Students in a course on the psychology of language and thought first wrote flash fiction stories and analyzed them using course concepts. As an experiential learning exercise, they subsequently analyzed those stories for a number of psycholinguistic variables using the discourse technology Coh-Metrix. Their assignment was to change a number of…

Instructors from five disciplines implemented content-specific service projects and determined students' perceptions of their experience. An action research framework was used to examine the experiences and to analyze data in customizable pre- and post-service-learning surveys. Although the students' experiences differed greatly, results showed…

It is both important and challenging to assess transfer of skills learned through coursework and related organizational and societal contributions. The author describes an action research study to determine the effectiveness of a doctoral course in program evaluation. Using Kirkpatrick's (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2006) four-level evaluation…

This mixed-method study examined, through functional context theory, secondary pre-service teachers' retention of literacy assessments and interventions upon completion of their final field experience. Data were collected from undergraduate and graduate pre-service teachers in two formats: (a) a cross-sectional Likert scale and open-ended question…

Diversity courses in higher education often seek to deepen understanding of the systematic advantages associated with dominant group membership, such as white privilege. Most pedagogical studies of privilege awareness examine the impact of full-length diversity courses on white privilege awareness (Case, 2007; Kernahan & Davis, 2009; Lawrence…

We examined the effects of team-based learning (TBL) versus traditional and enhanced lecture-based instruction over time (Study 1; N = 532 nursing students) and the psychometric properties of the Team Based Learning Student Assessment Instrument (TBL-SAI), a popular measure of reactions to TBL (Study 2; N = 323 nursing and medical students).…

This cross-sectional survey study (N = 222) examined the influences of employment on graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in majors with significant internship or practicum requirements (journalism, social work, nursing and health sciences). The study is unique in that student perceptions regarding the challenges and rewards of working…

The authors used a mixed-methods research design to evaluate a multi-tiered system of supports model to address the disturbing failure rates of underprepared college students placed in developmental mathematics at a small state university. While qualitative data gathered from using Participatory Action Research methods directed the two-year…

This study revisits case learning's effects on student engagement and assesses student learning as a result of the use of case studies and problem-based learning. The author replicates a previous study that used indirect assessment techniques to get at case learning's impact, and then extends the analysis using a pre- and post-test experimental…

Prior research indicates that the frequency with which students participate in classroom discussion is positively related to learning. This study examines students' perceptions of the relationship between their class discussion participation and learning and between preparation and both comfort with participating and actual discussion…

Required first-year English courses present instructors with a challenge common in the humanities: How do we motivate students to engage in active reading rather than passively scroll down online guides? Introductory literature courses aim to develop students' critical thinking through close reading, analysis, and argumentation--skills demanding…

The author argues that deliberation is an innovative method for teaching communication skills, particularly group communication, in the undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum. A case study using a deliberation activity on global climate change in an introductory biology course demonstrates how deliberative…

Expanding faculty buy-in to retention efforts may be improved through training and opportunities for assessment. Materials created for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) faculty based on the scholarly literature may dispel the view held by some that student attrition is beneficial to STEM disciplines and may expand an…

This mixed-methods research study compared the level of community of inquiry (CoI) in online graduate classes that use web conferencing (WC) compared to those that do not. This study also investigated students' perceptions of Teaching Presence (TP), Social Presence (SP), and Cognitive Presence (CP). The authors found that students had…

Students in an undergraduate psychology course on Learning and Cognition used SKO (formerly AutoTutor Lite), an Intelligent Tutoring System, to create interactive lessons in which a pedagogic agent (animated avatar) engages users in a tutorial dialogue. After briefly describing the technology and underlying psychological theory, data from an…