Medical education helps ensure doctors acquire skills and knowledge needed to care for patients. However, resident duty hour restrictions have impacted time residents have for medical education, leaving resident educators searching for innovative options for effective medical education. Classroom situated e-learning, a blended learning delivery…

Emerging interest in genomics in the scientific community prompted biologists at James Madison University to create two courses at different levels to modernize the biology curriculum. The courses are hybrids of classroom and laboratory experiences. An upper level class uses raw sequence of a genome (plasmid or virus) as the subject on which to…

In his last commentary on "Biochemistry Denatured," this author dealt with his perception that college students today have spent too little of their childhood years playing outside in nature and as a consequence have not learned basic things about the world from personal experience. This "nature-deficit disorder" removes many opportunities for…

This paper considers conceptions of the term "academic identity" amongst lecturers delivering higher education business programmes (HEBPs) in further education colleges (FECs). A brief look at leading authors' work on the subject of identity is considered first, which then moves on to offer a preconception of the term…

Problem-based learning can enhance reasoning and concept development among undergraduate college students by presenting content within authentic contexts. However, large lecture sections present problems and barriers to implementing PBL. This article discusses approaches used by the author to infuse PBL into large biology lecture sections, and…

Tablet PCs have been increasingly used in undergraduate courses to create recorded lectures that are close copies of the live lectures. Research has shown that students are largely positive about the availability of tablet PC recorded lectures. However, there is some concern that the availability of such faithful recordings may encourage students…

An artificial, and generally unhelpful, divide between lecturers and students frequently occurs in higher education, especially among recent school-leavers. Bridging that divide allows lecturers and students to develop collaboratively to the benefit of both parties. Residential field courses provide an important forum to develop more mature…

As digital natives from the "wired" Net Generation permeate today's classrooms, and educators adapt to students' digital expectations, exploring the pedagogical use of educational technology is essential for today's faculty. Student competency in oral communication and presentation skills transcends disciplines in higher education, as does the…

This study describes an evaluation of the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) reform model in first-semester general chemistry. PLTL was implemented in place of one-third of the available lecture time, maintaining the same amount of structured class time under the reform. The evaluation demonstrates that classes implementing the PLTL reform at the…

This article summarizes our experience at McGill University in developing a strong connection not only with a large number of students but also with the general public. This has led to the establishment of a cooperative team to deliver useful information about chemistry and science broadly via the radio, television, the Internet, lectures,…

Background: The need to evolve with our ever-changing student bodies has never been as great as it is today, particularly given the advanced technological aptitude of today's students. Purpose: This retrospective study evaluates student outcomes as they relate to overall course score and composite quiz and examination scores from a basic…

Dimensional analysis is traditionally one of the first topics covered in a general chemistry course. Chemists use dimensional analysis as a tool to keep track of units and guide them through calculations. Although unit conversions are taught in a variety of subjects over several grade levels, many students have not mastered this topic by the time…

This paper gives an account of a teaching experiment on absolute value inequalities, whose aim was to identify characteristics of an approach that would realize the potential of the topic to develop theoretical thinking in students enrolled in prerequisite mathematics courses at a large, urban North American university. The potential is…

A review of prior research on the role of attendance policies in large lecture classes (including psychology) is presented. This research showed that although students often did not attend class, various policies were effective in getting students to the classroom. Moreover, some research showed that an attendance policy did not lower instructor…

A group of mathematicians and mathematics educators are collaborating in the fine-grained examination of selected "slices" of video recordings of lectures, drawing on Schoenfeld's Resources, Orientations and Goals framework of teaching-in-context. In the larger project, we are exploring ways in which this model can be extended to examine…