iTunes University, a website with downloadable educational podcasts, can provide students the opportunity to obtain professors' lectures when students are unable to attend class. To determine the effectiveness of audio lectures in higher education, undergraduate general psychology students participated in one of two conditions. In the lecture…

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to examine an instructional strategy intended to enhance engagement in the college classroom. The effects of the pause procedure on classroom engagement and cognitive load were studied. The relationships between levels of classroom engagement and near-term learning outcomes, as well as…

There has been a rapid increase in the use of technology in university classrooms. Many university classrooms and laboratories include an overhead projection unit, computer, and connections for laptops. More recently, tablet PCs have been investigated as another way to effectively engage students in a classroom environment. This study summarizes…

Students (n = 797) from 36 4th-grade classrooms were taught the control of variables strategy for designing experiments. In the instruct condition, classes were taught in an interactive lecture format. In the manipulate condition, students worked in groups to design and run experiments to determine the effects of four variables. In the both…

This paper investigates whether the selective use of technology can begin to overcome the challenge of large cohort teaching and deliver an enhanced student learning experience. It describes the initial development and evaluation of a campus-based management course taught to 270 third year engineering undergraduates at The University of…

The benefit of PowerPoint[TM] is continuously debated, but both supporters and detractors have insufficient empirical evidence. Its use in university lectures has influenced investigations of PowerPoint's effects on student performance (e.g., overall quiz/exam scores) in comparison to lectures based on overhead projectors, traditional lectures…

This paper address three questions apropos of those posed by Kadel (2006) in the context of a large introductory-level undergraduate science lecture course. These questions include how podcasting is used by professors and students, whether podcasting decreases lecture attendance, and if particular podcasting options are effective teaching tools.…

This paper investigates whether there is a difference in student learning in a quantitative business course taught through video streaming with the option of going to a face-to-face lecture, compared to the same course taught only through face-to-face lecture. This topic has been the subject of research in recent years because of the importance of…

Finding an effective teaching methodology for leadership educators is daunting. In this experimental study undergraduate leadership students' retention of knowledge was tested after receiving leadership instruction via lecture, experiential learning, and public pedagogy. Results show lecture is an inferior method of teaching leadership while…

At the University of Toronto at Scarborough, we provide enhanced flexibility to our students using a blended-learning approach (i.e., the webOption) whereby students can attend lectures live, watch them online at their convenience, or both. The current research examines the use of pause and seeks features afforded by the webOption interface and…

The authors used a case study-based approach in the introductory biology course at Spelman College. The course taught to entering freshmen was divided into three modules--ecology, evolution, and biodiversity, each designed around a case study. They noted that (1) case study teaching was dramatically more effective than the traditional lecture…

The widely held constructivist view of learning advocates student engagement via interactivity. Within the physics education research community, several specific interactive strategies have been developed to enhance conceptual understanding. One such strategy, the Interactive Lecture Demonstration (ILD) is designed for large lecture classes and,…

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of problem-based learning (PBL) on freshmen engineering students' beliefs about physics and physics learning (referred to as epistemological beliefs) and conceptual understanding of physics. The multiple-choice test of energy and momentum concepts and the Colorado learning attitudes about…

The current study tested the effectiveness of delivering personalized feedback to first-semester college freshmen in a group lecture format. Participants enrolled in semester-long courses were randomly assigned to receive either personalized feedback or general information about alcohol. Both lecture conditions were delivered during a standard…

The use of PowerPoint slides has become an almost ubiquitous practice in university classrooms, however little research has examined whether the timing of lecture slide availability to students (either before or after lecture) affects classroom behaviour or exam performance. Using a 2 (slide availability condition) x 2 (course type)…