Colleges and universities are beginning to invest in active learning (AL) classrooms in an effort to replace the traditional lecture style pedagogy that is frequently used by many professors in higher education (Eagan et al., 2014). This is a quantitative research study conducted at a medium-sized Midwestern university. Students were given the…

Online courses can feel isolating and sometimes lack human connections that can motivate students. We developed a fully online geoscience course to build a 'Community of Inquiry' with attention to cognitive, social, and teaching presences. We ran the course using nearly identical materials for 8 semesters (recorded video lectures, labs,…

We examined the effects of team-based learning (TBL) versus traditional and enhanced lecture-based instruction over time (Study 1; N = 532 nursing students) and the psychometric properties of the Team Based Learning Student Assessment Instrument (TBL-SAI), a popular measure of reactions to TBL (Study 2; N = 323 nursing and medical students).…

First-generation, low-income, underrepresented minority (URM) and female undergraduates are matriculating into science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors at unprecedented levels. However, a disproportionate number of these students end up graduating in non-STEM disciplines. Attrition rates have been observed to spike in conjunction…

This study explores the effectiveness of the sequential use of lectures and video podcasting in higher education. Drawing together several theories, this paper examines the influence of student's perceived prior knowledge gained from lectures and technology acceptance model-related variables on student's self-reported assimilation of new material…

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…

This study drew on data from a large, randomized trial of Cognitive Tutor Algebra (CTA) in high-poverty settings to investigate how mathematics curricula and classroom achievement related to teacher reports of time spent on inquiry-based and lecture-based mathematics activities. We found that teachers using the CTA curriculum reported more time on…

Teaching presence is one of three components of the Community of Inquiry Model proposed by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000). This study examined teaching presence, as measured by the instructional design and organization, and directed facilitation (Shea, Li, Swan, and Pickett, 2005), in a large undergraduate science course, contrasting two…

Student evaluations of three types of instructional methods were examined. Students preferred, in descending order, environmental (discussion), presentational (lecture), and nondirective (student initiation) teaching methods. Results indicated that differences between these methods were differences in kind, rather than in quality or quantity.…

The 7th International Conference on Education Data Mining held on July 4th-7th, 2014, at the Institute of Education, London, UK is the leading international forum for high-quality research that mines large data sets in order to answer educational research questions that shed light on the learning process. These data sets may come from the traces…