Recording class sessions so students can view them online is becoming routine on many campuses. But all that taping can lead to "uh-oh moments," such as when a professor's joke about the college dean ends up on YouTube, or a private comment to a student after class is inadvertently broadcast. Some lecture bloopers caught on tape are…

As part of ongoing efforts to enhance teaching practices in a large-class introductory biochemistry course, we have recently tested the effects of using a student response system (clickers) on student exam performances and engagement with the course material. We found no measurable difference in class mean composite examination score for students…

What can be done to promote student-instructor interaction in a large lecture class? One approach is to use a personal response system (or "clickers") in which students press a button on a hand-held remote control device corresponding to their answer to a multiple choice question projected on a screen, then see the class distribution of answers on…

This dissertation addresses the research question: To what extent do secondary school science students attending the U.S. Particle Physics Masterclass change their view of the nature of science (NOS)? The U.S. Particle Physics Masterclass is a physics outreach program run by QuarkNet, a national organization of secondary school physics teachers…

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to examine an instructional strategy intended to enhance engagement in the college classroom. The effects of the pause procedure on classroom engagement and cognitive load were studied. The relationships between levels of classroom engagement and near-term learning outcomes, as well as…

Many under-prepared university students do not know how to study (Martin and Arendale 1993) because they have not yet developed the abstract reasoning skills that allow them to learn new ideas simply by reading a text or listening to a lecture. This article draws from selected findings from a PhD study currently being undertaken at a university in…

Through a review of the literature, this article argues that it is imperative that lecturers at institutions of higher education not just embrace multiliteracy for teaching and learning, but accept, incorporate and affirm the many literacies that students bring with them to the lecture room. Multiliteracy in the lecture room supplements…

This article discusses the successful use of technology, rather than lectures, by Tennessee's community colleges to teach developmental reading and math. The redesign occurred with the support of the National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT). In fall 2007, the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) staff convened meetings to familiarize its…

Individual oral tutorial presentations have been utilised in numerous undergraduate courses to develop and assess students' skills in organising and communicating ideas and information to a select audience. However, evidence from the literature, interviews with academics (n=5), and the author's own experiences have demonstrated that these…

There has been a rapid increase in the use of technology in university classrooms. Many university classrooms and laboratories include an overhead projection unit, computer, and connections for laptops. More recently, tablet PCs have been investigated as another way to effectively engage students in a classroom environment. This study summarizes…

This paper explores the views of international students and academic staff on the use of prior professional experience in disciplinary academic writing in Australian higher education. The main finding of this case study indicates that disciplinary practice related to the issue of whether, and how, students should represent aspects of their prior…

Students (n = 797) from 36 4th-grade classrooms were taught the control of variables strategy for designing experiments. In the instruct condition, classes were taught in an interactive lecture format. In the manipulate condition, students worked in groups to design and run experiments to determine the effects of four variables. In the both…

Medical students encountering patients with unfamiliar, unconventional sexual practices may have attitudes that can affect open communication during sexual history-taking. We measured changes in first-year US medical student attitudes toward 22 non-traditional sexual behaviors before and after exposure to human sexuality instruction. An…

Media players allow students to pause lectures and to replay portions at will, two capabilities with potentially important pedagogical value that are not available in face-to-face lectures. The first study showed that many students use and value these media player features when watching online introductory psychology lectures. The second study…

Since their inception, North American universities have struggled with balancing their dual mandates of research and teaching. Over the past twenty years or so these activities have become increasingly polarized, with research activity (particularly that which brings in additional money) being given an ever more privileged and prestigious…