In order to improve the student success rate in a "gateway" undergraduate Biology course, changes were made to both content delivery and classroom support, and the impact of these changes was measured. Requiring students to interact with course material prior to class time by viewing pre-recorded lectures freed up time in class to delve…

Although many professors realize that note taking while listening to a lecture results in shallow learning and a lack of student engagement (Hartley & Davies, 1978), lecturing remains the primary mode of instruction. A recent challenger to the dominant notetaking/PowerPoint paradigm is Reacting to the Past (RTTP). To capitalize on the…

To improve student motivation, the authors propose a five-step process that entails learning about a motivation framework, identifying students' motivational challenges based on that framework, adopting interventions to address those challenges, and assessing the effectiveness of the interventions. In particular, they recommend adopting the…

The persistence of postgraduate research students is an ongoing challenge for many university programs. The author describes several curriculum innovations that were implemented based on the recommendations in the literature for improving student persistence and self-efficacy for conducting research and the results of a qualitative needs…

Professors in a university setting questioned whether requiring students to take in-class notes for points toward their final grade would affect students' quiz scores post-lecture. Students were assigned to one of two conditions: no-notes-required control and required note-taking experimental. A mixed-design analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used…

The benefits of instructor immediacy have been well researched over the past 40 years. This study investigated students' comfort with instructors' nonverbal immediacy behaviors. University students reported their comfort with three nonverbal communication behaviors: haptics, proxemics, and kinesics. A series of paired-sampled t tests suggested a…

The University of Wyoming recently implemented a Learning Assistant (LA) program with the goal of supporting undergraduate students in traditionally lecture-based STEM courses. The authors performed a multi-method qualitative study utilizing a focus group and individual interviews in order to investigate the impact of the program's pilot year on…

This mixed-methods study examined end-of-semester evaluations from an undergraduate course comparing perceptions of instructional support, academic support, and instructor caring in online and face-to-face settings. Results showed statistically significant differences in perceptions of instructional support, with lower ratings in online sections.…

To investigate the variation in active learning used in college science courses, the authors analyzed 57 comparison studies published in three prominent science education journals. Focusing on three sources of variation--(a) the active learning activities, (b) other pedagogical features, and (c) course structure/design--they found that most…

Introductory college courses are designed to comprehensively introduce divergent disciplines (Zipp, 2012) and can prepare students to understand the risks for multiple minoritized identities in their fields of study (Shriberg, 2016). This approach is effective, however, only if faculty are appropriately equipped to use intersectional pedagogy.…

Reflection is a familiar term in higher education that is often recommended as a means of improving teaching. Employing a qualitative interview approach, the author examines some of the characteristics of the reflective practices of four excellent instructors teaching in a U.S.-modeled university. The instructors' accounts draw on John Dewey's…

When faced with unexpected and charged conversations about race, class, gender, and other social identities, faculty often seek a list a strategies for what to say or do. Yet numerous, sometimes contradictory, strategies for navigating these discussions already exist. This article explores the issue of how might faculty and/or the faculty…

Traditional active learning classrooms can support student collaboration and increase student engagement, but they are costly (Park & Choi, 2014). This study examined students' perceptions of a traditional active learning classroom ($250,000 approximate cost) and a low-cost active learning classroom ($10,000 approximate cost) in an…

The ability to work effectively in teams is an essential skill. There has been recent interest in applying knowledge of striving instincts to improve student attitudes and performance within teams. The authors report results from a mixed-methods study examining the impact of utilizing striving instinct categories for team formation, along with…

Team-based learning (TBL) is a non-traditional method of instruction that utilizes permanent teams working together to solve problems and make decisions. The authors extend the prior TBL criminal justice literature through a detailed explanation of the use of application-focused activities in the classroom. Specifically, application-focused…