One of the challenges that commencing university students in computing degree programs face is the difficulty in engaging with the abstract and complicated theories in the computing discipline. In particular, it is hard for beginner computer architecture students to visualise the link between the theory of digital logic and the behaviour of the…

Research on Theory of Mind explores how we develop the capacity to understand that others have thoughts and feelings that differ from our own and how we are compelled to "read" them. However, a preponderance of evidence from the cognitive humanities and cognitive neurosciences tells us that our readings are often misguided or just plain…

Understanding how power is communicated by instructors and students is important to student motivation and learning. To examine how power is communicated online by instructors and how receptive (or not) students are to this, I examined four online graduate seminars using two analytical tools: community of inquiry (COI) theory and McCroskey and…

This study reflects on the development and implementation of mid-term oral examinations in large-scale lecture courses at a large, public research university; specifically, this work examines the implications of oral exams for fostering student engagement and concept-based comprehension in addition to institutional and course commitments to…

Taking a lead from recent articles in "The History Teacher," the author placed history, popular culture, and historical literacy at the core of a history course entitled "Enchanted Capitalism: Myths, Monsters, and Markets." Drawing on folklore, literature, popular culture, and economics, the course explored the rise of…

Edutainment, while seemingly a new and trending idea, is quite simply the combination of education and entertainment, or improving learning by making it more engaging. What began as a way to teach children concepts in a fun way (e.g., School House Rock) has evolved into an integration of technology, design, and academics (e.g., TED talks).…

The design, development and deployment of online instruction has become standard practice. The focus of the study was on student perceptions of course rubrics and not on the rubrics, themselves, or the instructors. In order to improve student engagement online we conducted an exploratory study of the awareness and perceptions of course rubrics.…