Using an experimental study design (N = 41), we examined whether participation in an informal writing assignment, specifically writing a letter to a friend about course content, improved exam scores in an undergraduate child development course. Findings indicated that participating in the writing assignment significantly improved scores on an exam…

There have been great changes in the numbers of students studying psychology at degree level in the UK since 1961--the year the author graduated. And, similarly there have been great changes in what is taught--with an ever-widening set of theoretical developments and practical applications. Nonetheless, despite these developments, the author…

In his article, "Reflections on 50 years of teaching psychology", James Hartley concludes that the teaching of psychology has changed relatively little over the past several decades. As someone whose teaching career covered a very similar time period, I agree in general terms with that assessment. In this article, however, I focus on some of the…

In this article, the author shares his response to James Hartley's "Reflections on 50 years of teaching psychology". The author finds it very interesting to read James Hartley's reflections on the teaching of psychology and he thought it would be worth adding a rather different perspective, while agreeing with Hartley's main conclusions about the…

In this article, the author shares his response to James Hartley's "Reflections on 50 years of teaching psychology". Hartley concludes that the teaching of psychology has changed relatively little over the past several decades. The author states that his way of teaching now is very different from his way of 1975. This essay is about the…

In his article, "Reflections on 50 years of teaching psychology", James Hartley concludes that the teaching of psychology has changed relatively little over the past several decades. Hartley begins his paper on a personal note with recollections of his first university teaching experience at Keele University. In his paper Hartley comments on the…

In responding to Hartley (2011), this paper considers his concluding remarks as recommendations for the future of teaching undergraduate psychology and challenges the position that the teaching of psychology hasn't altered vastly during the last 50 years. In doing so, it is acknowledged that the content and delivery of higher education psychology…

In responding to Jim Hartley, with whom I very largely agree, I first reflect on my own experience of teaching Psychology in an institution which was successively college of technology, polytechnic and university. In the second a new and fruitful method of assessing higher education essentially by peer review was developed, only to be destroyed in…

This article presents the author's response to peer commentary on his article entitled "Reflections on 50 years of teaching psychology." The author is pleased that most of them share some of his concerns about the lack of progress in the teaching of psychology over the last 50 years, and he welcomes the fact that they then go on to raise…

This paper presents some possibilities for applying the linguistic and psychological theories of two dialogists, Mikhail Bakhtin and Jacques Lacan, to the classroom. There is a short summary of how the two theories may interact with each other and then a discussion of their two opposing views of identity formation. Bakhtin was a Russian, coming…

In this paper we discuss the development and running of a residential animal behaviour field trip. The trip has a number of elements that challenge and develop the students. First, this trip is open to students at levels two, three and M. This allows us to engineer a certain amount of peer assisted learning. Second, the students live together and…

Recent Higher Education Funding Council research echoes previous findings that student satisfaction scores differ between subject areas (HEFCE, 2011). However, there remains a paucity of research attempting to account for this, and these differences have only been reported for final-year student satisfaction. It is unclear at what stage during a…

The legacy and sustainability of a university education requires student independence and ownership of learning. Adopting a student-centred constructivist approach to teaching and learning allows students to develop a web of self-constructed, interconnected understanding, and supports their development into lifelong learners. The efficacy of this…

There is growing concern among many regarding plagiarism within student writing. This has promoted investigation into both the factors that predict plagiarism and potential methods of reducing plagiarism. Consequently, we developed and evaluated an intervention to enhance good practice within academic writing through the use of the plagiarism…

Psychology is a science-based discipline in which research is inextricably embedded in teaching and learning activities. Educators use different methods to help students in their learning of the nature of research and the practical skills required to conduct research, with students playing either a passive or more active role in the learning…