This research study investigates the effects of library instruction tutorial format (written versus video) on student preference and performance in chemistry education. The authors assessed the format of tutorials used to provide library instruction in an introductory chemistry course by observing 27 student participants as they took in…

The community of inquiry (CoI) framework identifies three essential elements--social, cognitive, and teaching presences--that are crucial for fostering a successful online learning experience. This study utilized the CoI framework to examine whether differences existed in students' perceived CoI presences between online and face-to-face sections…

While it is well-established that nontraditional students are more likely to take online courses than their traditional-age counterparts, investigations of the learning equivalence between online and campus-based instruction typically fail to consider student age as a mediating factor in the learning experience. To examine learning outcomes as a…

Assessment is necessary, but difficult, in statistics education. Multiple choice assessments are common, particularly for research purposes. Open-ended assessments may be more adept at revealing student understanding, but ensuring their validity can be difficult. The study presented here examines differences in student descriptions of histograms…

The purpose of this study was to determine how students, teachers, and outside observers perceive teaching effectiveness within a university-level string ensemble rehearsal setting. Students, teachers, and observers reflected on six rehearsal segments that used primarily nonverbal, co-verbal, or verbal instruction as outlined by Bob Culver in the…

Cross-cultural competence is now regarded as a critical student learning outcome by many U.S. higher educational institutions. It requires in part that students be able to empathize with people whose ethno-cultural, economic, political, and/or geographic backgrounds are different from their own--a quality that we are labeling global empathy. Yet…

Presently, at the post-secondary level, digital or online education is offered in addition to traditional face-to-face courses and the number of online course offerings is rapidly growing. The "Occupational Outlook Handbook" reveals that employment in" computer and information technology" occupations is projected to grow 12…

Much evidence shows that instruction that actively engages students with learning materials is more effective than traditional, lecture-centric instruction. These "active learning" models comprise an extremely heterogeneous set of instructional methods: they often include collaborative activities, flipped classrooms, or a combination of…

To develop target language pragmatic competence, language learners' attention must be directed toward not only linguistic but also pragmatic aspect of the target language expressions (Schmidt, 2001). Thus, some sorts of pragmatic awareness-raising instruction, using either explicit "Focus on Forms" or implicit "Focus on Form"…

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…

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) has potential to help language learners; however, it has received scant attention. The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of NLP techniques on reading comprehension of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners at an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. To achieve this goal, two…

Virtual learning environments are used in higher education around the world to promote student learning. However, in many countries it has not yielded the expected effect on student interaction and learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the use of certain pedagogical approaches would promote student interaction,…

This paper examines whether conversational norms that have been observed for face-to-face communication also hold in the context of a specific type of computer-mediated communication: collaboration (such as in Wikipedia). Specifically, we tested adherence to Grice's (1975) maxim of relation--the implicit demand to contribute information that is…

The author uses data from two Principles of Microeconomics courses to examine differences in characteristics and performance of online versus face-to-face students. The analysis indicates that even in a traditional institution, the two delivery modes may be serving students with distinctly different backgrounds and characteristics. In terms of…

A coin-flipping analogy and free corresponding web app have been developed to facilitate student understanding of the origins of spin-spin splitting. First-order splitting patterns can easily be derived and understood. "Complex" splitting patterns (e.g., doublet of quartets), are easily incorporated into the analogy. A study of the…