Abstract: Each year about half a million students fail to make planned academic progress due to college algebra, hence the need for researchers to find ways of improving the quality of instruction in the course. Recent research suggests that flipping college algebra to allow time for active learning in the classroom may improve student performance. Also, the costs of college textbooks have skyrocketed in the last few years, preventing or discouraging students from obtaining crucial learning resources. To address both concerns, the researcher implemented a flipped college algebra classroom and based all lessons on a free textbook. Videos and corresponding problem sets were created and made available to students on the Internet. Outside class, students viewed videos, took notes, and completed video problem assignments. Inside class, students worked with other students to complete in-class problem assignments. Students described their experience in the flipped classroom in an anonymous essay and an online survey, and the researcher recorded field notes of his observations throughout the term. This study reports student and instructor perceptions of the flipped college algebra classroom.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: Numerous studies and United States Department of Education reports indicate that university graduates lack critical thinking and problem solving skills that are needed for success in both the classroom and the modern workplace. Success in the classroom and workplace is a function of many attributes that change with the situation, but the ability to synthesize complex relationships and identify potential solutions to problems or innovation is a core competency. In this action research project, the curriculum in three business courses were modified to include and emphasize activities that research suggests help develop critical thinking. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991) was used to assess changes in 15 learning constructs during a class and correlated with grades. A modified MSLQ (Boyer & Usinger, 2012) was administered at the beginning and end of eight-week courses to provide insight into how students self-assess constructs for success. Results from classes over a 15-month period in 2013 and 2014 indicated improvement in 14 of 15 elements for success with three (intrinsic goal orientation, self-efficacy, and critical thinking) statistically significant.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: In higher education music instrument teaching, there is a strong tradition of high-level performers being recruited to teach advanced students within the private studio despite the fact these educators often have no training in pedagogy. The studio environment also continues to be dominated by the one-to-one lesson format and the master-apprentice tradition. While the literature overviews a long history of the master-apprentice tradition in various fields, there is to date minimal empirical research that specifically evidences the extent to which it is cyclical in nature. This paper reports on survey data from 54 current tertiary educators across four countries who were asked to identify the key influences on how they work within the music studio. The data point not only to the influence of the master-apprentice tradition, but also to the fact that most current educators rely on previous teachers and experiences of teaching to inform their pedagogy.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs) are used by nearly all public and private universities as one means to evaluate teaching effectiveness. A majority of these universities have transitioned from the traditional paper-based evaluations to online evaluations, resulting in a decline in overall response rates. This has led to scepticism about the validity and reliability of the SETs. In this study, a large, US public university transitioned to online SETs in 2007 and suffered a decline in overall response rates from 73% for the paper-based evaluations in 2006 to a low of 43%. The aim of this study was to determine successful strategies used by instructors to improve their own SET response rates. A survey was conducted of faculty members who had high response rates, and the data were analyzed to determine which strategies were being employed. The study found that when instructors show students they care about evaluations, response rates tend to be higher. The results from the study have been turned into a FAQ on myths and suggestions that has been distributed to the faculty at the university to provide guidelines for increasing response rates on SETs.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: This article explores goal setting as a teacher development practice in higher education. It reports on a study of college teacher goal setting informed by goal setting theory. Analysis of study participants’ goal setting practices and their experiences with goal pursuit offers a framework for thinking about the kinds of goals teachers might set in university settings. This analysis also sheds light on potential factors that help and hinder goal achievement, especially goal commitment and self-efficacy. The article concludes with recommendations related to these areas. The overall aim of this article is to assist teachers and teaching supervisors who may be interested in using goal setting to foster growth in teaching.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: We are in an era that calls for increasing “training” in educational research methodologies. When the National Research Council (2004) calls for training in educational research that is “rigorous” and “relevant,” the focus strongly emphasizes WHAT should be taught instead of WHO is being engaged in the learning. Similarly, most of the research on teaching educational inquiry explores the “what” and not the “who” of the learning. In contrast, we explore conceptualizations of “research” as expressed by graduate students in a research methodology course, as well as the way that student narratives illustrate their own identity claims in relation to research. We develop the analytical concept of “pragmatic fissures” to explain the tension often present between the way students conceptualize research and the way they perceive themselves in relation to the research process. We suggest that these pragmatic fissures provide an opportunity for expanding pedagogical approaches to course delivery, as well as approaches to methodology textbook design. In the spirit of post-perspectives aimed at challenging the “methods” approach to research learning (St. Pierre, 2014), we welcome an opportunity for thinking about research instruction as more locally and organically connected to the lived experiences and conceptual make-up of students engaged in the learning process.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: An investigation of the literature revealed that racial consciousness and the behaviors of White faculty in the classroom appeared linked. A conceptual framework, Racial Consciousness and Its Influence on the Behaviors of White Faculty in the Classroom, was subsequently developed and tested in this constructivist grounded theory study. Findings indicate that White faculty with higher levels of racial consciousness employ behaviors in their classroom reflective of an expansive view of equality in their pursuit of social justice, which they consider synonymous with excellence in teaching. Moreover, these findings illustrate what perceptions White faculty hold about higher education’s responsibility in the facilitation of social change. This research bears great significance to higher education research and practice, as it is the first of its kind, in the education literature, to utilize critical legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw’s (1988) restrictive and expansive views of equality framework to empirically measure and describe excellence in college teaching.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: Studies have shown Active Learning Classrooms [ALCs] help increase student engagement and improve student performance. However, remodeling all traditional classrooms to ALCs entails substantial financial burdens. Thus, an imperative question for institutions of higher education is whether active learning pedagogies can improve learning outcomes when classroom resources are limited. In this study, we examined the effect of active learning pedagogies on students’ satisfaction of learning processes in ALC and Traditional Classrooms [TCs]. The results show that active learning pedagogy activities are significant factors that increase students’ satisfaction with their individual and group learning processes. In addition, active learning pedagogical activities in both TCs and ALCs influence students’ satisfaction with their learning processes positively.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: Universal Design applied to college instruction has evolved and rapidly spread on an international scale. Diffusion of Innovation theory is described and used to identify patterns of change in this trend. Implications and strategies are discussed for promoting this inclusive approach to teaching in higher education.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: Experiential education programs, such as international and domestic study tours, bridge the limitations of formal learning classroom by allowing students to experience reality in a new learning dimension. This mixed-methods study explores experiential learning during a domestic interior design study tour to New York City and an international fashion-merchandising study tour to China operated by the same fashion-merchandising and interior design department at a public university in the United States southeast region. Both study tours intended to prepare students for the workforce by expanding their understanding of business and the creative process. The tours' organization allows students to meet industry professionals and to investigate and analyze issues such as collaborative work, cultural differences in business and creativity, cultural and social identity in the environment, and personal development. This research explores students’ perceptions of a domestic and an international study tour to analyze their effectiveness in achieving learning outcomes. Before and after the study tours, students completed a survey to gauge their perceived level of understanding and attitudes toward the study tours. Additional student feedback came from reflection journals documenting students’ personal development, design expressions in the environment, and experiences.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationships among measures of student engagement, instructor engagement, student performance, and properties of the online classroom. The authors assessed behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement of students and instructors in asynchronous discussion forums and collected measures of student performance (e.g., class completion and discussion forums’ grades) as well as properties of the online classroom (e.g., class size and depth of discussion prompts). Quantitative analyses on conduct exhibited by instructors and students in discussion forums from 303 online classrooms in a variety of disciplines revealed a positive association of students’ cognitive engagement and instructors’ behavioral engagement with the depth of the discussion prompts. Both cognitive and behavioral measures of students’ engagement decreased with increased class size. For instructors, as class size increased, behavioral engagement decreased, and cognitive engagement increased. Grades improved with students’ emotional engagement but declined with instructors’ cognitive engagement. These idiosyncratic patterns of relationships suggest the need for further inquiry into the unique aspects of instruction in the asynchronous online classroom.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: Educators have long recognized the value and import of class journaling. Traditional approaches to journaling, however, only engage students in one mode of communicative expression while allowing them to procrastinate in writing their entries. Typical journals are also read exclusively by the instructor, which overlooks the opportunity for students to learn from one another. In response to each of these limitations, the present paper outlines a semester-long journaling activity we call Engaged Journaling. We begin by situating Engaged Journaling within the theoretical framework of Kolb’s (1984, 2015) Experiential Learning Theory (ELT). Next, we offer a step-by-step description of the activity. We then discuss four specific benefits from using such a creative approach to in-class journaling: (1) a more holistic measurement of student comprehension, (2) engagement of potentially disengaged students, (3) enriched class discussion and cross-interaction, and (4) the creation of additional entry points for clarification. We conclude with variations on a theme (i.e., alternative ways in which Engaged Journaling can be used both within and outside of the classroom).

