More than 8 out of every 10 college students are not STEM majors, yet we have little understanding about learning expectations for them. We used the results of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute BioInteractive learning objectives survey of 38 instructors teaching nonscience major courses to characterize learning objectives (LOs) in these courses.…

Large introductory classes, with their expansive curriculum, demand assessment strategies that blend efficiency with reliability, prompting the consideration of multiple-choice (MC) tests as a viable option. Crafting a high-quality MC test, however, necessitates a meticulous process involving reflection on assessment format appropriateness, test…

In this study, we introduce a framework designed to help educators assess the effectiveness of popular generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in solving authentic assessments. We employed Bloom's taxonomy as a guiding principle to create authentic assessments that evaluate the capabilities of generative AI tools. We applied this framework…

Class enrollment sizes for online learning in higher education, a topic of persistent interest in the academic literature, impact student learning, pedagogical strategies, school finances, and faculty workload. Yet in the research literature, class size is addressed with insufficient specificity to provide enrollment direction. Seeking guidelines…

Curriculum initiatives that provide the societal context of engineering practice can contribute to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) within the profession, as well as within the communities served by engineers. JEDI curriculum can foster diversity and inclusion by acknowledging and addressing social justice issues, providing a safe…

Given the presumed importance of social media to marketing, along with the apparent lack of research concerning social media curriculum development, the purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic analysis of social media curriculum through the evaluation of undergraduate course syllabi in the United States. This research is intended to…

Most institutions of higher education have some system in place for collecting student ratings of instruction (SRI) data from classes on a systematic basis. SRIs are a relatively simple way of gauging student perceptions of teaching and the course. Since the initial development of IDEA SRI in 1975, much has changed about higher education. Many…

Recent reform efforts in undergraduate biology have recommended transforming course exams to test at more cognitively challenging levels, which may mean including more cognitively challenging and more constructed-response questions on assessments. However, changing the characteristics of exams could result in bias against historically underserved…

This article reports on a one-year research project that used peer coaching and collaboration between two reading professors to study the effects of collaborative classroom activities on student engagement. In order to address professors' concerns about student participation, two undergraduate reading-methods classes were revised through the…

Interest in measuring and evaluating student learning in higher education is growing. There are many tools available to assess student learning. However, the use of such tools may be more or less appropriate under various conditions. This study provides some evidence related to the appropriate use of pre/post-tests. The question of whether graded…

In this article, the authors describe how a syllabus can be used to set the stage for effective use of assessment-for-learning principles. Nearly all college instructors use a syllabus, but this document typically dwells on logistics and evaluation. Research has suggested that courses should go beyond evaluation to include aspects of assessment…

Although Outcome-based Education has not been successful in public education in several countries, it has been successful in the medical fields in higher education in the U.S. The author implemented OBE in her Managerial Accounting course in H.K. Intended learning outcomes were mapped again Bloom's Cognitive Domain. Teaching and learning…

Student engagement and retention is a concern of many university professors. To engage sophomore-level students in a Sociology of Aging class, I challenged them to design the course in a way that would make the outcome personally meaningful to them. The class was asked to identify specific learning objectives related to the university's course…

Many college science educators have moved away from the traditional lecture format and toward learner-centered classroom environments. Yet many of us struggle to cover large content loads, reverting at times to rote memorization. This paper suggests rote memorization simply does not work and students must be actively engaged to learn. (Contains 1…

It can reasonably be said that the discussion board is the "heart" of an online course. The discussion board can and should help the learner to make meaning of the content or topic and to find relevance to their lives. When this "engagement" does not occur, the individual does not benefit from the discussion, and it becomes…