Quality learning in higher education is an impetus and major objective for educators and researchers. The student approaches to learning (SAL) framework, arising from the seminal work of Marton and Säljö (1976), has been researched extensively and used to predict and explain students' positive (e.g., critical reflection) and maladaptive…

One of the crucial goals of higher education is building a scientifically literate citizenry. The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subject areas are indicated as good domains to develop knowledge and skills for becoming future leaders. However, previous research has indicated a constant decline in the number of American…

Many students fail to read the assigned material before class. A failure to read is detrimental to both student learning and course engagement. This paper considers the often-neglected teaching technique of giving frequent quizzes on the reading. Drawing on the author's experiences assigning reading quizzes, together with student opinions…

This article focuses on describing the interplay between teaching and learning practices in Higher Education and the disciplinary context of such practices. In particular, it aims to address the question of how course design, teaching, and learning activities take place within a particular academic culture and how those activities mutually shape…

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 article explores the structure of a graduate educational technology course that used a learner-centered approach to prepare students to be independent responsible learners. Key features of this approach were the balance of power between the instructor and students, involving students in decision-making about their learning, sharing the…

College and university educators seek to increase student engagement in learning content, skills, and applications. To achieve this goal, we used transformative teaching techniques in the design of a World Challenge: a two-week, group-based, reflective course for sophomores leading their own learning in developing creative solutions to the problem…

Professional seminar for doctoral students at a Research I University is a 1-credit course, 2 below the conventional courses. However, the course content covers at least 3 years' worth of experiences, knowledge, and processes compressed into a single school year. The course typically extends over 16 weeks and 24 actual contact hours with 1…

In this instructional article, we describe a non-traditional course assignment in which we ask students in our social problems courses to write, illustrate, and present a children's book about a social problem as part of the process of learning. Over the course of the semester, students utilize guided handouts to create a children's book…

Midwifery educators have to provide students with stimulating curricula that teach academic and vocational content, as well as transferable skills. The Research Skills Development (RSD) framework provides a conceptual model that allows educators to explicitly scaffold the development of their students' research skills. This paper aims to…

Undergraduates often use single words to describe their instructors, including "boring," "enthusiastic," and "organized," but what instructional behaviors cause students to use these words? This study utilized interviews and an online survey to ask students to translate commonly used instructor descriptions into their…

Interactive technologies make classroom experience more engaging and enjoyable. Students get much more involved in class discussions in the presence of such technologies and tend to learn more through student-student and student-instructor interactions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether student response systems (i.e., clickers)…

The current study examined how immediacy behaviors of college professors influence student participation. While these claims have been studied in the past, this investigation examined a cross-disciplinary sample and employed a more objective methodology, classroom observation. It was hypothesized that professors who showed greater immediacy would…

This study examined how effective an embedded practicum experience in an educational leadership program in a Southeastern University is in serving the purpose of preparing educational leaders to meet future challenges. Findings of this study confirm practicum areas that met the educational demands and highlight areas that need improvement to…

This article focuses on assignments designed to enhance critical thinking skills for authoritarian personality types. This paper seeks to add to the literature by exploring instructional methods to overcome authoritarian traits that could inhibit the development of critical thinking skills. The article presents a strategy which can be employed…