There has been a dearth of studies on teacher educators using action research to improve their own practice. This book is the first systematic study of a group of teachers examining and enhancing their own practice through the inquiry process of action research. This book presents a broad overview of a variety of methodologies that can be used to…

Information Literacy (IL) competencies are defined as "the ability to locate, evaluate, and use information effectively" and are considered essential for students in their academic lives and future careers (ALA, 1989). IL plays an important role in developing critical thinking and problem solving skills, and improving academic…

Evaluation experiments have been essential in exploring home delivery of lectures for which users can experience campus lifestyle and distant learning through 3D virtual space. This paper discusses the necessity of virtual space for distant learners by examining the effects of virtual space. The authors have pursued the possibility of…

The faculty of biochemistry established an integrated teaching strategy for biotechnology specialty students, by intermeshing the case-study method, web-assistant teaching, and improved lecture format with a brief content and multimedia courseware. Teaching practice showed that the integrated teaching strategy could retain the best features of…

Having nonmajor general biology students teach each other in small groups helped improve student learning when compared to students in traditional lecture-based courses. This form of collaborative learning helped students with the lowest grades the most. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

Participation of environmental chemistry students in mock congressional hearings is described, as a means of helping them better develop their speaking and debating skills. The activity brings active learning principles into the classroom and greatly increases student participation in an otherwise traditional lecture course.

This investigation reports on a study that assesses how students value active, cooperative, and traditional learning activities within a single large cross-disciplinary class. The study surveyed students' perceived value of a range of teaching techniques (from traditional to cooperative) utilized within a general education class. Students rated…

As universities have come to depend increasingly on international, non-native English-speaking graduate students to teach many of the undergraduate courses, they have created International Teaching Assistant (ITA) programs in order to provide ITAs with the cultural, pedagogical, and linguistic skills needed to instruct in an American university…

Purpose: At many universities, web lectures have become an integral part of the e-learning portfolio over the last few years. While many aspects of the technology involved, like automatic recording techniques or innovative interfaces for replay, have evolved at a rapid pace, web lecturing has remained independent of other important developments…

Today's students find the traditional lecture-based teaching format less desirable and seem to prefer a more hands-on learning experience. Consequently, it has become necessary to redesign the introductory MIS course. This paper describes a new modular approach to delivering the introductory course. The primary focus is to provide students with…

We have undertaken an integrated and collaborative approach to developing foundational skills of students in a first year, Introductory Biology course. The course is a large lecture and laboratory course with enrollments ranging from 800-1000 per year. Teaching and Learning experts were brought into the course as weekly "Foundation Skills for…

The "Student Evaluation of Instruction" (SEOI) was administered to all full-time and part-time faculty. Approximately 105,475 surveys were sent out in 5,489 envelopes; 66,790 surveys were returned to the Office of Institutional Research. The return rate for the SEOI packet envelopes was 81.0%. The instructors' reports were provided to…

The Student Evaluation of Instruction (SEOI) was administered to all full-time and part-time faculty. Approximately 105,192 surveys were sent out in (5,726) envelopes; 77,886 surveys were returned to the Office of Institutional Research. The return rate for the SEOI packet envelopes was 96%. The response rate for the survey was 74%. The…

One prohibitory component to graduation rates in college is the lack of student success in college algebra. The current national passing rate of college students enrolled in college algebra is approximately 40 percent. Lack of success in college algebra creating higher enrollments in remediation courses for students has also been linked to…

This article discusses feedback methods for the enhancement of collaborative learning. It presents results of an exploratory study in which self- and peer-assessments were applied in order to provide students with feedback regarding their perceived individual learning involvement in the collaboration process of face-to-face and face-file-face…