Community colleges, or 2-year associate-degree granting institutions, tend to enroll large numbers of students deemed misprepared for college-level coursework. Such students may also not be as likely to seek help, a self-regulated activity that is challenging and fraught with social stigma. A key component of active learning and the help-seeking…

This study examined the impact of a newly created Academic Advising Professional Development (AAPD) online program focused on the three major components of the "Concept of Academic Advising" for new and experienced advisors. The four-unit training, created in Blackboard, was designed to educate advisors on the meaning and application of…

The goal of this single-phase and convergent mixed methods study was to compare the differences in the effectiveness of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) presences of a community college blended block instructional model with the in-person counterpart. Data were gathered from the Community of Inquiry Survey, Blackboard LMS reports, and course…

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, embedded tutoring became a popular model to address the need for additional student support in higher education. Four U.S. community colleges collaborated to develop a successful embedded tutoring model that provides a framework and definition for embedded tutoring and training for tutors and participating…

Random call has been proposed as an inclusive and equitable practice that engages students in learning. However, this inclusion may come with a cost. In some contexts, students experience anxiety and distress when being called on. Recently, focus has shifted to critical components of random call that may mitigate this cost. We examined how…

Evidence suggests that students exposed to authentic undergraduate research activities are more successful than those who are not. Not all students in an undergraduate program get an opportunity for mentored research, which is still the popular way to expose them to authentic research. However, involvement in undergraduate research can be…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to investigate how community college supervisors in Arizona describe their role in promoting feedback-seeking, reflection, and active experimentation. The theoretical frameworks supporting this study were Bandura's social cognitive theory, Marsick and Watkins informal and incidental learning…

Active learning increases student learning, engagement, and interest in STEM and subsequently, the number and diversity of graduates. Yet, its adoption has been slow, partially due to instructors' concerns about student resistance. Consequently, researchers proposed explanation and facilitation instructional strategies designed to reduce this…

This study explores the integration of game play into an inclusive, hands-on computing project in Calculus class. The project is focused on designing and analyzing priority switches for applications competing for computational resources on embedded devices such as smart watches and tablets. By engaging students in real-world problem-solving…

Behavioral and Social Science (BSS) classes provide students with understandings of human behaviors, motivations, and actions that are crucial to confronting both social and personal problems. Moreover, most community college degrees require that students take at least one BSS class - anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, and/or…

Background: Critical thinking is an important student learning outcome in all psychology courses and included in the American Psychological Association's (APA's) goals for the undergraduate major. Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of integrating a general model of critical thinking into the instruction,…

Instructors are increasingly using interactive student response systems (SRS) to foster active learning and deepen student understanding in statistics education. Yet most studies focus on either the benefits of SRS or on how "students" can receive and use feedback, rather than on how "instructors" can use formative assessment…

Active teaching-learning methodologies are a reality at the School of Education and Social Sciences of the Polytechnic of Leiria (Portugal), namely through the articulation with institutions of the community. The qualitative research presented in this article intends to analyse the perception of the students who are attending the Higher…

Community college students come from a variety of backgrounds and have different levels of educational preparedness compared to undergraduates in 4-year undergraduate schools. Historically, retention rates of these students in human physiology courses have been low, often due to non-passing grades. Incorporation of additional active learning…

Active learning strategies are a popular method in current classrooms and educational research. As diversity in the United States population, and likewise in the post-secondary classroom, continues to increase, educational studies should be reporting results in terms of student diversity. Many studies instead report active learning strategy…