College faculty often struggle with getting their students to read assigned materials. Even if students do read, they may not read closely or critically. Not only does the lack of effective reading undermine understanding, but it also hampers class discussions and engagement. To promote close and critical reading in a required, upper-division…

Background: The "Trickle-Down Engagement Model" posits that instructor engagement promotes student engagement which, in turn, has positive implications for student learning. Objective: Our goal was to provide evidence-based practical recommendations for instructors to communicate their engagement with course material to students,…

In research practice, it is common to measure cognitive load after learning using self-report scales. This approach can be considered risky because it is unclear on what basis learners assess cognitive load, particularly when the learning material contains varying levels of complexity. This raises questions that have yet to be answered by…

Globalisation has increased cultural diversity in Chinese higher education, highlighting needs for intercultural competence development. However, suitable China-centric resources are lacking. This study evaluates intercultural learning materials developed by the RICH-Ed project, an intercultural communication textbook grounded in critical social…

This study aims to: Produce teaching materials in the form of microbiology e-books based on research results on the isolation of styrofoam degrading soil bacteria. Testing the effect of using e-books on improving students' science process skills. The e-book preparation method refers to the Lee and Owens development model and is implemented in…

Qualified and compatible teaching materials are one of the most economical and practical instruments for developing critical thinking skills and scientific attitudes. This study aims to obtain a valid and effective Pancasila and Civic Education Basic Concept teaching material design to improve students' critical thinking skills and scientific…

This study explores calculus students' opportunities to learn the concepts of integral by examining one mathematician's videotaped lessons and the textbook. Results show that both lessons and the textbook introduce important cognitive resources briefly and focus on other units of knowledge. Implications to these results are also discussed.

The split-attention effect posits that learning outcomes are negatively impacted when interrelated text and graphics are spatially segregated rather than cohesively integrated. This study explored how the instructional material's presentation size influences the manifestation of the split-attention effect. Based on cognitive load theory and…

This research examines the effect of branding in higher education on students' learning outcomes. In three experiments, we show that identical educational material associated with strong (vs. weak or unknown) brand names can boost students' performance on various educational assessments. We find that this effect occurs via an expectancy mechanism.…

We investigated university students' engagement with digital textbooks by analysing their real-time viewing and use in a linear algebra course taught at four different universities in the United States. Viewing data over a semester was complemented with responses to bi-weekly open-ended surveys and other course artefacts, such as course syllabi.…

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is recognized as essential in preparing EFL students for their professional careers. Understanding students' perceptions and needs in ESP courses can provide significant insights for improving ESP programs and training for ESP practitioners. This study investigated university students' needs and learning…

This case study describes and discusses how student-faculty partnerships can be strengthened through design thinking and the establishment of shared ignorance, i.e., an awareness of how none of the involved parties understands the problem or knows the optimum solution of the partnership project. As a case, we use a student-faculty project that…

Many college students struggle to adopt effective study strategies. Although many academic support centers disseminate resources on study strategies and help students to strengthen these skills, students do not fully utilize the resources or support. This study explored using an online asynchronous discussion (OAD) board as a space to embed five…

Using learning objectives to guide course design is often considered an educational best practice, but little research exists that explores how students use them over time and across courses. We surveyed students on their use and perceived value of learning objectives as the semester progressed across four science, technology, engineering, and…

Blended learning (BL) combines traditional classroom activities with online learning resources, enabling students to obtain higher academic performance through well-defined interactive learning strategies. However, lacking the capacity to self-regulate their learning, many students might fail to comprehensively study the learning materials after…