A Faculty Learning Community comprised of four faculty members evaluated their work of implementing collaborative learning techniques (CoLTs) into their graduate and undergraduate courses that included different teaching modalities (traditional classroom, hybrid, and online). Two research questions were examined: (1) Did students perceive that the…

This study examined English Learners' (ELs) self-efficacy beliefs in a U.S. university setting by using a survey, interviews, and focus group discussions. The results identified that ELs from different disciplines had positive self-efficacy beliefs about their overall English learning, and self efficacy was related to ELs' age, years of English…

This study examined the impact of explicit instruction on metacognitive reading strategies among 18 K-8 teacher candidates in a literacy methods course. They received weekly explicit intervention about these strategies over one semester. Collected data included pre- and post-scores of the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory…

Success in college requires the development of self-regulated learning strategies that move beyond high school skills. First-year students of all ability levels benefit when given instruction in how to use these strategies in an authentic context. This paper presents an instructional method that requires deliberate practice of self-regulated…

Interactive technologies make classroom experience more engaging and enjoyable. Students get much more involved in class discussions in the presence of such technologies and tend to learn more through student-student and student-instructor interactions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether student response systems (i.e., clickers)…

Student response systems (SRSs) are increasingly being used in the classroom. However, there have been few well-controlled experimental evaluations to determine whether students benefit academically from these instructional tools. Additionally, comparisons of SRS with other interactive methods have not often been conducted. We compared SRS,…

The application of Communities of Practice (CofP) can potentially serve as an effective learning strategy for higher education classrooms by contributing to student professional development while fostering a desire for life-long learning. The purpose of this qualitative study was to assess the effectiveness of this learning strategy and help…