Visual literacy was a stated learning objective for the fall 2009 iteration of a first-year seminar course. To help students develop visual literacy skills, they received formal instruction throughout the semester and completed a series of carefully designed learning activities. The effects of these interventions were measured using a one-group…

Building upon past research on the positive learning outcomes associated with rapport building in the classroom, this study examines the specific behaviors instructors utilize in college classrooms to build rapport with undergraduate students. Participants (N = 230) answered open-ended survey questions about their instructors'…

This study examined teaching assistant's immediacy in lecture/laboratory and self-contained classes. Two hundred fifty-six students responded to instruments measuring teachers' immediacy behavior frequency, perceptions of instruction quality, and cognitive learning. No significant difference was identified when comparing…

The present study investigates the frequency and confidence with which college students endorse popular psychological myths, contrasting introductory psychology students (at the beginning and end of the course) with upper-level psychology majors and students who have never taken Introduction to Psychology. This study builds on the existing…

In response to a request from a campus student organization, faculty from three fields came together to develop and teach an integrated interdisciplinary course on water issues and social activism. This course, "Water as Life, Death, and Power," brought together issues from the fields of anthropology, biology and chemistry to explore…

This article shares an innovative advanced course design that incorporates cultural connections and comparisons, interpersonal communication, and a relaxing classroom environment to facilitate learning and language development. By using authentic texts as the medium for learning, it provides a case example of an upper-division curriculum that…

Learner-centered environments effectively implement multiple teaching techniques to enhance students' higher education experience and provide them with greater control over their academic learning. This qualitative study involves an exploration of the eight reasons for learner-centered teaching found in Terry Doyle's 2008 book,…

Learning takes place both inside and outside of the classroom. While there are a few studies that focus on the professional, developmental, and learning outcomes of participation in student organizations, there has been insufficient research on these outcomes in sport clubs. The paper reports on the results of an online, primarily qualitative…

This study explored the experiences of gateway course instructors during the implementation of pedagogical changes aimed at improving the success of diverse students. A detailed case study was built through analysis of peer observations, focus groups, oral and written reflections, student grades, in-depth interviews, and pre and post student…

Comprehension of geologic time does not come easily, especially for students who are studying the earth sciences for the first time. This project investigated the potential success of two teaching interventions that were designed to help non-science majors enrolled in an introductory geology class gain a richer conceptual understanding of the…

The purposes of the current study were to evaluate a measure of academic dishonesty and examine high ability college students' loci of control and its effect on behaviors of academic dishonesty, as moderated by academic self-concept. A total of 357 high ability college students enrolled at two universities in the southwestern United States…

Service learning is a well established pedagogy within higher education. Specifically, service learning allows students to engage in "real world" activities to practice skills and reflect upon their own competence. To enhance the effectiveness of service learning, instructors need to consider a multitude of learning influences. This…

Scholarly discourse has emphasized the need for culturally competent practices. Additionally, multicultural self-efficacy has been found to be critical in working with clients from diverse backgrounds, however, there is a relative paucity of literature on how to teach counselor trainees to be culturally competent and self-efficacious (Kim &…

This paper describes a project that aimed to leverage the students' interest and experience of technology and multimodal environments to develop their academic writing skills and second language learning. Students were expected to follow a model, research a topic, and craft a digital video tutorial on an aspect of academic writing which would…

One goal of service and community-based learning is to produce students who are more tightly engaged in the larger communities surrounding their institutions. Drawing on data from three courses, we argue that an asset-based approach plays a role in creating authentic campus-community partnerships that strive to engage students as members of the…