This article considers the role of reflective practice in work-based learning in higher education. The benefits of using reflection for learning at work have been widely recognised and the pedagogy to support reflection is now established. However, the use of reflective practice has been subjected to considerable critique, and many of the…

The teaching of classical Greek dramas is integral to drama education at the University of Pretoria. In the past few years these dramas increasingly faced the danger of becoming "foreign"/irrelevant to modern day students. The introduction of performance practice to teach these dramas brought a whole new dimension to teaching and…

Higher education needs to provide challenging yet supportive learning environments catering for students with diverse academic needs. There is also an emphasis on using student-driven outcome measures to determine teaching effectiveness. How can these measures be used to reflect upon and evaluate teaching initiatives? Using an undergraduate…

This article describes an innovative curriculum design that has been created at a research-intensive university to prepare Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) for their role as teachers within higher education. The underlying concepts and frameworks for the design of the programme are discussed in depth in an attempt to unpack the assumptions that…

This article examines the potential and limitations of Megan Boler's "pedagogy of discomfort" in a post-apartheid yet heavily racialised South Africa. Taking an 'ethnographic sensibility' to anthropological teaching, this paper sketches the social and historical context of discomfort produced by everyday classroom…

This paper will review existing literature on Open Educational Resources (OER). It is intended to examine and critique the theories which underpin the promotion of OER in higher education, not provide guidance on their implementation. (1) I will introduce the concepts of positive and negative liberty to suggest an under-theorisation of the term…

Despite the common use of the term reflection in higher education assessment tasks, learners are not often taught "how" to communicate their disciplinary knowledge through reflection. This paper argues that students can and should be taught how to reflect in deep and transformative ways. It highlights the reflexive pedagogical balancing…

Early career university teachers often have limited experience of the higher education literature making it difficult for them to identify what ideas have become central to justifying what university teachers ought to be doing in higher education teaching and learning. A review of the research literature in journals focused on teaching and…

Interest in the field of criminal justice continues to grow and attract students to this area of higher education. These students typically represent society in that their beliefs about the justice system are based on media depictions, not education or experience. This study surveyed Introduction to Criminal Justice students from two universities,…

The current study assessed and compared university students' perceptions' of a novice and an experienced physics instructor's Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). Two college physics instructors and 116 students voluntarily participated in this study. The research model comprised three workshops, mid-term and final evaluations and…

Students' emotions can significantly enhance or distract from learning. This paper details a case study of innovative pedagogy in which an "emotional curriculum" was central to my teaching. The analysis of student journals, on-line discussions, and metaphorical exercises revealed a vicissitude of emotions that stemmed from challenging course…

Note-taking in lectures is often taken to be the distinguishing characteristic of learning at university. It is typically assumed that this is a commonsensical skill that students either have or will learn through trial and error. The data from a research project in one New Zealand university suggest that taking good notes is not a skill that…

PhDs by publications are a relatively new model for doctoral research, especially in the context of the Humanities or Education. This paper describes two writers' experiences of conducting doctoral studies in this genre and in these faculties. Each discover alternative ways of employing a body of published research papers in development of an…

This paper considers both the difficulties and the opportunities created by the mounting political pressures on UK universities to increase the "employability" of undergraduate students. Using the subject of criminology as an example, the paper considers tensions that can be created when practitioners are brought into the academy to contribute…

To examine the differences between feedback practices in liberal arts courses and in design courses, we surveyed 373 students with experiences of both. Our study found that students perceived the feedback they received in design courses as more effective in advancing their learning, and that the emotional effects of feedback presented verbally and…