The current learning environment is substantially different than what existed for most of the 20th century. Learners and teachers today must navigate in perpetually changing contexts where education is influenced by technological advancement and obsolescence, economic barriers, a changing employment landscape, and even international politics.…

"Student voice" (SV) refers to listening to and valuing students' views regarding their learning experiences, as well as treating them as equal partners in the evaluation process. This is expected, in turn, to empower students to take a more active role in shaping their learning. This study explores the role played by digital…

There can be no doubt that mobile technologies are here to stay. Global mobile traffic grew 74 percent in 2015 alone, with 563 million devices and connections added -- most of them tablets and Smartphones. This growth has been 4000-fold in the past 10 years and 400 million-fold in the past 15 years (Cisco, 2016). Mobile technologies permeate the…

Reacting to the Past (RTTP) is an innovative history pedagogy adopted by colleges and universities nationwide, in many cases as part of programming for first-year students. It is a methodology of teaching history that emphasizes active learning and student engagement. In many ways, RTTP is a form of a "flipped classroom," in which…

In the Master's of Telecommunication Engineering program at the University of Deusto, Spain, courses in communication circuit design, electronic instrumentation, advanced systems for signal processing and radiocommunication systems allow students to acquire concepts crucial to the fields of electronics and communication. During the educational…

Most students enroll in general education introductory nutrition classes because they want to improve their diets in order to lose weight or enhance athletic performance. These nonscience majors are often less interested in learning about the fundamental biochemical principles underlying nutrition or are surprised that this foundational knowledge…

In the past ten years, engineering classrooms have seen an exponential growth in the use of technology, more than during any other previous decade. Unprecedented advancements, such as the advent of innovative gadgets and fundamental instructional alterations in engineering classrooms, have introduced changes in both teaching and learning. Student…

A paradigm shift from lecture-based courses to interactive classes punctuated with engaging, student-centered learning activities has begun to characterize the work of some teachers in higher education. Convinced through the literature of the values of using active learning strategies, we assessed through an action research project in five college…

This article reports on an investigation into the validity of a widely used scale for measuring the extent to which higher education students employ active learning strategies. The scale is the active learning scale in the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement. This scale is based on the Active and Collaborative Learning scale of the National…

Large first-year class sizes have resulted in many lecturers adopting coping strategies consisting of direct-transmission mode teaching, reduced practical time, and assessment. Recently several strategies have been implemented in an attempt to improve student participation and active learning; however, these changes have to be facilitated and…

This article provides readers with details concerning the implementation of four active learning techniques used to help undergraduate students critically discuss primary literature. On the basis of undergraduate and graduate student perceptions and experiences, the authors suggest techniques to enhance the quality of dual-listed courses and…

While research surrounding ePortfolios abounds, few studies make explicit the pedagogical underpinnings of their use. Some suggest that the decision to use new technologies, like ePortfolios, is often made in ignorance of pedagogic evidence. Developed over the course of a two-year national study on the implementation of ePortfolios, this paper…

The contributors to this special issue all seek to address the challenge of teaching research methods to political science students. This introduction aims to provide a concise framework for the various innovations presented throughout this issue, situating them in the wider literature. Particular emphasis is placed on the factors that distinguish…

Since the summer of 2006, the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex, has invited secondary students to participate in their summer SEED program on campus. The program was developed by the Dean of the School of Architecture and the Chair of the Art + Art History Department. SEED (Strategies, Events, Episodes +…

It has been noted that undergraduate project-based laboratories lead to increased interest in scientific research and student understanding of biological concepts. We created a novel, inquiry-based, multiweek genetics research project studying Ptpmeg, for the Introductory Biology Laboratory course at Brandeis University. Ptpmeg is a protein…