The basis for understanding neurophysiology is understanding ion movement across cell membranes. Students in introductory courses recognize ion concentration gradients as a driving force for ion movement but struggle to simultaneously account for electrical charge gradients. We developed a 17-multiple-choice item assessment of students'…

Purpose: As online learning has become more prevalent, how learners interact with each other in those learning environments has become more salient. To develop effective levels of interaction, students must feel comfortable to express their ideas and views. For this reason, this paper aims to look at how individual students' levels of social…

There is a growing consciousness to the need to know English among the Saudi Arabian peoples. This is apparent in the painstaking efforts of the policy makers in bringing in technology as an aid to teachers, institutions diverting huge funding to the field and encouraging research in the area. Learning outcomes, however, do not reflect these…

In a big classroom, it is not easy for instructors to be aware of whether or not all students are engaged in the lecture and who has difficulty understanding learning content. One way in which the engagement between instructor/lecturer and students in the classroom is via technology designed to facilitate this. A computer system, making use of…

Interaction is critical for successful teaching and learning in a virtual learning environment (VLE). This paper presents a web-based interaction-aware VLE--WebIntera-classroom--which aims to augment learning interactions by increasing the learner-to-content and learner-to-instructor interactions. We design a ubiquitous interactive interface that…

Being part of a cohesive learning community supports retention and success in early mathematics courses. Yet, large, unwelcoming lectures stand in opposition to this goal, isolating students and pushing them away from STEM. This paper offers a comparative analysis of three efforts to build community amongst students, all situated within a single…

We examined the effects of team-based learning (TBL) versus traditional and enhanced lecture-based instruction over time (Study 1; N = 532 nursing students) and the psychometric properties of the Team Based Learning Student Assessment Instrument (TBL-SAI), a popular measure of reactions to TBL (Study 2; N = 323 nursing and medical students).…

This experimental study investigates the effect on the examination performance of a cohort of first-year undergraduate learners undertaking a Unified Modelling Language (UML) course using an adaptive learning system against a control group of learners undertaking the same UML course through a traditional lecturing environment. The adaptive…

Academic Motivation Scale-Chemistry (AMS-Chemistry), an instrument based on the self-determination theory, was used to evaluate students' motivation in two organic chemistry courses, where one course was primarily lecture-based and the other implemented flipped classroom and peer-led team learning (Flip-PLTL) pedagogies. Descriptive statistics…

Students in upper-level courses are expected to observe disciplinary conventions in writing assignments. Common recommendations for teaching conventions require substantial time for instructor feedback and in-class instruction. As an alternative, we tested the effectiveness of a checklist in improving students' performance of these conventions.…

The fact that the future of a nation lies in the hands of its knowledgeable, technologically skilled, and civilized citizens is irrefutable. Secondary schools are primary centers for acquiring academic excellence as well as essential life skills. With each student being unique in his ability, learning styles, and social background, diverse…

This paper lends support to the argument that students require a variety of teaching strategies to help them improve their academic writing. The study described here took place in 2014 in the context of embedding the teaching of academic writing into anthropology modules. The strategies implemented were microthemes, peer feedback, annotated…

Service learning has grown in popularity within higher education as a teaching pedagogy shown to foster student engagement as well as strengthen the relationships between the community and community college. Research has demonstrated that service learning places a focus on students gaining the hands-on experience tied closely to course objectives…

This paper investigates the teaching practices used by university mathematics teachers when lecturing, a topic within university mathematics education research which is gaining an increasing interest. In the study, a view of mathematics teaching as a discursive practice is taken, and Sfard's commognitive framework is used to investigate the…

Lecturing can be positively regarded as a practice by which students can be treated with respect in educational processes which grant them freedom to pursue and acquire new knowledge that meets their needs. Lecturing can also be negatively conceived as a practice which others students and positions them as people who deserve to be chided and…