This study examined whether and how the effects of student-faculty interaction on a range of student outcomes--such as college GPA, critical thinking and communication skills, academic satisfaction, and cultural appreciation and social awareness--vary by students' academic disciplines. The study utilized data on 37,977 undergraduate students…

The combination of theater and community-based service-learning can be a powerful tool to allow university students to meet their educational goals while connecting them with the world. The performance of children's theater in elementary schools with English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs, for example, has important…

The author argues that there is still too much teaching to the test, and the consequence is growing "constellations" of problem-based learning (PBL), some of which are useful, and some of which are not. Today, what passes for PBL practice often seems more like guidelines than any kind of reasoned pedagogy. While at one level the range of…

The authors address three questions: (1) What are the foundational practices of team-based learning (TBL)? (2) What are the fundamental principles underlying TBL's foundational practices? and (3) In what ways are TBL's foundational practices similar to and/or different from the practices employed by problem-based learning (PBL) and…

Group and team tasks are the culminating outputs of student learning in team and collaborative learning environments. How they are conceived and designed, therefore, can directly determine the success of the pedagogical strategy. A key design issue for creating effective tasks is how best to focus student knowledge, observation, and analysis…

Twenty-first century teaching and learning focus on the fundamental skills of critical thinking and problem solving, creativity and innovation, and collaboration and communication. Metacognition is a crucial aspect of both problem solving and critical thinking, but it is often difficult to get students to engage in authentic metacognitive…

Teaching in the digital age has become increasingly challenging for college and university faculty. Application, relevance, and active engagement rather than traditional PowerPoint slide show lectures are what our technology-savvy, socially networked students crave and need to keep their attention and interest levels high. Using a combination of…

The authors developed a methodology for evaluating student answers on homework assigned in 3 sections (total N = 167) of an undergraduate educational psychology course. The potential of homework to predict exam scores was compared with that of two established predictors (critical thinking and participation in class discussion). The findings…

Classroom questions represent a potentially powerful tool for interacting with students and stimulating critical thinking. However, the efficacy of the question-and-answer approach to teaching is influenced by many factors, such as the type and cognitive level of questions asked as well as students' response time. To examine these factors and…

From 2003-2007 at the New England College of Optometry, the Integrative Seminar Course (ISC) was used to facilitate students' learning of clinical reasoning. To examine students' perceptions and experiences regarding their learning, an end-of-year Likert-style survey was administered to 96 first-year students after completion of the ISC. Analysis…

Even seasoned public relations (PR) practitioners can find it difficult to handle communications during a crisis situation when the consequences of making poor decisions may seem overwhelming. This article shares results from using a collaborative simulation to teach college students about crisis communications in an advanced-level PR course.…

This mixed-method study focuses on the impact of using electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) in a graduate capstone course as a tool for increasing students' critical thinking and self-directed learning. The primary results indicate that the e-portfolio, as both a tool and a process, shows great potential. This study also reveals the capacity of…

The authors present a case study examining a university library initiative intended to increase students' information literacy through effective collaboration with teaching faculty--specifically, the collaboration between an academic librarian and a social work professor. The professor participated in the information literacy initiative and…

Introducing first-year college students to complex thinking is often complicated by their reliance on external authority. A key task for educators is identifying the nature of experiences that offer academic challenge yet are accompanied with sufficient support for students to engage these challenges meaningfully. The authors report the nature of…

This study involved students enrolled in a first-year service-learning course and explored the relationship between service-learning, academic self-confidence, and integration into the college experience. Descriptive statistics and qualitative document analysis of participant-produced texts were used to depict the students' perceptions regarding…