With the shift to online learning, many instructors have been forced into course delivery that involves educational lecture videos. There are a number of different elements that impact the quality of educational videos and overall student experience (e.g. instructor eye gaze, audio levels, screen sizing). More specifically, research has…

This quasi-experimental study compared various outcomes of team-based-learning (TBL) (n = 67) and more traditional lecture-based instruction (n = 66) in a community college introductory psychology course and found no differences in knowledge of course content, attendance, or course retention. However, student self-reports indicated that, compared…

Social justice is an American Psychological Association (APA) ethical principal which is often taught in content courses (e.g. social psychology, developmental psychology, introductory psychology) but rarely covered in psychological statistics courses. This is problematic, as psychology students may assume that bias is not an issue when…

This study investigated the effects of retrieval practice on the cognitive and metacognitive learning outcome in a psychology lecture at university. In a within-subjects design, N = 180 students completed an intermediate knowledge test in the 9th session and a final test in the 13th session of the semester. Both tests assessed students'…

Guided notes covering lectures have been shown to improve note quality and increase scores on quizzes covering lecture material. We sought to determine whether guided notes would also be beneficial in helping students prepare for quizzes covering assigned readings. We evaluated the efficacy of guided notes for reading assignments on…

The present study piloted a cognitive exercise program in a college classroom to enhance learning of lecture material. Undergraduate students enrolled in introductory psychology (N = 68) completed variations of letter-number cancelation tasks with spoken instructions in 5-min sessions prior to lecture during four nonconsecutive class periods.…

In two studies, we demonstrate an engaging classroom activity that facilitates student learning about Kohlberg's theory of moral development by using digital resources to foster active, experiential learning. In addition to hearing a standard lecture about moral development, students watched a video of a morally provocative incident, then worked…

Background: Faculty might disclose personal information in order to illustrate a concept related to course material. However, the impact of self-disclosing potentially personal information (e.g., medical or mental health) is unclear. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine how students perceive professors who self-disclose personal…

The Decoding the Disciplines methodology aims to teach students to think like experts in discipline-specific tasks. The central aspect of the methodology is to identify a bottleneck in the course content: a particular topic that a substantial number of students struggle to master. The current study compared the efficacy of standard lecture and…

Three hundred thirty-three Introductory Psychology (IP) students from a 4-year university, 2-year community college, and a technical college provided survey data. Student self-reports significantly differed across schools on hours studied during exam weeks, textbook helpfulness, importance of lecture and class activities, quality and importance of…

As in most disciplines, the typical introductory class presents topics to students in a linear fashion, beginning (to use psychology as an example) with the history of the field, research methods, brain and neurons, sensation and perception, and so on. This study examined the impact of topic sequence on student achievement. The same professor…

This study investigated the influence of team-based learning (TBL) methods on exam performance and student satisfaction in an introductory psychology class. Fifteen instructors teaching 29 sections (with a combined enrollment of approximately 1,130 students) were randomly assigned to use TBL for 7 of 12 major topics or to use lecture. All students…

Because 98% of teachers use textbooks for the introductory psychology course and the majority of introductory teachers do not assign reading beyond the textbook, examining the topical coverage allocation pattern in introductory textbooks versus that in introductory course lectures is important for our understanding of how introductory students are…

Interteaching has shown to be an effective alternative to traditional lecture in a number of studies, but thorough analyses of its components, including frequent exams, is limited. Research suggests that increasing the frequency of exams may improve student learning. This study assessed the effectiveness of interteaching's frequent exams component…

In this study, I examined the effects of offering supplemental video lecture recordings to students in a face-to-face introductory psychology course. I employed a quasi-experimental design, in which one section had lectures recordings available (recordings of the face-to-face lecture) and one section did not, and I examined whether class section…