Group work is often used in university courses. This article examines group work in a widely interdisciplinary holography course that combines both art and science, for students from the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences. In these interdisciplinary teams, how much specialization of labor (dividing work according to students'…

We explore the sources of student engagement with curricular content in an Introductory Physics for Life Science (IPLS) course at Swarthmore College. Do IPLS students find some life-science contexts more interesting than others, and, if so, what are the sources of these differences? We draw on three sources of student data to answer this question:…

This article describes how for many college students the transition to college-level mathematics courses presents new challenges beyond those that were part of the high school experience. In this interdisciplinary study forty-four non-mathematics and non-science majors, enrolled in a retail-buying course, were studied to examine student confidence…

This paper explores the ways students perceive the transfer of learned knowledge to new situations -- often a surprisingly difficult prospect. The novel aspect compared to the traditional transfer studies is that the learning phase is not a part of the experiment itself. The intention was only to activate acquired knowledge relevant to the…

Writing proficiencies in the K-12 setting and at the post-secondary level have become stagnant and have decreased in some instances. Several studies indicated using peer review was beneficial for students by increasing student engagement and providing appropriate feedback. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of a peer review workshop…

Virtual environments can resolve many practical and pedagogical challenges within higher education. Economic considerations, accessibility issues, and safety concerns can all be somewhat alleviated by creating learning activities in a virtual space. Because of the removal of real-world physical limitations like gravity, durability and scope,…

For the mature student, the recognition and validation of prior knowledge, much of which may be tacit, is central to both confidence and further learning. From a theoretical stance the use of interdisciplinary study or applying interdisciplinary approaches within monodisciplinary study should benefit the learning of the mature student. Such…

The Assessment of Prior Learning Program at Humboldt State University, California, is described. The program enables students to gain at least token recognition, through elective units, for prior learning by taking a course and writing a portfolio that is assessed by faculty and awarded up to 10 additional units. The program began by offering…

Perspectives on adult students at the College of New Rochelle are offered in response to Howard R. Bowen's address entitled, "Adult Learning, Higher Education, and the Economics of Unused Capacity." The College of New Rochelle suggests a modest modification of Bowen's thesis that there should be efforts toward full integration of…

This is a record of the proceedings of the 30th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA). The theme of the conference is "Mathematics: Essential research, essential practice." The theme draws attention to the importance of developing and maintaining links between research and practice and…

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…