The improvement of instructional methods or the solutions of problems of an instructional nature requires information that is not usually part of the Canadian common experience and must be discovered by means of research. Types of fundamental and applied research are discussed, including action, developmental, evaluation, and diagnostic research.…

Methods of optimizing instruction through the use of course knowledge portrayal methods were studied, based on a series of experiments conducted over 6 years. Sixteen university courses in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities were investigated through the application of cognitive theory to instruction. Attention was first focused on…

The different indices currently in use for evaluating research, teaching, and service activities are surveyed. The use of these criteria are discussed in view of the shifting framework of evaluation in the university from that based on promotion and tenure decisions to one based on institutional review. Author/MLW)

Differences in the kinds of knowledge validation processes, truth criteria, and other factors associated with knowledge production are presented for five disciplines (physics, engineering, psychology, education, and English literature), and implications for improving instruction are examined. It is concluded that faculty must understand the…

Teaching and learning, especially in higher education, appear to consist of complex analytic and synthetic processes which create concepts and relate them to one another. Sixteen model courses from the natural sciences, social sciences, and the arts and humanities were examined to establish some general characteristics of university course…

Issues of instructional effectiveness need to be examined at three levels: (1) the context in which instruction takes place and the rewards provided for teaching well; (2) comparison of teaching paradigms; and (3) the knowledge to be learned and the skills that are part of the learning process. (MSE)

Although there is a small body of research on effective teaching techniques, questions to be answered include those concerning criteria of effective teaching, reliability of current measures, and the possibility of developing an enlightened policy for evaluating teaching. (MSE)

This book offers ideas or benchmarks about how to improve the postsecondary learning environment, based on interviews with academic leaders at four universities in the United States. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 32 academic leaders from four research universities: Northwestern University (Illinois); Pennsylvania State…

A study was undertaken to determine what research, principles, and suggested practices in the field of psychology could be found to support development of certain teaching competencies that had been outlined in previous research. The competencies considered are course planning, course content, instructional procedures, learning materials use, and…