In many universities and colleges around the world, it is an accepted practice to supplement frontal lectures of courses with separate practice classes or tutorials. For this purpose lecturers may sometimes use the services of teaching-assistants to conduct the tutorials. Teaching-assistants conduct tutorials in many courses in Israel's academic…

This paper reports on developments in teaching and learning for first year employment relations students at the University of Wollongong based on creating conditions of learning informed by Vygotsky's "zone of proximal development" theory. Essentially, this meant emphasising collaborative learning (group work) in the lecture theatre and…

Three articles review methods of improving teacher effectiveness in the United Kingdom. An evaluation of the effectiveness of video feedback to improve lecturer performance is described; institutional initiatives to encourage new approaches to teaching and learning are discussed; and case studies of three centers for staff training are given. (LRW)

Describes a short problem-based course for a class of 180 students facilitated by two tutors. The course aims to assist undergraduates who have completed two years of study in basic medical sciences to apply their learning to the diagnosis and management of asthma and respiratory infections. (DDR)

Introduces a simple student-centered activity that can effectively complement a traditional lecture by encouraging group discussion and reflection. Students orally review the lecture in groups and submit summaries to the lecturer that are ultimately compiled into a course review. Discusses the benefits of this practice and students' responses.…

Several years of experience in training lecturers for developing and tutoring project-based learning (PBL) courses have resulted in a 'practise as you preach' based and flexible training programme. This programme was successfully incorporated in the teacher training programmes of the University of Twente and other universities and polytechnics in…

An experimental study was designed to study the effectiveness of Problem Based Learning (PBL) in the context of higher education in an urban-city university in Lima, Peru. In the fall semester of 2004, eleven sections of Chemistry 1 were offered to first year students in the College of Science at this University. In six of these eleven sections…

Despite criticisms in the literature on pedagogy, lecturing continues to be the dominant teaching method on most undergraduate programmes. Drawing on research examining teaching practice in undergraduate Social Policy programmes, accounts of approaches to lecturing are discussed in the context of the arguments in the literature for more active…

From 3rd to 5th March 2008 the International Association of Technology, Education and Development organised its International Technology, Education and Development Conference in Valencia, Spain. Over a hundred papers were presented by participants from a great variety of countries. Summarising, this book provides a kaleidoscopic view of work that…

This paper presents a study that examined the effect of an attribution induction on students' performance on a subsequent achievement test. The study was conducted to determine whether an instructor might inculcate desirable attributions as part of a regular classroom interaction and thus improve academic performance in at-risk students. College…

The drivers in a battalion about to be deployed to Germany were taught the meanings of international road signs using one of the following techniques: Sign Only, in which the road signs were presented via a slide projector and the names of the slides provided orally by the instructor; Sign Elaboration, which was identical to the Sign Only…

Two papers on teaching methods are presented. The first concerns an experiment that tested the relative effectiveness of three teaching methods: an uninterrupted lecture, a tape-recording, and reading a prescribed text. The three-way research design used the three teaching methods, three groups of six student teachers of physical medicine between…

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…

Forms and characteristics of small group physics instruction in the Russian university are examined and in some cases, compared to those used in Britain. Topics discussed include the lecture method, classroom communication during lectures, postlecture discussion, specialized small-audience lectures, problem solving, individual research projects,…

In a time of high demand for qualified nurses, mass education has become the norm. This is a necessary constraint within which we have to learn to function. However, the need to educate large numbers of nurses may lead to a one-sided unimaginative reliance on the traditional lecture method, creating a learning environment that inadvertently limits…