The present study investigated the differences in learning gain when performing a WebQuest with a well-defined versus an ill-defined assignment. Twenty boys and twenty girls (mean age 11; 10), attending a special primary education school, performed two WebQuests. In each WebQuest, they performed either a well-defined or an ill-defined assignment.…

Because communication skills, especially writing, are such an integral part of managerial work, it may be postulated that these skills are associated with managerial success. Yet evidence of writing competency is not universally considered for admission to MBA programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible correlation between…

Students write papers in many of their courses to improve their writing skills and to foster an active attitude toward learning. Every year, they hand in hundreds of papers for teachers to assess. This stream may get polluted in two ways: by simple copying from Internet sources and by the exchange of text fragments between students. These…

The author describes alternatives to traditional ways of conceptualizing the early American literature survey course, focusing on film ("1492" and "Black Robe").

Leaders must become life-long learners if they are to remain effective in an environment that is both global and changing at an exponential pace. As Day (1992) noted, personal growth is essential in the leadership development process. In a personal leadership development course, students are required to complete a personal growth project in order…

Much composition pedagogy begins writing instruction within familiar territory. As a result, composition educators often structure curriculum and courses so that students first write in familiar genres, like personal narratives, and examine and critique their own lives, experiences, and even beliefs through those genres before turning to…

Participation, a commonly graded component of composition classrooms, is rarely the focus of current research studies. While some discussions have addressed grading practices or ways to increase participation, student and instructor voices have yet to be included in studies of classroom participation in composition courses. Yet these voices are…

Developed as a concept in the science of choice, subtle interactions--or "nudges"--can influence people's actions without infringing on their freedom of choice. This article makes the case that not only can the wealth of digital data in higher education nudge students to better achievement and persistence but also that the knowledge embedded in…

In the current object-oriented paradigm, software construction increasingly involves creating and utilizing "software components". These components can serve a variety of functions, from common algorithmic processes to database connectivity to graphical interfaces. The advantage of component architectures is that programmers can use pre-existing…

A growing number of school districts are trying to break up concentrations of poverty on their campuses by taking students' family income into consideration in school assignments. Some of the districts replaced race with socioeconomic status as a determining indicator after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that using race as the primary factor…

Decades of research into which instructional strategies are successful in K-12 history and social studies conclude that having students write is extremely important. Effective writing assignments--whether a 3- to 5-paragraph essay, a longer term-paper-style assignment, or even a fictional short story based on a historical period or event--require…

This study examined the effect of journal writing on mathematics achievement in high-ability students in Singapore. It assessed both the cognitive benefits of journal writing (as evidenced through gains in math test scores) and the socio-affective benefits of journal writing (as demonstrated in their personal reflections) as the students learned…

Part of a larger research project, this article presents a phenomenological self-study exploring the qualities of student engagement that occurred in one professors' college class-room over two semesters' time. The purpose of the study was to better understand college students' engagement in learning utilizing a reflective, data-based process. The…

Using principles underlying the social constructivist approach, we redesigned an undergraduate course on social problems, seeking to employ three learning activities (online assignments and small-group and class discussions) to facilitate knowledge construction by students and promote their intellectual capabilities and critical-thinking skills.…

This study is devoted to the effect of "textual metafunction" on the levels of coherence and cohesion in the Iranian EFL learners' English writing performance. Sixty Iranian intermediate EFL learners who were adult females participated in this study were randomly divided into two groups; experimental, and control. They were given a…