Students receive little guidance on how to give the oral presentations that increasingly feature in third level modules. It has been observed that several communication tools employed effectively in conversation--in particular stories--are not used in presentations. The aim of this study was to demonstrate this effect and explore possible reasons…

It is widely recognised that high-stakes assessment can significantly influence what is taught in the classroom. Many argue that high-stakes assessment results in a narrowed curriculum where students learn by rote rather than developing higher cognitive skills. This paper describes a study investigating the various cognitive objectives present…

This case study describes an effective method to ameliorate the cognitive load caused by new terminology and concepts in lectures. Ten online pre-lecture resources whose design was underpinned by the principles of cognitive load theory were provided to a class of 49 first year university level chemistry students. Each resource introduced a number…

Low retention rates in third-level computing courses, despite continuing research into new and improved computer teaching methods, present a worrying concern. For some computing students learning programming is intimidating, giving rise to lack of confidence and anxiety. The noncognitive domain of anxiety with regard to learning computer…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…