Assessment and feedback (A&F) are two major components of any educational program and must be properly in place to ensure student learning and quality of experience. However, these important components come under severe challenges of meeting student expectations in the large class size context. When the program delivery relates to a…

Foundation phase teachers in South African schools follow a socio-constructivist approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics, which entails that learners experiment freely with concepts and are encouraged to communicate and share their thoughts and ideas. In an effort to understand the impact that the physical learning environment, such…

The "field trip" is a key pedagogical tool within geographical education to encourage deep learning, though they are increasingly difficult to implement due to reduced budgets, safety concerns and increasing class sizes. We incorporated three field-learning activities into a large introductory module. A traditional staff-led trip was the…

Massive open online courses (MOOC's) are the latest development in online education. Over the past decade, millions of students have taken free online versions of existing courses at well-known universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but such courses often offered little more than reading lists and lecture notes. MOOC's are…

The current discourse surrounding Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is powerful. Despite their rapid and widespread deployment, research has yet to confirm or refute some of the bold claims rationalizing the popularity and efficacy of these large-scale virtual learning environments. Also, MOOCs' reputed disruptive, game-changing potential…

Ensuring that university graduates are ready for their professional futures is a complex undertaking that includes, but is not limited to, the development of their professional knowledge and skills, and the provision of empowering learning experiences established through their own contributions. One way to draw these complex processes together for…

First-year university students exhibit considerably different levels of proficiency, often lacking the necessary prerequisites to attend certain courses. This is especially true for mathematics courses. While motivation alone plays a role, by far the most significant challenge consists in harmonising the different (and often incompatible)…

Although there has been a long history of distance education, the creation of online education occurred just over a decade and a half ago--a relatively short time in academic terms. Early course delivery via the web had started by 1994, soon followed by a more structured approach using the new category of course management systems. Since that…