Lectures have a place in educational history and even a place in today's classroom, but students must be exposed to more than one style of teaching. After 20 minutes of listening to a lecture, most students reach a saturation point. To realize their maximum potential, students must do more than just listen in the classroom. They must engage in…

Two studies compared strategies used to improve listening skills in business communication settings. The first study analyzed the effect of discussion length and incentive level on the ability of 347 business communication students placed in differing discussion and incentive groups to identify main points in 22 short, recorded dialogs. Results…

The extent of use of the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI), also called the Keller Plan, at a large university campus was investigated. Attention was also directed to the features of PSI used: mastery criterion, self-pacing, proctors, number of times students could retake an exam, and the number of forms of each examination used. The PSI…

This paper advocates for the improvement of presentational methods of teaching and expository learning, based on David Ausubel's theory of Meaningful Verbal Learning and its derivative, the Advance Organizer Model of Teaching. This approach to teaching enables teachers to convey large amounts of information as meaningfully and efficiently as…

A series of administrative and pedagogical questions about class size and the training of graduate teaching assistants caused the director of the freshman English program and the head of the Humanities department at Michigan Technological University to assemble an experimental class in freshman English. The course consisted of 113 students and 9…

Student course performance and course evaluation were compared for two methods of teaching general psychology. The self-paced method consisted of a modified Keller Plan (PSI) arrangement in which students progressed through small instructional units at their own pace. The lecture/discussion method consisted of a modified form of the traditional…

This paper considers how active learning events in the form of problem solving/discussion events can be combined with the traditional lecture to better support good teaching and student learning in information systems (IS) education. A single case study is used to illustrate and evaluate the effectiveness of small group problem solving and…

Expectations of 432 college students regarding the following six teaching formats were studied: lecture, discussion, laboratory, personalized attention, computer-assisted instruction, and television instruction. Factor analysis procedures revealed three factors for each format: (1) evaluative had characteristics of preference and goodness and/or…

A study of seven interactive telecourses taught over a compressed-video-network--an environment where two or more classrooms equipped with cameras and microphones are connected by means of telephone lines--led to the formulation of some communication ideas. In this particular setup, the teacher and students could both see and hear each other in…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether existing instrumentation is capable of identifying learning style differences within and among college students. Focusing upon methodology, rather than processing, the Renzulli/Smith Learning Style Inventory (RSLI) was administered to 115 sophomores and juniors. The RSLSI was developed to assess…

Though lecturing reflects the outmoded view that communication consists of action rather than transaction, large lecture classes are a reality that must be engaged. An interpersonal communication course can be adapted to the lecture hall and need not include the traditional lecture as the only teaching method. Students should be allowed to…

The study of science involves learning the processes of science as well as its content. The recent revival of interest in developing thinking skills has encouraged added emphasis on process skills instruction. A science teacher wanting to add instruction of process skills is faced with several problems: (1) texts and lab manuals are not likely to…

This paper describes a college course in the Human Science Approach (HSA) to psychology offered in seminar format. The importance of instructor-student equality and feedback is emphasized and lecture sessions are described in which students are encouraged to interrupt for questions and discussions. The major goal of the course is described as…

Each of four instructors was assigned two sections of introductory psychology, one experimental and one lecture/control. Experimental sections were divided into teams of five to eight students and complied with the following schedule for each of seven two-week unites. In the first class meeting, subject matter was introduced and discussion topics…

Challenges to the psychology teacher are considered, including engaging students in the learning process, helping students develop a historical perspective in their study of psychology, and dealing with controversial topics. Resistance to answering questions is likely to be greatest when the lecturer asks for highly specific facts. Students may be…