This essay presents results from a comprehensive study of writing in the undergraduate curriculum at the University of Pittsburgh. It is in two sections. The first section reports on interviews with faculty from across the disciplines in the School of Arts and Sciences; the second reports finding from student focus groups and from an extensive…

The digital revolution has ushered in a generation shaped by the integration of emerging communication technology into everyday life, including today's traditional-aged college students. While research on how this generation utilizes technology is prevalent, research and reflection on the effective integration of technology into the learning…

This paper draws upon the experience of an interdisciplinary research group in engaging undergraduate university students in the design and development of semantic web technologies. A flexible approach to participatory design challenged conventional distinctions between "designer" and "user" and allowed students to play a role…

To motivate student learning, the affective domain--emotion, attitude, and motivation--must be engaged. We propose a model that is specific to the geosciences with theoretical components of motivation and emotion from the field of educational psychology, and a term we are proposing, "connections with Earth" based on research in the…

The first purpose of this experimental study was to determine if there were effects on achievement between traditional pencil-and-paper instructional strategies and computer simulated instructional strategies used to teach interior design business ethics. The second purpose was to determine the level of engagement of interior design students using…

Many colleges and universities are grappling with the ever-increasing challenge of understanding the impact that college has on students. Research has validated the fact that student engagement has a significant impact on academic performance, satisfaction with college experience, and graduation rates. Student engagement is the connection that…

Remote and virtual laboratory classes are an increasingly prevalent alternative to traditional hands-on laboratory experiences. One of the key issues with these modes of access is the provision of adequate audiovisual (AV) feedback to the user, which can be a complicated and resource-intensive challenge. This paper reports on a comparison of two…

Research-like experiences range from relatively "canned" labs that are highly controlled by the instructor (such as those described in Lord and Orkwiszewski 2006) to more individually designed projects (e.g., Switzer and Shriner 2000; Wyatt 2005). This article describes a laboratory approach that allows for many of the benefits of independent or…

The purpose of the present study was to assess the relation of academic course engagement and subsequent college success over a 5- to 6-year period. In the present study, the authors defined college success as degree attainment, time to degree, and academic performance (final cumulative GPA). This study reports on follow-up data from participants…

Two novel technologies--digitized oral feedback on written work and the Turning Point classroom active response system--were introduced into my undergraduate educational psychology course. The cognitive and motivational academic benefits of each were compared to more traditional pedagogy over the course of one full semester. Students who received…

Advising and mentoring of future teachers in teacher preparation programs are important in preparing quality teachers. The current study was performed to examine predictors of students' satisfaction with advising and mentoring in a teacher preparation program. Differences between students in their level of satisfaction with advising and mentoring…

A quasi-experiment was carried out in a college success strategies course to evaluate the impact of structured interpersonal interaction on undergraduate students' Academic Engagement and Academic Achievement. The course, EPL 259: Individual Learning and Motivation, employs a blended learning instructional model that requires students to spend the…

Despite the fact that work is a fundamental part of life for nearly half of all undergraduate students--with a substantial number of "traditional" dependent undergraduates in employment, and working independent undergraduates averaging 34.5 hours per week--little attention has been given to how working influences the integration and engagement…

This article reports on a study of student engagement in the first year of their undergraduate information and communication technology (ICT) degree at an Australian university. The study was conducted at Monash University in the four undergraduate ICT degrees of the Faculty of Information Technology. The study draws on data collected from staff…

The increase in the adoption of Internet-related technologies for online learning has been accompanied by a parallel, but separate, demand for greater accountability in higher education. Measures of student engagement offer valuable indicators of educational quality, yet have been limited to use in on-campus settings. The authors used key…