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: Two professors share how they combined Web 2.0, multicultural themes, and undergraduate research in a first-year seminar. The professors explain the “perfect storm” of a project in which undergraduate students collected and analyzed tweets from advocates for various multicultural causes to produce their first collegiate research project. Capitalizing on student interest in social networking, professors aimed to meet multiple student learning objectives and satisfy an overarching theme of multiculturalism for the first-year seminar at a university in the southwestern United States. Students analyzed Twitter handles for causes or individuals advocating for causes related to social, political, and humanitarian efforts. Using basic qualitative and quantitative approaches, students wrote undergraduate research papers and presented their findings about how their cause and advocates used Twitter. The article provides project and assessment rubrics, ideas for improvement, and tools for replication.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: Current educational practices and cognitive-developmental theories emphasize the importance of active participation in the learning environment, and they suggest that the first, and arguably most important, step to creating a better learning environment is to make learning an active and reciprocal process. Flipped classrooms, in which students learn the primary course content outside of class, have gained recent popularity. Many institutions, especially medical and business schools, have established flipped classrooms and recorded the method’s effectiveness. One key component to the flipped classroom is the absence of traditional lectures inside the classroom. Unfortunately, how to effectively structure the classroom experience in light of this absence is largely missing in the literature and creates a unique challenge for instructors who are unsure of how to spend class time. In this paper, we present Team-Based Learning (TBL) as one way to effectively structure a flipped classroom environment.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.

Abstract: The literature on how a team leader emerges during the initial stages of a team formation presents a divergent landscape of possibilities. Most of the approaches focus on attributes, personality types, the influence of social tendencies, or relational capabilities. Yet these different theories and models suggest that many questions remain on this topic. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the value of a simulation as an experiential basis for a classroom discussion on emerging team leader dynamics. Simulations have proven valuable in business education by providing an engaging student-centered environment that bring together theoretical learning and real life situations. This paper describes the outcomes of a manufacturing simulation among doctoral students intended to stimulate a discussion on emerging leadership dynamics at an early stage of formation. The simulation provided a practitioner’s viewpoint to some of the challenges of leader emergence, served as classroom device for a discussion on leader-team dynamics, and acted as a source of research topics.

Send article to:

Submit

As an open-source journal, IJTLHE makes articles freely available. This utility allows you to email the current article to anyone you wish. Simply enter their email address and click on Submit.