This paper discusses a sophomore-level course that teaches engineering design and technical writing. Historically, the course was taught using semester-long design projects. Most students' overall approach to design problems left considerable room for improvement. Many teams chose a design without investigating alternatives, and important…

Post-matric students from under-resourced (historically disadvantaged) black high schools generally encounter difficulties in their academic work at university. The study reported here was intended to empower first year (post-matric) students from these schools with basic research skills in a bid to counteract the effects of their high school…

It is desirable that reasoning, problem-solving and decision-making skills should form an integral part of our private and professional lives. Here we show how these skills can be improved through the use of the ARDESOS program. To test the effect of the program, we have also developed an assessment test (PENCRISAL). Our results are going in the…

This study reports the findings of an investigation of the factors influencing the use and usefulness of wikis in an introductory, undergraduate information systems course. Informed by the media choice, technology acceptance model from information systems research, and group collaborative learning research from the education literature, a survey…

The advancements of ICT have impacted significantly on educators to utilise the technologies in their classrooms (Sivapalan & Wan Fatimah, 2010). There is also a significant move to make curriculum and content more authentic and relevant for student learning (Apple, 2008) and to allow students to become creative thinkers and problem solvers.…

Many studies have indicated that by having students work in groups and participate in project-based activities provide a more active approach to their learning process. With the increased emphasis on social constructivism, the need to acquire communications, organizational and teamwork skills have become vital lifelong learning skills for the…

The authors describe an original and unique series of classroom group-work activities organized as a competitive game called "Project Psychology," which was implemented in an Introduction to Psychology course. The project goals included increasing student participation, interest, content comprehension, and motivation. Fostering…

Helping students take ownership of their learning is often a challenge in a large lecture course. In this article, the authors describe a nature of science-oriented group project in a chemistry course in which students gave presentations in concurrent conference sessions as well as its impact on student learning as evidenced through multiple data…

A frequent task in educational settings is to assign students to groups based on stated preferences for some projects or topics. This paper introduces a web-based tool supporting both the work flow of collecting student data and the group formation. The latter is based on finding optimal solutions to suitable mathematical assignment problems,…

Economics education has been a topic of research interest to many economists. In addition, the philosophical and ethical content of economics and its role in economics education has been an issue of discussion. Chapter 1 of my dissertation addresses what topics should be ignored in a principles of microeconomics class, what the goal of the…

Web-based collaboration tools and groupware are uniquely qualified to address the emerging business opportunities heretofore hindered by location barriers, constraints of time, and expensive travel costs. Global business enterprises are implementing online collaboration software to augment their face-to-face meetings and group decision making in…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical, reflective examination of the organisation, delivery and evaluation of a training event conducted by postgraduate students undertaking a module on human resource development. Design/methodology/approach: The paper seeks to offer a triangulation of semi-structured interviews, archival…

To prepare students for effective workplace learning, it is necessary to have insight into the contextual characteristics that affect students' developing interest. Aiming at students to become self-regulated learners, teachers should act as mindful coaches, encouraging their students to monitor the quality of collaborative group work. A field…

This article analyses an experience in collaborative learning in an asynchronous writing environment through discussion forums on a WebCt platform of the University of Huelva's virtual campus, and was part of an innovative teaching project in 2007-08. The main objectives are to describe the processes of collaborative knowledge construction and the…

Our full-year capstone design course, "Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Design Methodology and Application," focuses on both design methodology and design application. We redesigned the course to more effectively prepare students for the "application" aspect of design. The approach was essentially to implement a short…