The threshold concepts framework provides educators with a useful way of thinking about the struggles students have in coming to know essential, hard to grasp knowledge. A threshold concept is often best understood through reference to eight characteristics that together describe what is critical to effective knowledge acquisition. This conceptual…

This conceptual paper examines enabling principles for creative capability in business students. It offers a review of creativity education in business and examines learning experiences that support learners in their understanding and development of their own personal creative abilities. A dynamic model is presented that supports the learning and…

In order to create an initial framework for learning-by-teaching, this article reviews a body of relevant research, from a historical perspective, gathering evidence about the potential and the limits of this pedagogical mechanism. Results indicate that the more complex the teaching activity is, the more opportunities there are to learn by…

The evolution of enquiry-based teaching and learning has broadened the range of research carried out by university students. As a result, the boundaries between teaching and learning and academic research are being blurred to a degree not experienced heretofore. This paper examines whether research undertaken as part of course work should fall…

Over 20?years, 25 books have been published to date in the SEDA series, and this review article aims to analyse the ways in which books within the series have contributed to thinking in higher education pedagogy over this time. We have approached the texts through three lenses, analysing them chronologically, thematically and by the orientation of…

Peer observation of teaching (POT) has become common practice in many universities. However, it could be argued that existing models often have limited scope for understanding the student experience. This study presents a modified approach to POT in which the researchers adopted the roles of (1) lecturer, (2) peer-participant and (3)…

In many areas of applied sciences, such as management and engineering, the generation and dissemination of theory and knowledge is increasingly woven into practice. This leaves teaching and research institutions with the challenge of developing and organising teaching activities that are effective from a student learning perspective. This paper…

In this paper, the authors present and evaluate a partially web-based Basic Optics course held each year from 2000 to 2003. The course has evolved over the last four years, and we analyse this process based on students' responses to a paper-based questionnaire. Their responses show the difficulty they had in adapting to this new environment, in…

The study reported in this paper has explored the use of an electronic forum facility in order to provide support for problem-based learning (PBL). A Web-based course involving the use of PBL (called "Drug and Nutrient Interactions") was implemented and was augmented with interdisciplinary expert support using electronic forums. As part…

Describes the construction and evaluation of a Web-based learning portfolio of authentic assessment. Discusses the design of the portfolio database; its implementation in a course at National Taipei University of Technology (Taiwan); and student opinions about the impact on the learning process. (Author/LRW)