The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent shift to online and hybrid learning brought to the forefront several long-standing issues within the educational domain, including engagement, collaboration, and motivation. During this period, many faculty members and students struggled to find viable solutions to these challenges. Previous studies have…

EXCEL spreadsheet algorithms were developed at Villanova University to efficiently and consistently retrieve information from ASPEN® flowsheets and used for grading work in senior design. The challenge is to take a large volume of data that is in the stream and unit operations reports and quickly and consistently calculate a list of key grading…

Extra credit assignments are often viewed with disdain by educators as opportunities to earn points for students that lack the study skills to do well on exams and quizzes. However, these assignments can serve as a platform for students to apply the course material to their own lives, optimizing their strengths and creativity, and encouraging them…

Generation Z has graduated and in some cases is still in college according to Seemiller and Grace (2016), who define the generation range from 1995-2010. A defining characteristic of Generation Z is that they grew up with technology. They are so involved or comfortable with technology that they "expect" it. Parents lament the lack of…

This paper examines a group Staging/Filming Assignment that required Junior/Senior level English majors/minors in a 300-level Shakespeare class to collaboratively stage and produce their own films of selected scenes from plays covered during the semester. I discuss the assignment's aims of shifting students beyond exclusively literary/interpretive…

The author of this article discusses the extensive use and analysis of real-world situations as the core construct on which to build a course in principles of microeconomics. Building on the literature that focuses on current event readings, the goal here is to train students to be able to "do economics." The author details course…

Tutor training programs are essential for the success of a learning center. For the learning center to adequately serve its students, the tutors must be given proper training, support, and guidance. By utilizing technology, especially learning management systems (LMS), in tutor training programs, learning centers can raise their quality of tutors…

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the status quo across higher education, including in the domain of pedagogy. The author of this article provides a case study of the changes made to one course, "Behavioral Economics," at Swarthmore College, in response to a set of unique, pandemic-related challenges. He begins by providing details on…

The majority of this essay describes the content, pedagogy, and assessments associated with an undergraduate, interdisciplinary honors seminar on science and religion. The seminar is structured around five major themes: (a) philosophy of science, religion, and their interactions, (b) historical and contemporary case studies, (c) the controversy…

Cultural humility is a critical skill for effective intercultural interactions. While common in other scholarly fields, the concept is seldom found in the literature of global learning and international education. Utilizing grounded theory, this study explores the development of cultural humility through qualitative data analysis of in-class…

Based on in-person, task-based usability testing and interviews, the authors' library Web site was recently overhauled in order to improve user experience. This led to the authors' interest in additional usability testing methods and test environments that would most closely fit their library's goals and situation. The appeal of card sorting…

This paper describes assignments that have been implemented in a General Chemistry I course to promote science literacy. This course was chosen in particular because it reaches a broad audience, which includes nonscience majors. The assignment series begins with several discussions and tasks to develop information literacy, in which students find…

Purpose is an important aspect of character development and thriving in adolescence; yet, there is little research explaining how it develops or how contexts such as school can support its development. In this study, 1,304 eighth graders completed a survey that measured purpose as the integration of 2 dimensions-- beyond-the-self life goal…

This article, the first of a two-part series, catalogs teaching innovations from the 2014 Association for Business Communication Annual Conference. These 12 assignments debuted during two "My Favorite Assignment" sessions. Learning experiences included job-seeking skills--résumé writing, writing job applications, sharpening interview…

This article provides an evaluation of the redesign of a research methods course intended to enhance students' learning for understanding and transfer. Drawing on principles of formative assessment from the existing academic literature, the instructor introduced a number of increasingly complex low-stakes assignments for students to complete prior…