonomy support and provision of structure for optimal motivation: A meta-analysis and systematic review. Educational Psychology Review, 37 (17). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-09994-2

Patzak, A., Zhang, X. & Vytasek, J. (2025). Boosting productivity and well-being through time management: Evidence-based strategies for higher education and workforce development. Frontiers in Education, 10 (1623228). https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1623228 

Patzak, A., Zhang, X. & Marzouk, Z. (2025). From research to practice: Facilitating time management instruction in higher education. College Teaching, 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2025.2495681 

Patzak, A., & Vytasek, J. (2023). Operationalizing learning processes through learning analytics. In Applied data science (pp. 69-81). Springer, Cham.*

Patzak, A. (2020). Measuring and understanding self-handicapping in education. [Doctoral dissertation, Simon Fraser University]. Summit Dissertation & Thesis Database.

Vytasek, J. M., Patzak, A., & Winne, P. H. (2020). Analytics for student engagement. In M. Virvou, E. Alepis, G. A. Tsihrintzis & L. C. Jain (Eds.) Machine learning paradigms: Advances of learning analytics (pp. 23-48). New York, NY: Springer.

Vytasek, J. M., Patzak, A., & Winne, P. H. (2020). Writing analytics to support integration of multiple texts. Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, Frankfurt, Germany: ACM.

Vytasek, J. M., Patzak, A., & Winne. P. H. (2019). Topic development to support revision feedback. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge. Tempe, Arizona: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3303772.3303816

Winne, P. H., Teng, K., Chang, D.,  Lin, M. P. C., Marzouk, Z., Nesbit, J. C., Patzak, A., Rakovic, M.,  Samadi, D., & Vytasek, J. M. (2019). nStudy: Software for learning analytics about processes of self-regulated learning. Journal of Learning Analytics, 6(2), 95-106.

Patzak, A., & Winne, P. H. (2019, June). Self-handicapping in education: Tracing students’ selections of adaptive versus maladaptive ways of learning. In A. Hadwin (Chair), Adaptive and maladaptive regulation of learning. Symposium conducted at the 47th conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Patzak, A., Vytasek, J., & Winne, P. H. (2018, August). Time management: Definitions, theories, and applications – A systematic review. Poster presentation at the 126th annual convention of the American Psychological Association (APA), San Francisco, CA, United States.

Patzak, A,, Kollmayer, M., & Schober, B. (2017). Buffering impostor feelings with kindness: The mediating role of self-compassion between the impostor phenomenon and gender-role orientation. Frontiers in Psychology, 8(1289). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01289

Winne, P. H., Vytasek, J., Patzak, A., Rakovic, M., Marzouk, Z., Pakdaman-Savoji, A., Ram, I., Samadi, D., Lin, M. P. C., Liu, A., Liaqat, A., Nashaat, N., Mozaffani, Z., Stewart-Alonso, J., & Nesbit, J. (2017). Designs for learning analytics to support information problem solving. In J. Buder & F. W. Hesse (Eds.) Informational environments: Effects of use, effective designs. New York, NY: Springer.

Patzak, A., & Winne, P. H. (2017, August). Using research on decision making to account for why and how students self-handicap. Paper presentation at the 125th annual convention of the American Psychological Association (APA), Washington, DC, United States.

Patzak, A. (2016, June). Self-compassion and the impostor phenomenon. Implications for academic success. Paper presentation at the conference of the 44th Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), Calgary, AB, Canada.

Campus Affiliations

Courses Taught This Semester

Other Courses Taught