This study examines the digital native pre-service teachers' (DNPSTs) perceptions of their competency, attitude, and pedagogical intention to use free and open source tools (FOSTs) in their future teaching. Participants were 294 PSTs who responded to pre-course surveys at the beginning of an educational technology course. Using the structural…

While feedback has been highlighted as the most powerful influence on student achievement, Weaver (2006) noted that up to 40% of tertiary students lack confidence in their feedback and many students express dissatisfaction with this aspect of their student experience (Rodway-Dyer, Dunne, & Newcombe, 2009). Chasms remain between academic…

The Classroom Performance System (CPS) is an instructional technology that increases student performance and promotes active learning. This study assessed the effect of the CPS on student participation, attendance, and achievement in multicultural college-level anatomy and physiology classes, where students' first spoken language is not…

The Internet has emerged as a mainstream communication medium, resulting in the development of new educational opportunities for teaching and learning. This article describes and evaluates a learning opportunity which used a Wiki technology to support an aligned assessment activity which was focused around teamwork and students construction of…

"Theory? What does this have to do with anything we're doing?" Sound familiar? Students may not always verbalize this, but they often think it, especially in courses where the emphasis is on the development of technical skills and the application of those skills to the building of products. Presenting theory in a way that is…

"The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within" by Edward Tufte (2006) condemns the software for failing to help users achieve many of the goals of an effective presentation and instead offers a low resolution platform with a deeply hierarchical single-path structure capable of convening a trivial amount of information even over…

Considerable effort has been placed on understanding and enhancing online interaction to increase student learning, examine teaching strategies, and build learning communities. This research explored another aspect of interaction: the emergence of scholarship by graduate students through asynchronous discussion. Qualitative analysis of archived…

Advances in technology are having a profound impact on distance education as online learning is becoming a preferred educational option. Within these online learning experiences, the asynchronous online discussion has evolved into one of the most commonly used communication tools. However, a lack of cognitive processing and interaction in the…

This paper introduces creative pedagogical techniques for exploring theory in the undergraduate classroom. Using criminal justice and criminological theories as a primary example, it describes a technique that professors from any theory-driven discipline can use to engage students through popular music, from hip-hop to musical theater in order to…

This study was instigated when 12 teacher education students expressed four concerns about their hybrid courses (part online, part face-to-face) to the college dean. In an effort gain the perspective of the broader population of students so instructors could improve this delivery method in the college, faculty-researchers sought input related to…

In this research paper we consider formative assessment (FA) and discuss ways in which it has been implemented in four different university courses. We illustrate the different aspects of FA by deconstructing it and then demonstrating effectiveness in improving both teaching and student achievement. It appears that specifically "what is done" was…

This instructional paper is intended to provide an alternative approach to developing lecture materials, including handouts and PowerPoint slides, successfully developed over several years. The principal objective is to aid in the bridging of traditional "chalk and talk" lecture approaches with more active learning techniques, especially in more…

Many Canadian Educational Psychology classes currently emphasize and model constructivist teaching practices in addition to integrating the notion of connectivity and Web 2.0 into educational theory. This study examines "Moodle" as a technological tool to further enhance participation and performance in addition to the regularly used "semiotic…

Dialogue is "at the heart of the e-learning experience" (Littleton & Whitelock 2004, p.173). It is the means to building mutual understanding, encouraging the construction of personal meaning and ensuring engagement. Inquiry requires dialogue. If we value processes of inquiry, then it is at our peril that we ignore the complex issues and aspects…

Creating a sense of community in the online classroom is a challenge for educators who teach via the Internet. There is a growing body of literature supporting the importance of the community construct in online courses (Liu, Magjuka, Curtis, & Lee, 2007). Thus, educators are challenged to develop and implement innovative teaching technologies…