The 2011 "Vision & Change" report outlined several recommendations for transforming undergraduate biology education, sparking multiple pedagogical reform efforts. Among these was the Promoting Active Learning and Mentoring (PALM) network, an NSF-funded program that provided mentorship and training to instructors on implementing…

Purpose: This study explores the impact of Industry Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) on learning factory implementation in Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP). A learning factory is an action-oriented approach to teaching with participants acquiring competencies through structured self-learning processes in a production-technological learning environment. It…

To enhance the student experience and improve student outcomes -- continuation, attainment, and employment -- higher education providers often implement curriculum changes and evaluate their effectiveness. But as interventions often only work directly with staff, rather than students, impact evaluation is challenging. This paper explores the…

Supporting changes in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction requires an understanding of the relationship between STEM instructors' conceptions and practices. In this study, the authors used the Teacher-Centered Systematic Reform (TCSR) model as a framework to understand how instructors' conceptions are…

Organismal biology (OrgBio) comprises the diversity, structures, and functions of all organisms from bacteria to humans. Arguably, OrgBio is often the most poorly taught and least conceptually rigorous section of the introductory biology sequence offered at most U.S. institutions of higher education. This article reports on the successful…

Alongside the neoliberalisation of UK Higher Education (HE), the values of speed, competition, marketisation and individualism increasingly shape teaching and learning globally. This article takes seriously the feeling of unease expressed by lecturers and students in this context, proposing that posthumanism offers a theoretical, methodological…

This study addresses the attitudes of academic staff towards a large-scale pedagogic shift to Active Blended Learning (ABL). Beliefs about the shift and how it is translated into practice are explored. Four main categories are derived: 'Active Innovators' who believe change is positive and apply it to their academic practice; 'Lagging Innovators'…

This paper reconceptualised the interrelated learning constructs in higher education based on the Dynamic Systems Theory (DST). The university students' learning experience before, during and post the Emergency Online Learning (EOL) was investigated to explore the dynamic changes among the learning constructs in higher education. A case study of a…

Mounting evidence of the effectiveness of active learning strategies has prompted many mathematics departments to start engaging in transformational change efforts. Change, however, especially change in instructional practice, is a challenging endeavor. Some departments are using coordination of multi-section courses as a vehicle to enact changes…

Team-based learning is a powerful collaborative learning technique that can be used effectively in a principles of economics course, although its implementation can be costly for instructors and students alike. The author suggests a series of strategies that can result in a much smoother transition to a fully collaborative classroom. The author…

Background: This study explored the challenges around enacting change in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subject at an Australian higher education institution and examined key elements required to ensure change. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the barriers and levers driving change during the…

Given the emphasis placed on laboratory reform and student engagement in authentic science practice, this manuscript outlines the development of a hybrid project-based laboratory (HPBL) curriculum centered around specific instructor goals and provides examples on how those goals were met by the experiments and how the change in curriculum affected…

Transformative participatory approaches in education are positioned to challenge traditional models where instructors bear all responsibility for knowledge creation and learners are passive recipients of knowledge. The promotion of participatory learning and critical pedagogy is essential to helping professionals seeking to understand oppressive…

As part of a departmental reform project, a large University converted a "Precalculus College Mathematics" lecture-based course for 97 students into an active learning flipped classroom for first-year engineering students. The curriculum was designed specifically to provide applications of pre-calculus in various engineering subjects.…

The COVID-19 pandemic brought monumental changes to life around the world, including drastic changes to how traditional face-to-face (F2F) American university courses have been conducted. In Spring 2020, institutions of higher education had to move courses fully online (if they were mid-term) or in some cases end a term of F2F only to return from…