Many engineering faculty believe that when students perceive a course to have a high workload, students will rate the course and the performance of the course instructor poorly. This belief can be particularly worrying to engineering faculty since engineering courses are often perceived as uniquely demanding. The present investigation demonstrated that student ratings of workload and of overall...

In the first year of medical studies in France, students prepare for a highly selective entrance exam limited by numerus clausus into the second year. We have discontinued live lectures, made maximum use of new information and communication technologies and introduced tutorials in an attempt to make the first year more equitable and to personalise teaching. The reform is based on blended learni...

Studio-based teaching is well-established in creative disciplines such as architecture and the arts, but it has been rarely used in the teaching of IT at a tertiary level. The wider use of the studio model for teaching, originally proposed by Schon (1983), has been discussed extensively in the literature, and elements of it can be identified in teaching innovations such as problem-based learnin...

How can classroom teachers be assisted in developing constructivist learning environments supported by technology in schools with large populations of traditionally underserved students? What role does available technology and professional development and support play in allowing or promoting changes in teaching methods? Results of the Southwest Educational Development Lab project, Applying Tec...

This article proposes a framework for web-based language learning support systems designed to provide customizable pedagogical procedures based on the analysis of characteristics of both learner and course. This framework employs a course-centered ontology and a teaching method ontology as the foundation for the student model, which includes learner knowledge status and learning preferences. A ...

This article describes the virtual manufacturing environment Watfactory (freely available at http:// services03.student.math. uwaterloo.ca:8080/~stat435/ login.htm) and discusses its use in teaching process improvement. Watfactory provides a rich and realistic simulation of a manufacturing process and is accessed through a website requiring no software other than a Web browser. With Watfactory,...

In determining the effect of Internet instructional method on students’ performance, two groups of unrelated students over a period of two semesters in Multimedia Design (TV3014) course offered at the School of IT, Universiti Utara Malaysia were used as samples. One group was taught with conventional teaching method and the other with Internet based electronic book. As this was a first attempt ...

Ultimately with the raise of computer technology, blended learning has found its way into teaching. The technology continues to evolve, challenging teachers and lecturers alike. Most studies on blended learning focus on the practical or applied side and use essentially pedagogical concepts. This study demonstrates that the leadership sciences can enrich pedagogy in building a framework for teac...

As the theoretical foundations of bibliographic instruction are examined increasingly in the context of learning theory and teaching methods, comparisons with the classroom environment found in academic settings are inevitable. The specific role of humor in the college classroom and its effect upon both learning and the communicative climate has been of interest to educational researchers, prod...