As college students experience the challenges of their classes and extracurricular activities, they undergo a developmental progression in which they gradually relinquish their belief in the certainty of knowledge and the omniscience of authorities and take increasing responsibility for their own learning. At the highest developmental level normally seen in college students (which few attain before graduation), they display attitudes and thinking patterns resembling those of expert scientists and engineers, including habitually and skillfully gathering and analyzing evidence to support their judgments. This paper proposes an instructional model designed to provide a suitable balance of challenge and support to advance students to that level or close to it. The model components are (1) variety and choice of learning tasks; (2) explicit communication and explanation of expectations; (3) modeling, practice, and constructive feedback on high-level tasks; (4) a student-centered instructional environment; and (5) respect for students at all levels of development. Keywords: Intellectual development, Baxter Magolda’s model, Perry’s model I. INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW According to a model of intellectual development formulated by Marcia Baxter Magolda [1], college

During the spring and fall 1998 semesters, a traditional lecture and problem-solving based course in introductory dynamics was redesigned to include studentcentered, web-based, team learning activities. The enhanced "Interactive Dynamics" course was created to engage students in a collaborative environment in which students have easy access to an array of technology. Classroom activities and out-of-class assignments model real-world problems. Preliminary analysis of the assessment data indicates that students' performance on a test of dynamics content knowledge in innovative sections was similar to that of students in traditional sections. However, students in the more active classroom environments reported statistically significant gains in teamwork and computer skills, thus meeting the ABET Engineering Criteria 2000 goal of encouraging innovative practices in the classroom that enhance learning and develop skills needed in the workplace. This paper describes: 1) recent educational initiatives, 2) the Interactive Dynamics course, 3) assessment results to date, 4) the learning outcomes affected when these types of active learning strategies are employed in the engineering classroom, and 5) how assessments are being used to improve the course.

In search of better, more cost effective ways to deliver instruction and training, universities and corporations have expanded their use of e-learning. Although several studies suggest that online education and blended instruction (a “blend ” of online and traditional approaches) can be as effective as traditional classroom models, few studies have focused on learner satisfaction with online instruction, particularly in the transition to online learning from traditional approaches. This study examines students ’ perceptions of integrating online components in two undergraduate business courses where students completed online learning modules prior to class discussion. The results indicate that participants in an elective course rated the online modules significantly better than those in a required course. Overall, participants in the elective course rated the online modules marginally positive while those in the required course rated them marginally negative. These outcomes suggest that instructors should be selective in the way they integrate online units into traditional, classroom-delivered courses. This integration should be carefully planned based on learner characteristics, course content, and the learning context. For most participants of the study (83 percent), this was their first experience completing an online learning activity or module. In addition, the largest dissatisfaction factor reported among the participants was the time required to complete the online modules. Future research is encouraged to explore: (1) how previous experience with technology and online learning affects students ’ attitudes towards and success with e-learning; and (2) the effects of interspersing online units that are considerably shorter in length into the traditional classroom model. This additional research can provide greater insight into which factors promote e-learning success.

AiboConnect is a program designed to simplify the transition to advanced research with robots. It is simple enough to be used in introductory level courses, yet with enough features that it has been used in advanced research projects. This article describes AiboConnect in some detail and provides concrete examples of how it has been used in the classroom in a variety of different courses. Robots in the curriculum

This article presents a model of intelligent decision support using combined system that consists of two parts. The first part is responsible for classification of incoming cases into appropriate decision group, the second one realizes the inferring process in a deductive way. As an exemplary decisional situation we have considered situations when an unemployed persons claim for benefits.

The realization of information and communication technology (ICT) literacy is a global and complex objective. It has been argued that it cannot be accomplished by single-focused, stand-alone curricula. Instead, it has been recommended that ICT education be integrated into the instruction of other disciplines to effectively promote technical proficiency, discipline knowledge acquisition, and cognitive development. The Chemistry Is in the News (CIITN) Project exemplifies this integration through the combination of advances in chemistry teaching, chemical informatics, and the educational use of ICT. CIITN is an innovative curriculum that aims at the development of scientific, ICT, and media literacy by the engagement of the students in learning activities that are based on authentic news media, that parallel the research process, and are conducted in collaborative groups. The CIITN activities consist of the study, creation, and peer review of online CIITN portfolios. A CIITN portfolio consists of an electronically published news article from the actual online media, interpretive comments, pertinent links, references to primary sources, and questions. The CIITN webtool is designed to minimize time and effort associated with non-intellectual and technical aspects of the CIITN project for both students and instructors. Combining the power of

Those who know me well would probably say that I was preparing to be a college professor as early as high school. In fact, I still remember writing my 10-year prediction during senior year as “In ten years….I will be a math professor”. Even though my passion for a discipline was swayed to computer science, my goal of teaching remained strong. In addition to helping peers with homework throughout my own education, my first teaching experience took place during my senior year of high school when I served as a teaching assistant for a geometry class. My duties included leading the lecture once per week under the teacher’s supervision and circulating among students during work time. I greatly enjoyed helping students understand geometry and construct proofs; since that experience, I have felt called to be a teacher. My passion to become a college professor was underscored during my years as an undergraduate student at Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, MN). Gustavus is a liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving about 2500 undergraduate students. I chose Gustavus as my home for four years for several reasons: the school has strong math and science programs, the school is a faith-based community, the classes are small, the professors are excellent teachers, and I had the opportunity to play for the women’s golf team.

and our life's rent, really is service to our community. And to my family, for instilling in me this core value and belief by modeling it in their own lives. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first and foremost like to acknowledge my family community for bringing me up to believe in myself enough to persevere through this somewhat seemingly endless process, and for engraining in me the strong sense of commitment to my community, which ignited my passion to pursue this topic within education. Both of my parents are educators, and are firmly committed to education, which helped to drive me to this field that I love. My grandparents and sister and brother have always believed in me more consistently than I ever believed in myself, and this unconditional support helped me to pursue and to finish this work. I would like to thank my Chair, Eric Dey, for knowing exactly when to push, when to pull back, and when to gently guide: a true model of an effective educator. My committee members, Barry Checkoway, Jeffrey Howard, and Terrie Epstein, were a joy to work with, and were truly committed to advancing this topic within the academic

Every 10 minutes or so throughout a lecture ask the students to turn to the student next to them and discuss a question. Then randomly call on student pairs to provide the answer.

In this paper we evaluate immediate learning and retention among primary school children aged 10-12 across four separate instruction mediums- multiple-user-multiple-mice PC, multiple-user-single-mouse PC, video and narration. The work thus far addresses the usage scenarios and design interfaces for MultiMouse. Here, we do a real world proof of concept using a MultiMouse application tailored for a standard school setting in developing regions. The experiment was conducted on 68 primary school children on malaria learning. Overall, immediate learning was found to be relatively same in both the PC scenarios and the video. However, the retention level after a week dropped considerably for the video case. This suggests the value of interactive games while employing multiple-input shared designs. In addition, seating position effects were found where, in contrast to previous studies the leftmost child performed better.