This study examines what undergraduate students say they learn about engaging with difference and across cultures in the Michigan Union and the Trotter Multicultural Center at the University of Michigan, a historically white institution. The University of Michigan is a historically white institution because of its majority of white students,…

Physics education research (PER) has used quantitative modeling techniques to explore learning, affect, and other aspects of physics education. However, these studies have rarely examined the predictive output of the models, instead focusing on the inferences or causal relationships observed in various data sets. This research introduces a modern…

Despite the growing presence of students as partners (SAP) in education research and the overlap of goals with learning assistant (LA) programs, there is little research done on pedagogy- and curriculum-focused student partnerships that involve LAs. LAs have expertise as both teachers and learners, so why not leverage this expertise to improve the…

This article details a case study testing the effectiveness of a new curriculum for undergraduate public affairs reporting. Our intervention focused on restructuring an undergraduate reporting class to focus on a single issue (schools) and introduce mapping and video, whereas control groups used the old curriculum that was print-heavy and had no…

When it comes to what higher education students know about sustainability, where they learn matters. In this study, we explore the extent to which students' level of sustainability knowledge differed according to where they previously learned about the environment. In an online survey administered to undergraduate students enrolled at Michigan…

A body of research suggests that learning communities provide a range of academic benefits by increasing social connectedness. Researchers have also hypothesized that informal learning spaces--nonclassroom spaces (NCSs)--can facilitate learning by supporting social connectedness. This study uses qualitative methods to explore the way nonclassroom…

In this article, we examine how students in a general education quantitative literacy course reason with public issues when unprompted to use quantitative reasoning. Michigan State University, like many institutions, not only has a quantitative literacy requirement for all undergraduates but also offers two courses specifically for meeting the…

This article traces the reconceptualization of a primarily co-curricular undergraduate enrichment program, from experienced-based to competency-based development. It argues that, rather than holding a central place in the program's curriculum, the concept of "deliberative democracy" that grounds the program is best understood as an…

Community colleges are a valuable and important commodity in the education system in the United States. As of 2015, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) reports that there are 1,123 active community colleges, with 28 community colleges in the state of Michigan. The AACC further reports a headcount of 12.4 million students based on…

Reacting to the Past (RTTP) is an innovative history pedagogy adopted by colleges and universities nationwide, in many cases as part of programming for first-year students. It is a methodology of teaching history that emphasizes active learning and student engagement. In many ways, RTTP is a form of a "flipped classroom," in which…

We developed a hybrid course format (part online, part face-to-face) to deliver a high-enrollment, introductory environmental biology course to resident (living on or near campus), non-science majors at a large, public university. The hybrid course was structured to include bi-weekly online assignments and weekly meetings in the lecture hall…