Although affect is widely recognized as a powerful force in determining students' academic success, researchers and practitioners have paid little attention to emotional barriers that often impede college success or how instructors may respond constructively when such barriers arise. The purpose of this paper is to initiate discussion of this…

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the learning approaches of students taking their first course in accounting at a United States or an Irish university. The data for this study was gathered from 204 students in the U.S. and 309 in Ireland, using the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST, 1997) which measures…

This paper reports findings from an empirical four-year study designed to investigate the relationship between key constructs of an extended model of teaching and learning in higher education. Using a mixed-methods approach, we sought to assess the impact of a year-long faculty development program (FDP) designed for pre-tenure faculty on…

The purpose of this study was to provide an exploratory investigation of college-level instructors' sense of teaching and collective efficacy. We investigated the relations of teacher- and collective-efficacy with a series of variables: experience, professional level, age, gender, academic domain (for teacher-efficacy only), and academic…

Teaching and learning, as two of the most fundamental components of the educational process, have been of interest to a variety of individuals concerned with tertiary education for a long time (e.g., Biggs & Moore, 1993; Marton, 1997; Ramsden, 2003). Few individuals would deny that learning is the primary purpose of higher education and that…

The concept of critical thinking was featured in taxonomies a few decades ago. Critical thinking is a complex process that requires higher levels of cognitive skills in the processing of information. The teachers' perceptions of critical thinking among students influence their behaviors in the classroom. It has been found that teachers perceive…

This article describes a pilot project carried out at City University London, Department of Language and Communication Science, where adult service users with learning disabilities trained first-year speech and language therapy students. The training involved presentations by the service users on their involvement in interviewing support staff,…

This paper reviews the use of extended case studies as a teaching method to deeply engage students in the learning and understanding of policy theory. Discussion commences with a review of the literature on the use of case method as an approach to teaching and learning and then critiques the results of student surveys that questioned their…

This study examines various aspects of an effective teaching evaluation system. In particular, reference is made to the potential of Fink's (2008) four main dimensions of teaching as a summative evaluation model for effective teaching and learning. It is argued that these dimensions can be readily accommodated in a Teaching Portfolio process. The…

A typical college classroom is often pictured with the professor talking for several hours while students frantically try to write down everything that is said. This type of classroom has traditionally produced surface learning and has done little to promote learning that lasts. Do university classrooms have to be professor driven? Can university…

The article intends to simplify the different aspects of podcasting. The article covers types of podcasts; the pedagogical benefits of podcasting; the connection between theory and podcasting; answers to questions, queries, and apprehensions. Before trying out a new tool, it is important to understand why we do things the way we do. A crucial part…

Through globalization, the world is becoming smaller, placing responsibility on the educational system to prepare tolerant, culturally empathetic learners. In response to this rising demand, students from a U.S. Midwestern university and another from St. Petersburg, Russia, met on a video bridge and learned intercultural communications by…

Writing requires reflective thinking that takes time. Yet, our technological society has speeded up the pace of our everyday lived experience. This article describes a systematic method developed by two tenured faculty at geographically distant universities to demystify the process of professional academic writing. Using action research as method,…

"Cura personalis" (care of the individual) represents one of the core ideals of all Jesuit colleges and universities. At one urban Jesuit college, faculty members of The School of Education and Human Services and The College of Arts and Sciences initiated a service-learning project in a freshman level pedagogical core course. One goal of the…

Many instructors teach courses that prepare students to do research individually or in teams. These instructors also supervise their students' research projects. Continuous and systematic use of action research principles can help instructors prepare for problems that may develop when students encounter unfamiliar issues at research sites due to…