As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, anatomy education was forced to adopt online modes of delivery. Previous research on student views revealed areas of strong preference (asynchronous lectures) and strong dislike (virtual specimens) in online anatomy courses. The current study seeks to compare the views of a single cohort of students…

Prompting learners to generate examples has been proposed as an effective way of developing understanding of a new concept. However, empirical support for this approach is lacking. This article presents two empirical studies on the use of example-generation tasks in an online course in introductory university mathematics. The first study compares…

Marketing classes are often focused on the micro level, failing to account for wider societal issues. In this article, we argue for the inclusion of a wider macro-sustainability focus, one that "hacks" marketing education. With that objective in mind, we developed and delivered an introductory marketing course that integrated both the…

We describe a novel, university-level, introductory biology course that uses evolution as a narrative framework. Our course conveys the content in an introductory biology course by telling the story of the evolution of life on Earth. We begin with early Earth environments in which biological molecules and processes evolved and led to the first…

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the rapid transition to online quantitative education, leading to unique challenges and opportunities in assessments for both students and instructors. Focusing on undergraduate students and teaching staff at a Canadian university, this study investigates and compares their experiences and perspectives regarding…

The outcomes of students who completed a ChE graduate bridging course sequence were compared against a group of students with ad hoc preparation. Bridging course students were found to have a modestly higher rate of graduate degree conferral and slightly lower graduate GPAs (though the GPA effect size was found to be small to medium) compared to…

Finding ways to motivate learners in online courses can be difficult when the interaction between the instructor and the learner is conducted through written text. The use of syllabi is an important component to help guide learners and provide them with course expectations. A poorly written or misinterpreted syllabus can contribute to a negative…

Introductory courses in biology often lack sufficient emphasis on quantitative skills and interdisciplinary problem solving, leaving many students unprepared for more advanced biology coursework and hampering their ability to pursue biology research careers. MathBench Biology Modules were created to enhance the quantitative skills of biology…

The current study measures the extent to which students' self-regulated learning tactics and learning outcomes change as the result of a deliberate, data-driven improvement in the learning design of mastery-based online learning modules. In the original design, students were required to attempt the assessment once before being allowed to access…

The expectations within higher education to improve online STEM courses have continued to increase. The pressure to do so particularly pertains to the lower-level introductory courses that act as gatekeeping courses to various STEM-related majors. Rather than working alone to improve their courses, more instructors for these courses pair with the…

I conducted a set of four studies to catalogue and examine course elements, including active learning strategies and evidence-based teaching practices, and their influence on student experiences and performance in college biology classes. In the first study, I defined the term "active learning" and catalogued the 300[plus] strategies…

Using data from the Council on Social Work Education's Annual Survey, this study captures a baseline snapshot of policy practice education in U.S.-based bachelor of social work and master of social work programs. Results indicate that the nature of students' preparation to incorporate policy change into practice depends on which program they…

The Energy and Momentum Conceptual Survey (EMCS) is a multiple-choice survey that contains conceptual problems involving a variety of energy and momentum concepts covered in a typical introductory physics course for science and engineering majors. Prior studies suggest that many concepts on the survey are challenging for introductory physics…

Exploring the value of course assessment across multiple teaching modalities, this chapter provides a framework for improving introductory science courses by evaluating the impact of pedagogical modality on student learning.

Evidence-based practice in educational development includes leveraging data to iteratively refine center for teaching and learning (CTL) services. However, CTL data collection is often limited to counts and satisfaction surveys rather than direct measures of outcomes. To directly assess impacts of consultations on course and syllabus design, we…