The COVID-19 pandemic produced a unique opportunity to examine undergraduate students' notetaking practices for online courses. In this large survey study (n = 584), we examined how students' notetaking changed from before to during emergency online instruction and how students used their notes during this time. Our findings suggest that students…

The topic of resources for learning mathematics commonly becomes of interest during times of disruption and rapid change in education. The considerable research on undergraduate mathematics students' resource use largely focuses on learning resources in the form of material technologies and texts. Concerned that contemporary decisions about…

There is a need to better understand note-taking in lectures. Specifically, how in-class and after-class note-taking strategies are used, whether the use of in-class and after-class note-taking strategies varies by gender, year of study and field of major/discipline and to explore the connection between the use of in-class note-taking strategies…

Multitasking activities among students using various technological devices is common during lectures, and many studies have demonstrated their deleterious effects on various learning outcomes. In contrast, fewer studies have examined ways to reduce multitasking and stimulate engagement in learning. The present study provides an educational…

Metacognition, or the monitoring of one's own learning, is an underutilized tool in STEM education. Previous research suggests instructional strategies that attempt to improve student metacognitive skills could increase student resilience and retention in STEM classes. This pilot initiative aimed to improve student metacognitive skills and…

The current study aimed to explore undergraduate students use and perceptions of listening comprehension strategies (LCS) in online EMI lectures, and the extent to which LCS use depends on the students' general language proficiency and language exposure. A total of 76 English majors completed a language proficiency test, an LCS inventory and a…

Introductory mechanics is an obligatory course for many disciplines outside of physics and the failure rate is often high. Even the students who pass the course often fail to achieve the main learning goal: The conceptual knowledge required for modeling situations with physics principles. In many cases, this is due to inefficient learning…

This study assessed the impact of an "active learning" strategy employed alone or in combination with traditional lectures on the learning of mammalian physiology by undergraduate students. The study investigated the impact of three teaching strategies, namely (1) traditional lecture, (2) group discussion alone, and (3) combination of…

This study aimed to better understand the effect that the flipped method of instruction has on students' learning approaches using interactive math lecture videos in a second-year vector calculus course. Three hypotheses were tested to determine if students' perceptions of their level of active engagement, the number of interactive lecture videos…

Many science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM) majors fail to complete their degrees, and those who leave report they lack learning skills required for STEM coursework. In 2 studies, we examined the effects on students' exam performances when they were assigned to complete a brief digital learning skills training program we embedded into…

Background: The year 2020 will mark five years since the watershed #FeesMustFall protests in South Africa. This was a student-led series of protests, at campuses across the country, calling for higher education to be made accessible through free decolonised education for black people. In light of this, the time has come to ascertain how students…

This article investigates the effects of teaching about metacognition in a sociological theory course. I created a series of teaching interventions to introduce students to the science of learning, including an interactive lecture on metacognition, a discussion that models metacognitive strategies, and activities for students to practice…

To optimize learning in lectures, students need to maintain a sustained level of attention to the lecture material. Previous research has suggested, however, that student attention declines over the course of the lecture. One strategy suggested to improve sustained attention of students during the lecture is to encourage note-taking by students.…

Learning within first-year biology is about inquiry, but in this content-heavy science students can easily fall into the trap of parrot-fashion learning. This study investigates the influence of lecturers' expectation of students in meaning making on the nature of their slides and the quality of students' note-making. Data were collected by…

Lectures continue to be the dominant form of university teaching, and lecture capture technologies are tentatively taken up to support this form of delivery, rather than being used as a viable alternative. Much of the previous research, however, has been self-reports or survey-based, with far less attention given to qualitative explorations. This…