Cambridge undergraduates have regular active-learning opportunities in small-group tutorials, in which they solve problems and discuss ideas based on course material. Would they see any value in performing similar tasks in flipped-classroom settings, or would they regard the introduction of a second active-learning modality as redundant? Following…

Video compositing can be used to combine images of the instructor and content, which the instructor can monitor in real time. We evaluated the student experience of this "live composite" format in two carefully designed experiments. Results showed the perceived quality of and student preference for live composite lectures is not…

This study reflects on the development and implementation of mid-term oral examinations in large-scale lecture courses at a large, public research university; specifically, this work examines the implications of oral exams for fostering student engagement and concept-based comprehension in addition to institutional and course commitments to…

Two articles in the January 2013 issue address the need for teachers to focus on student learning rather than on what the teacher does (Scoufis, 2013) and make learning the object of inquiry (Cerbin, 2013). A big part of making this happen is reducing or eschewing lecture that is one-directional and one-dimensional. This often means that teachers…

An extensive body of empirical data emphasizes the numerous benefits of incorporating discussion into the social studies classroom. Therefore, it is necessary to better understand how educators view discussion and what experiences they have with in throughout their college courses. The authors conducted a single-case study at a large southeastern…

Student academic success in school demands acquisition of specific skill sets that emphasize self-assessment, monitoring, adjustment, self-control, and motivation; the courage and ability to adopt efficient learning strategies; and resiliency in case of academic difficulties. As hypothesized, data from the present study demonstrates that student…

Over the past eight years we have undertaken iterative cycles of course reform in two introductory biology courses: Biology 111 and Biology 211. Our revisions of these formerly "traditional" lecture courses have included in-class case studies with and without peer facilitators and peer-facilitated small-group workshops. Based on analyses…

This project evaluated a class activity on social distance and discrimination using the Bogardus Social Distance Scale. Students [N = 266] in six sections of a family development course received either lecture or lecture plus the activity and completed two pretest and posttest measures. Results revealed greater positive shifts on the Scale for…

The research analyses the new trend of training culturally diverse students in western style business education in Singapore where a substantial number of mainland Chinese students enroll in business courses. Building on ideas by Hosfede (1984), Morey and Frangioso (1998) and Rodrigues (2004), 402 mainland Chinese students who were enrolled in…

This study explores alternative approaches for teaching general education courses burdened with serving extremely large enrollments. It compares the effectiveness of a self-contained course in which each course section is taught by one instructor to a large lecture/small lab format in which all course enrollees attend one large lecture section and…

The decision to employ learner-centered teaching methods, teacher-centered teaching methods, or whether to integrate the two within large lecture halls in higher education continues to be heavily researched and hotly debated. All, in one form or another, have been shown effective at varying levels, throughout a myriad of disciplines and across…

Analyzing 36,000 strings of instructional data from fifteen faculty teaching twenty-eight courses over five semesters, the authors conducted a research study exploring differences in the pedagogical practices of pretenured and tenured faculty teaching innovative courses designed around the principles of the "How People Learn" (HPL)…

Students in three sections of introductory psychology, N = 1051, were asked about the utility of traditional, e.g. instructor, lectures and textbook, and nontraditional, e.g., clickers, podcasts and online lecture slides, teaching tools. Students who felt unprepared for college (25.9%) differed from their peers in their perceived utility of these…

Despite efforts to engage students in the traditional lecture environment, faculty in Georgia Southern University's Physics Department became dissatisfied with lecture as the primary means of instruction. During the fall semester of 2006, our department began adapting the studio model to suit the needs of introductory calculus-based physics…

This paper aims to examine the relative impacts of three different models of learning (collaborative learning, traditional lecturing and process-oriented guided inquiry learning [POGIL]) on student performance and learning perceptions. In a controlled case study, we measured the learning outcomes of 57 undergraduates in a chemistry course taught…