This teaching note describes the use of a pilot peer feedback assignment in an undergraduate BSW Interviewing Skills Course. Two cohorts of students over two years (n = 47) answered a brief questionnaire and/or participated in a small focus group inquiring about their experience of this assignment and its impact on their learning. Student…

Community service learning (CSL) activities in undergraduate programs are associated with improvements in self-efficacy (confidence related to performing a specific task) and academic achievement. This study aimed to understand the impact of a CSL assignment on self-efficacy related to teaching community members about evidence-based nutrition and…

Collaborative group assignments in undergraduate education are important for promoting skill development and preparation for the workplace; however, they are subject to the challenges associated with group dynamics. This research sought to determine the effectiveness of a Group Work Contract to facilitate professional behaviours and positive…

When writing an assignment, most students start by searching for information online, which they integrate in their writing and conclude by producing a bibliography for the sources used. They use their informational, writing and referencing skills to do this as well as refer to their plagiarism knowledge to make sure their text is exempt from…

Podcast assignments in higher education foster students' deep engagement in course content, knowledge construction, technical skills, and problem-solving abilities. We designed a podcast assignment in a First Year Seminar course based on student-led interviews comparing theoretical concepts to lived experiences of the interviewees. Students were…

We investigated whether the implementation of a scaffolded case study assignment could increase student perceptions of their scientific literacy (SL) skills in a third year Nutritional Science course. The change in students' SL perceptions were assessed by the completion of two surveys (administered at the start and end of the semester) consisting…

This paper explores the potential for students to engage in social constructivist (Vygotsky, 1978) learning through the development of a course wiki. As a requirement of the Principles of Learning (PoL) course, at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, students are tasked with building a collection of online, student-authored learning…

Critical reflection is a highly valued and widely applied learning approach in higher education. There are many benefits associated with engaging in critical reflection, and it is often integrated into the design of graduate level courses on university teaching as a life-long learning strategy to help ensure that learners build their capacity as…

In a first-year, university-level communication course that examined issues of race, ethnicity, postcolonialism, diaspora, and coming-of-age using different points of view and modes of communication, students created graphic novel-style auto-ethnographies to reflect on their experiences with diaspora and identity creation. The assignment was an…

We examined first-year psychology majors' (N = 195) beliefs about the relevance of two types of university assignments (individual essay and group wiki) and their connection to the development of career-related skills. Students reported that assignments were only somewhat relevant to their career goals, and relevance ratings were typically…

A primary goal of university instruction is the students' demonstration of improved, highly developed critical thinking (CT) skills. However, how do faculty encourage CT and its potential concomitant increase in student workload without negatively impacting student perceptions of the course? In this investigation, an advanced biology course is…

This article explores the degree to which student collaborations on research and writing assignments can effectively realize learning outcomes. The assignment, in this case, encouraged students to contribute discrete parts of a research project in order to develop their complementary abilities: researching, consulting, drafting, and revising. The…

The first year course in Sociology at Mount Allison University introduced students to social issues via dynamic class interactions and assignments that are designed to build conceptual and applied skills. Developments to the course organization have maximized the opportunities for discovery learning and have made the class an enjoyable teaching…

We have undertaken an integrated and collaborative approach to developing foundational skills of students in a first year, Introductory Biology course. The course is a large lecture and laboratory course with enrollments ranging from 800-1000 per year. Teaching and Learning experts were brought into the course as weekly "Foundation Skills for…