University examinations categorise students according to their individual achievements determined by teaching staff. This procedure serves the elicitation and certification of student knowledge and thus reproduces academic hierarchies. Drawing on empirical evidence from ethnographic fieldwork in Engineering and History departments, this article…

Students often identify research methods classes as one of the most difficult and intimidating classes of their academic career. The objectives of this study were twofold. The first was to ascertain whether the use of group-centered, collaborative learning would improve student mastery of material compared to traditional, lecture-based classes.…

Impacts of incorporating active learning pedagogies into a lecture-based course were examined among 266 students across nine research methods course sections taught by one instructor at a large public university. Pedagogies evaluated include lecture only, lecture with small group discussions, and lecture with simulations. Although…

This article investigates the effects of teaching about metacognition in a sociological theory course. I created a series of teaching interventions to introduce students to the science of learning, including an interactive lecture on metacognition, a discussion that models metacognitive strategies, and activities for students to practice…

To respond to needs arising from the field and institutional constrictions, various video-integrated teaching methods were offered to students in multiparticipant courses. Two hundred ninety-five students studying in two Sociology of Education courses agreed to participate in the research. One hundred sixty-two students participated in Course 1,…

Relevant in many academic contexts, recent scholarship in sociology has challenged departments to improve the public face of the discipline through introductory classes. However, this scholarship has not addressed how departments can improve the discipline's public face while maintaining student performance. It is one thing to create an engaging…

This study examined test performance as a function of test format (proctored versus unproctored) and course type (traditional versus distance). The participants were 246 undergraduate students who completed introductory sociology courses during four semesters at a southeastern university. During each semester, the same instructor taught a…

Lecturing has been criticized for fostering a passive learning environment, emphasizing a one-way flow of information, and not adequately engaging students. In contrast, active-learning approaches, such as team-based learning (TBL), prioritize student interaction and engagement and create multidirectional flows of information. This paper presents…

This study reexamined PowerPoint's potential to enhance traditional pedagogical practices in higher education. The study addressed (1) the conditions under which PowerPoint meets students' needs in typical lecture-based classrooms, (2) whether professors consider PowerPoint-based lectures more effective than lectures supported by material on…

Instructors of large, general education lecture courses face a number of student engagement and learning challenges. In this article, we develop and assess an interactive lecture that introduces a theoretical perspective and three related concepts to two introductory sociology general education classrooms (n = 433). This interactive lecture…

Little is known about what happens to disciplinary knowledge when it is taught in contemporary UK universities of different status. Here, Basil Bernstein's theories are applied to what sociology lecturers say about teaching, demonstrating that in conditions in which students are less likely to engage with sociological theory, lecturers,…

The first objective of this research was to compare the demographic and academic profiles of introductory sociology students who completed Web-based courses (n = 62) to those who completed traditional lecture-based courses (n = 77). The second objective was to determine the extent to which demographic variables (age, gender, and race), academic…

Presents a study that investigated the effects of student factors related to course preparation, specifically participation in Learning in Communities (LINC) and technology, on the success of the students in an introductory sociology course. Reveals that attendance and reading required texts were significant predictors of success, while LINC…

Describes the instructional functions of multimedia presentation software. Explores the effects of computer multimedia in four large lecture classes in which students, graduate instructors, and a professor responded in journals, on objective tests, in focus groups, and on survey questionnaires. Discusses the results and examines the perspectives…

This study of the influence of graduate teaching assistants upon student reactions to introductory sociology focuses on two questions: (1) Does the graduate teaching assistant influence student satisfaction with the sociology course as a whole? and (2) Do students feel they derive the essence of the course from the lecture or the small discussion…