University educators increasingly face groups or classes of students with diverse academic levels, challenging a 'one size fits all' approach to teaching. In this article, we examine whether and how differentiated teaching, especially the concept of student readiness, can be applied to assess and respond to academic diversity, exemplified by two…

The increasing calls for diversity research signal a need to explore contemporary learning and instruction strategies that respond to diversity in courses and curricula. The major objective of this research was to measure the level of openness to diversity and challenge (ODC) among college students as a function of their perceived constructivist…

Academia is generally not considered a place for expressing emotions, yet emotions are inevitably present in complex activities such as teaching. We investigated whether drawings could be used as a means of gaining access to emotions in university teaching and how. The data consisted of academics' drawings of themselves as university teachers…

This study was aimed at mapping features of constructivist activities in higher education settings, constructing and validating a new scale for measuring their presence in lecture face-to-face based environments (LBE), seminars (SM), and distance learning environments (DLE). A mix-method approach was implemented in three phases. The first phase…

This article discusses the results when integrating digital versatile disc (DVD) technology in full-time second-year geography for BEd degree students at a university in South Africa, a developing country. It proposes a framework for the integration of the DVD in geography teaching and learning, steered by students' needs, feedback and…

This empirical study is an examination of what staff are doing in their classes, the difficulties they encounter, and the way in which they judge their effectiveness. (Author/LBH)

A survey of 40 British university students in their third year of history study investigated student motivation in studying history, the role of the teacher, characteristics of good and bad seminars, effectiveness of the lecture method, and perceptions of different student assessment methods. (MSE)

This book is designed to help new faculty members in engineering and the sciences become effective teachers and researchers. Part 1 focuses on teaching, and includes six chapters which cover: characteristics of student learning, planning a course, conducting discussions and lectures, preparing examinations and assignments for students, and working…

London School of Economics and Political Science (England) course evaluations were used to examine whether teachers assessed differently across courses have distinguishing characteristics, and whether courses assessed especially discrepantly for one teacher have distinguishing features. Results show course-level characteristics (class size, number…

The team teaching concept is examined in this study and three working models for team teaching an education course at Middle Tennessee State University are described. The goal was to develop a model that could be easily adapted to a variety of situations and disciplines, and one that would serve as a demonstration model. The first model consisted…

College teaching, teaching skills, and practical problems are considered. The emphasis on subject matter specialization in graduate school and effects on the preparation of college teachers are considered, along with suggestions about what beginning college teachers need to know beyond subject matter training. After briefly considering assumptions…

Intended for instructors teaching a college course for the first time, this anthology contains short readings organized into four sections on: (1) introductory concerns, (2) course planning, (3) instructional methods, and (4) evaluation. Each section is preceded by a brief introduction. Included are the following articles: "It's a Myth: Nobody…