Research and practice have recognized the importance of informal learning--a specific type of active learning--for higher education contexts. University students learn not only in formally organized courses, but also in a self-directed and intentional way from fellow students, through trial and error, and by reflection. However, there has been a…

Colleges and universities have recently focused more attention on incorporating high-impact practices into their curricula, often under the auspices of the potential benefits such practices have for developmental growth and student success (Lange & Stewart, 2019). Outdoor adventure education represents an experiential practice where students…

Background: At a specialist nursing education in intensive care, located at a University college in Sweden, there was a desire among the faculty to develop their ability to support specialist nursing students in their academic development, as well as in their academic writing, to improve the overall quality of the master theses. A quality…

The problem: Motivating and retaining staff had become an ongoing problem at the student newspaper. Student staffers would quit abruptly when overwhelmed or dissatisfied, leaving the newspaper with critical positions vacant. This affected the performance of the newspaper. Method: The newspaper was organized into self directed work teams (SDWTs).…

The Great Eight competencies are work behaviors that promote employee effectiveness in 21st-century organizations. These competencies include enterprising and performing, adapting and coping, organizing and executing, creating and conceptualizing, analyzing and interpreting, interacting and presenting, supporting and cooperating, and leading and…

Asserts that preparing student leaders to be facilitators will help student groups operate more efficiently and make an adviser's job easier. Describes four main types of skills that can be developed to assist students in becoming facilitators and in strengthening their facilitation skills. (EV)

Examined acceptance and congruence in four Tavistock groups consisting of college student volunteers (N=30) using scales measuring curative factors, group process, and congruence. Found participants with higher rankings on the group acceptance measures experienced greater degrees of congruence following the group experience. Discusses implications…

Examined the effect of coaching on leaderless group discussion performance. Female undergraduates (N=36) participated in six-person assigned role leaderless group discussions. Results showed that students in the full coaching conditions were rated significantly higher than students in the errant or naive conditions. (Author)

Three models were conceptualized for facilitating student-directed learning: teacher-guided, group-planned, and individual-oriented. Undergraduates in an educational psychology course were studied using the Involvement Behavior Questionnaire and the Inquiry Fluency Task. All three experimental treatments encouraged student involvement. The…

The composition of encounter groups changed between 1971 and 1974. Female participants in 1971 reported more hostility and depression than males but by 1974 these differences were reversed. An increase in task orientation was found in both sexes. Emphasized the importance of monitoring changes in group composition. (Author)

The withdrawal rate of students who volunteered to take core curriculum courses in the self-directed program at the University of Illinois College of Pharmacy is studied. These students are compared to those who did not withdraw and to those who withdraw from the traditional program. Learning preference and personality inventory characteristics…

Examines the relationship between verbal style and the early elimination of leaders in small groups. Finds that participants evaluated the authoritativeness and trustworthiness of other group members and that these evaluations depended upon the interaction of verbal style and content. (SR)