Over the last decade, Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced an increased volume of funding and training activities to support research capacity development. However, there are persistent deficits in the number of active investigators conducting independent research with their own grants. To address this deficit, research institutions need to find an…

Visualization skills are believed to be a strong indicator of success in engineering, science, and a variety of other careers. Previous studies have compared the visualization skills of first year engineering students in the US with their cohorts in Europe and Brazil, but to date there have been no data reported for developing countries in Africa.…

In this paper, a course on applied superconductivity is described. The course structure is outlined and the learning objectives and the learning activities are described. The teaching was multidisciplinary given by four departments each contributing with their expertise. Being applied superconductivity, the focus was on an application, which could…

The relevance of short learning programmes as an alternative to full-time tertiary degree courses at open and distance learning institutions forms the primary focus of this article. A new kind of student is on the increase in higher education: the mature student who prefers to study part-time in order to combine his or her studies with the…

This article reports on a qualitative study that explored the experiences of eight Hong Kong teachers of academic subjects who undertook a full-time, short-term professional development course (PDC) designed to provide them with specialized knowledge and classroom skills required to teach content subjects through the English medium. Using a…

The widespread involvement of librarians in information literacy education has raised concerns about their development as teachers, but there is little research on their acquisition and application of pedagogical knowledge. A questionnaire was used to collect mainly quantitative data about the teaching roles, pedagogical knowledge and professional…

The Torah teacher faces a dilemma of how to teach complex, ancient, sacred texts to modern children. How can she convey the relationship between rabbinic commentary and Scripture? This article recounts the story--and the challenges--of one midrash mini-course that I taught an American class as part of a wider research project. The aim of the…

Undergraduate research opportunity programmes (UROP) are common in North America where research has confirmed their benefits. These schemes are gaining ground in the UK, and this article provides evidence for how UK students are benefiting from the experience. Results suggest UROP makes a significant contribution to the research capabilities and…

Dutch universities complain that freshmen in studies such as chemistry, physics, economics and mathematics do not master the required algebraic skills. In the worldwide discussions on mathematics education, mastery of algebra is also a prevalent issue. Often a distinction is made between basis procedures and algebraic reasoning, so-called symbol…

In this study, the effect of a Communication and Conflict Resolution Skill Training Program on sociotropy levels of university students were investigated. The working group was consisted of thirty two voluntary university students. A pre-test and post-test model was used with control group and experimental group, each consisting of sixteen…

Since 2001, the International Institute of Women in Engineering (IIWE) at EPF, Ecole d'ingenieurs generaliste, Sceaux, France, has conducted a 3 week short course for culturally and discipline diverse, recently graduated and final year engineering students. The aim of this course is to introduce young engineers to broad global concepts and issues…

This article examines the teaching practicum in Thailand as it occurs in three settings: "Rajabhats"--four-year universities which offer an additional period of teaching practice, and where the vast majority of EFL teachers are educated; regular universities; and a TESOL short course certificate program for non-Thais preparing to teach…

Although the theoretical benefits of feedback are generally well established, in practice those benefits can be less than clear. This is particularly the case on shorter courses, where students have limited scope to integrate feedback into future assessment performance. If we accept that one of the key purposes of feedback is to encourage students…

This report explores the first iteration of a teacher professional development courselet grounded in constructionist theory and activities. This online teacher professional development (oTPD) courselet provided opportunities for teachers to engage in just-in-time, ongoing TPD within a social networking site for educators. The topic of the oTPD was…

A continuous classroom assessment technique, "Five-minute" essays, was applied during a short course called "Scientific Methods in Archaeology--Applications and Problems", given at the Archaeological Research Laboratory, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden. There was a strong positive…