While there are many strategies for increasing the inclusiveness of anatomy and physiology courses, increasing course structure is a strategy that can not only close achievement gaps for first generation and underrepresented minority students, but also increase performance for all students. High structure courses are characterized by clear…

The amount of information contained in any educational data set is fundamentally constrained by the instructional conditions under which the data are collected. In this study, we show that by redesigning the structure of traditional online courses, we can improve the ability of educational data mining to provide useful information for instructors.…

This paper illustrates a radical course design structured to create active and situated learning in which students participate in communities of practice within the classroom, replicating real-life work situations. This paper illustrates the approach through a People Management module, but the approach is also used across a range of disciplines…

The popularity of service learning has grown in recent years, as educators place more value on active and experiential forms of learning. Service learning is learning conducted through service work in a community setting in combination with coursework that frames the service experience with respect to civic engagement and political power. Yet…

The area of digital marketing is a difficult one for course development. Not only is it a relatively new topic area--having become popular after many marketing faculty completed their academic training--it is a constantly changing one wherein "innovative" tools are continuously being replaced within the industry. After uncovering what…

Energy issues are becoming increasingly common subjects of instruction in undergraduate- and graduate-level classrooms across a variety of disciplines. The interdisciplinary character of energy studies provides geographers with a great opportunity to present different applied and theoretical approaches to help students conceptualize energy issues…

Over a five-year period, we made a persistent observation: Course structures and routines, such as assignment parameters, student group process rules, and grading schemes were being consistently ignored. As a result, we got distracted by correcting these structural issues and were spending less time on student assignment performance. In this…

The author presents keys to designing a class that successfully melds service learning and student leadership development. These prescriptions are based on the lessons learned over 8 years of teaching a class titled "Community Leadership." This class emphasizes experiential learning and revolves around service learning projects. The…

We illustrate a class organization process utilizing the concept of the Product Life Cycle to meet the needs of today's millennial student. In the Introduction stage of a business course, professors need to build structure to encourage commitment. In the Growth stage, professors need to promote the structure through multiple, brief activities that…

Teaching the ability to find, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information is an important part of creating an environment in which ESL students feel empowered in the information age. However, a preliminary search of professional literature shows that there is a lack of research in information-literacy programs for ESL learners in higher…

In this paper we identify some of the issues and problems that we confronted while developing a new, one-semester, interdepartmental, multidisciplinary capstone design course. We implemented the following changes to the pre-existing capstone design course: (1) Utilized a website to enhance information transfer, (2) Modularized the course and…

In recent years, learning management systems (LMS) have become very popular in almost all traditional universities, generating a new learning strategy approach, mixing elements from both traditional and online learning: the blended learning or b-learning. How these new environments influence teaching activities and learning processes are the main…

Literature on engineering education stresses the need for graduates to have skills such as working globally in a multicultural environment; working in interdisciplinary teams; sharing of tasks on a global, around the clock basis; working with digital communication tools and in a virtual environment. In addition, accreditation criteria include…

Proposing that faculty configure service learning as a course text, uses interdisciplinary theory to help faculty formulate detailed responses to: "What type of service text should I assign?" and "How will I meaningfully incorporate the service text with other texts used in the class?" In so doing, it focuses on the "learning" side of the service…

Describes Europe Week, a one-week preservice teacher education course conducted during the summer at the University of Nottingham (UK). Students were encouraged to increase their knowledge and understanding of Europe, consider issues of European comparative education, plan ways to integrate a European dimension across the curriculum, and…