Background: This paper describes research into two pedagogical approaches to foster transdisciplinarity in a graduate engineering course that involves education and computer science. Leveraging the Communities of Practice framework, we examine how students majoring in computer science can integrate new knowledge from education and computer science…

The last 35 years have shown a greater interest among higher education professionals to adapt the principles of active learning within the classroom. Active learning, an instructional approach that allows students the opportunity to participate in the process of learning, requires them to do something more than just passively receive instruction.…

To promote student learning and bolster student success, higher education institutions are increasingly creating large active learning classrooms to replace traditional lecture halls. Although there have been many efforts to examine the effects of those classrooms on learning outcomes, there is paucity of research that can inform the design and…

In the "Internet+" era, to understand the difference between the traditional classroom and smart classroom, this study uses the current domestic and foreign classroom teaching behavior research methods as a starting point and analyzes the teaching behaviors in classrooms from six dimensions: resource sharing, teacher lecturing,…

We describe how a practical instructional development process helped a first-year assistant professor rapidly develop, implement, and assess the impact on her Analytical Chemistry course caused by three changes: (a) moving the lab into the same semester as the lecture, (b) developing a more collaborative classroom environment, and (c) increasing…

Existing literature shows students agree that active participation in the classroom is important and many want to engage. However, only one third regularly do so and previous studies have suggested that the vast majority of contributions in class may be made by a handful of students. The aim of this research was to explore from the student's…

Blended learning has steadily gained in popularity at the higher levels of education. This marks a change in pedagogical approaches from one-directional instruction to an interactive and technology-aided class. However, to manage fluent in-class activities and proper data analysis, real-time and fine-grained data collection activities are still…

In Iraqi Kurdistan, the educational system is going through significant changes. The educational system influences the students' attitudes, and one wants the educational system to support the young democracy. In this study, student-centred learning (SCL) is seen as a first step to learning, but also to participation and engagement as a citizen.…

Using technology to enhance the classroom environment can have a tremendous impact on student learning, as well as on an instructor's teaching. This paper describes one instructor's transition from traditional chalkboard lectures to a fully technological presentation of content. After carefully reviewing the literature, clicker technology was…

In this paper, the authors find empirical support for the effectiveness of the flipped classroom model. Using a quasi-experimental method, the authors compared students enrolled in flipped courses to their counterparts in more traditional lecture-based ones. A survey instrument was constructed to study how these two different groups of students…

Ask any professor to describe a "first-row student," and you will likely hear a description of an engaged learner who pays attention during class, takes notes, and asks questions. A research study from the 1980s has indicated that undergraduate students sitting in the front and center of the classroom score higher than other students.…

In the 2013-2014 school year, we implemented the "flipped classroom" as part of an initiative to drive active learning, student engagement and enhanced learning in our school. The flipped courses consisted of freshman through senior engineering classes in introductory programming, statics/mechanics, mechanical design, bio-thermodynamics,…

There are many ways to construct classroom-based learning communities. Nevertheless, the emphasis is always on cooperative learning. In this article, the authors focus on three teaching methods--interteaching, team-based learning, and cooperative learning in large, lecture-based courses--that they have used successfully to create classroom-based…

The shift to competency-based education expands the role of the teacher from that of a provider of information and into a shaper of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These roles are facilitated by establishing a social contract between the instructor and learner, a contract that clearly defines the rights and duties of each. Adopting greater…

Teaching practices can create a range of autonomy-supportive or controlling learning environments. Research shows that autonomy-supportive techniques are more conducive to positive learning outcomes than controlling techniques. This study focused on simple verbal and behavioral cues that any teacher could use to create a positive learning…