Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have recently documented the positive effects of social-psychological interventions on the performance and retention of underrepresented students in the life sciences. We review two types of social-psychological interventions that address either students' well-being in college science courses or students'…

German university degrees, at least in some countries, offer students only German literature courses in addition to language courses. Linguistics is often not a core component of German degree programmes. As a result, students who are not familiar with basic linguistic terminology do not know how languages work, including their mother tongue, or…

Mobile devices are the constant companions of technology users of all ages. Studies show, how-ever, that making calls is a minimal part of our engagement with today's smart phones and that even texting has fallen off, leaving web browsing, gaming, and social media as top uses. A cross-disciplinary group of faculty at our university came together…

The United Nations' (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to create a sustainable world and provide permanent solutions to major social, ecological, and economic problems affecting the world. Education holds a central position in disseminating and achieving these goals with a thorough understanding. From this stance, English language…

We report on research carried out to improve teaching and student engagement in the introductory astronomy course at the University of Cape Town. This course is taken by a diverse range of students, including many from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. We describe the development of an instrument, the Introductory Astronomy Questionnaire…

To address the demands from their courses, students with insufficient language proficiency who cannot attend the standard subject-specific academic language development program are directed to an alternative discipline-specific program -- the Language Development Tutorial in Block mode, at the University of Technology Sydney. This practice report…

This paper explores the unique contribution of content modules towards the development of criticality (Barnett, 1997) and intercultural competence (Byram, 1997) in Modern Languages (ML). It draws upon the findings of a PhD study investigating the implications of the division between language and content, as experienced by German Studies students…

It is generally held that blended learning is gaining acceptance and being adopted at college campuses throughout the U.S. Accompanying this trend has been an expansion of the research efforts in this area. These efforts have been guided mainly by the five pillars of the Sloan Consortium Quality Framework (Sloan-C) and two large questions. One…

This article presents a discussion of the importance of a course in bargaining and negotiation to university-level students in an accredited business school environment. In addition to discussing recommended content, pedagogy, and assessment methods, the results of a study that examines the impact of the course on students' perceptions of skills,…

This study aims at investigating the needs related to the attainments, content, processes of teaching-learning and measurement-evaluation aspect of Measurement and Evaluation course. This research was designed as a case study which is one of the qualitative research designs. The most common problem in Measurement and Evaluation courses was found…

Today's graduating technical students need more than a sound technical education to obtain personally and professionally rewarding employment; they also need job search skills to compete successfully in the job market. To address this need, a course called "Professional Development" at Southern Illinois University's College of Technical Careers…

Classroom observation of 13 college language courses and analysis of student questionnaire and teacher interview responses indicated that teachers varied widely in use of target language with a mean of 67.9 percent; language type, departmental policy, lesson content, and teacher training affected target language use; and students were generally…

Polish university programs in English as a foreign language (EFL) contain a discussion course whose usual format is student presentations on an assigned topic of general interest. However, the communicative approach has made teachers more sensitive to the authenticity and suitability of the situations used for classroom role-playing. The approach…

Suggestions for improving conversation groups in the intermediate and advanced English as a second language classroom are considered with attention directed to design of the activities, preparation of the individuals involved, and selection of the subject matter. In addition, factors that cause conversation groups to fail are discussed. A…

A study at Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), in response to administrator and employer concerns about the quality of English second language instruction, investigated aspects of language program design. Concerns had been expressed about the level of English language skills among science and engineering graduates. The survey consisted of…