This interactive, cross-disciplinary research explores face-to-face and online strategies for faculty to deploy in the classroom that encourage connections beyond forced engagement methodologies commonly used. Concentration is on methods of connecting that are "out of the mainstream" and benefit both students and faculty. Findings…

This paper describes a case study of two pure mathematicians who flipped their lecture to teach matrix determinants in two large mathematics service courses (one at Stage I and the other at Stage II). The purpose of the study was to transform the passive lecture into an active learning opportunity and to introduce valuable mathematical skills,…

In this article we present an "instrumental approach" in mathematics education, which focuses on the interactions between students, teachers, and "artefacts." This approach analyses "mediations" attached to the use of a given artefact and "instruments" developed by the subjects from this artefact along…

This section shares recent dissertations and theses with the "Journal of International Students" readers. There were about 139 graduate dissertations and theses related to the issues and challenges of international students in 2016. The complete versions of these selected dissertations are available in the ProQuest, Michigan-based…

As one of the top U.S. choices for international students, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a solid reputation in China and a history of educating Chinese students that goes back more than a century. But the university did not realize until last June that its nickname in China is the "Cornfield Ivy" and that Chinese…

The first five articles of this series on technologies that enable collaboration, highlighted ways to foster shared learning experiences among students. For this, the final installment, focus is shifted to teachers. States, districts, and groups of teachers are enhancing their collaboration opportunities through synchronous online meetings and…

At the end of 2010, for the first time ever, smartphones outsold PCs. Mobile device adoption rates continue to rise rapidly around the world. A recent forecast by Cisco found that global mobile data traffic more than doubled last year, and by the end of 2012, the number of mobile devices in use will outnumber the world's population. In the United…

This article features the winners of this year's "Campus Technology Innovator" competition. The winners are: (1) Drexel University, Pennsylvania (outsourcing); (2) Darton College, Georgia (3D); (3) Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (ePortfolios); (4) University of Michigan (the Web); (5) University of Tennessee College of…

About a decade ago, a team of librarians and technologists at the University of Texas at Austin began development on a Web-based tutorial for undergraduate students. The tutorial used a range of technologies--HTML, Flash, javascript--to create four modules that emphasized information literacy concepts by using a mix of text, images, interactive…

Five trends are emerging that will not only change the role of human capital in the United States but will also challenge the legacy system of workforce development, skills and competency-focused institutions, and assuredly, community colleges. Workforce investment boards, for example, are currently geographically constrained in environments that…

Research indicates that thoughtful technology use can positively influence learning process inside and outside the classroom, and one-to-one computing has been gaining popularity. Although some view such initiatives as passing, others look at the mounting research and see opportunities to reshape the nature of instruction and learning. This brief…