Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is a pedagogy that is based on research on how people learn and has been shown to lead to better student outcomes in many contexts and in a variety of academic disciplines. Beyond facilitating students' mastery of a discipline, it promotes vital educational outcomes such as communication skills and…

Students at two universities were surveyed in order to determine if past experiences with classroom group work impacted attitudes about this pedagogical technique. Questions related to equitable distribution of effort (personal and of other group members), impact on learning and life skills, group structure, and fairness in grading. Business and…

The benefits of collaborative learning, although widely reported, lack the quantitative rigor and detailed insight into the dynamics of interactions within the group, while individual contributions and their impacts on group members and their collaborative work remain hidden behind joint group assessment. To bridge this gap we intend to address…

A capstone course is often synthetic, bringing together many components of a student's educational background. For this reason, a project-based course in mathematical modeling makes a great capstone, as modeling problems often require a broad collection of mathematical tools for their solution. The addition of a service-learning component can…

Designed as a hybrid undergraduate class that includes online exercises and in-class discussion, Places in the Media helps students better understand the spatial politics of media that help structure our everyday lives. The article is meant as a do-it-yourself guide for instructors interested in building a course like Places in the Media. As such,…

This paper recounts the author's experience with giving a Needs Assessment for improvement by university teachers. Subjects were from the University of Lethbridge and the 2008 Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) conference session. Teachers at the University (n = 77) indicated they could spend 5-15 hours in teaching…

The use of group work, in which three or more students jointly produce a piece of work for summative assessment, is an established aspect of teaching and learning in higher education. Opinions vary however about whether their marks should vary according to the respective contributions they made to the work. This paper is based on the assumption…

Offers teaching tips on thematic writing assignments, student resubmission of papers, sharing memorable sentences from students' writings, and nontraditional grading policies in writing classes. (RDS)

This guide presents Cooperation/Competition (C/C) as the next stage in the evolution of cooperative learning, with its unique ability to mobilize the powerful forces of intergroup and individual competition to supplement cooperative learning's teamwork. In C/C, teachers group students into homogeneous or heterogeneous learning teams, with teams…

This ethnographic case study investigated the challenges of six elementary teachers who attempted to embrace, comprehend, and apply elements of cooperative learning. The study examined solutions that teachers found effective in dealing with problems they encountered when using cooperative learning. Over the course of 1 year, researchers collected…

Suggests a way to change the role of physics teacher. Discusses the teacher as a coach, reducing anxiety, team cooperation, and a grading system including "forgiving learning" which recognizes student's progress. (YP)

A description is provided of the use of a group process approach to the Freshman English research paper at El Paso Community College. After highlighting problems associated with traditional approaches to freshman research papers, an overview of the group process approach is provided, along with warnings for instructors who might view the approach…

Three principal types of goal structure are (1) cooperative; (2) competitive; and (3) individualistic. Specifically designed cooperatively structured group activities can improve group performance and attitudes in class. A writing class for English majors is briefly described and evaluated before and after goal structure was considered. Grade…