Interteaching has emerged as one of the newest behaviorally-based pedagogical approaches in recent research. The present study evaluated the use of interteaching as a pedagogical approach in the context of an undergraduate behavior analysis class. 24 participants were alternated in a counterbalanced manner between interteaching classes and standard lecture format classes throughout the duration of the class. No significant differences were found between mean class quiz scores between the two conditions. However, 16 of the 24 students did have significantly higher mean quiz scores following interteaching than lecture when comparing mean quiz scores at the individual level.

The purpose of this study was to determine changes in practices and beliefs which would be needed by certain academic deans to provide a sound program for the improvement of college instruction.

In sizeable discussion-based college classrooms, achieving any approximation of balanced student participation is difficult. More common is a pattern that develops wherein a small percentage of the class dominates discussion and a larger percentage rarely or never participates. Thus, the purpose of this study was to find ways to balance the amount of discussion across students without diminishing the relevance of discussion. Consequently, this study evaluated the efficacy of crediting participation and requiring students to self-record their daily participation. Students (N = 160) in three sections of an undergraduate educational psychology course self-recorded their comments on specially designed record cards and received credit for participation during selected phases of the study. Additionally, an observer kept track of each class discussion by coding the quantity of each student’s daily participation. Relevance and type of student responses were assessed as ancillary dependent measures, also recorded by the observer. Credit decreased the percentage of both non-participants and dominant participants, thus balancing participation across students. Self-recording had a minimal effect on participation. Neither credit nor self-recording altered relevance or type of student comments. Few overall instances of non-relevant student commenting indicated that the construct was too narrowly defined, which provides direction for future attempts to assess quality of student participation. Because these findings resulted from comparisons within and between three sections of the course, instructor behavior was also monitored daily. A secondary observer’s records revealed that instructor behaviors (i.e., type and number of questions asked and feedback given) did not inflate or diminish the effect of treatment conditions. A 50-item survey assessed student perceptions of participation at the beginning of the course and was found to significantly predict student participation. Through a series of four principal components analyses, I extracted three specific factors. Logistic regression analyses showed that the primary factor, History and Confidence regarding Participation, differentiated high and low participants as well as the total survey and the three combined factors. This factor best predicted membership in a low participant group in the non-credit units and membership in a high participant group in the credit units.

Leadership courses are emerging across higher education institutions taking various shapes and forms. Some are coordinated and run by faculty sometimes leading to a minor, major, or certificate. Others are coordinated by student affairs professionals. The focus of this study is to understand the experiences that student affairs professionals have in implementing and coordinating leadership courses in academic units. Because on many campuses leadership courses are being implemented by student affairs professionals, there are distinctive intricacies involved. Plagued by the complexity of the inter-profession relationship between student affairs and faculty, implementing and coordinating courses is not a simple matter. In addition to learning about student affairs professionals' experiences, this study also shares strategies that these professionals use in trying to implement and coordinate leadership courses in academic units. Drawing from literature on the professions as well as leadership development helps shed light on the complex dynamics underlying the course implementation and coordination process. Implications for both research and practice are included.

Efforts to improve university science education continue to emphasize the importance of active learning, including frequent formative assessment and timely feedback that helps students reach desired learning outcomes. Yet, nationwide, many instructors continue to use primarily lecture-based teaching methods, with limited use of formative assessment and feedback. Factors that affect instructor adoption and implementation of new teaching techniques include departmental norms, peer interaction, and classroom environment. In this work, a model of the impacts of departmental teaching and social norms and peer interactions on instructor innovation decision is presented. This model is then used to explore 1) instructor teaching-related interactions within a single biology department, assessing the conditions for innovation diffusion, and 2) instructor perceptions of norms and interactions in that department and their impact on decision-making. Finally, introductory biology instructors’ use of assessment and feedback techniques were characterized in a lecture hall and an active learning classroom to see how innovation adoption translates to specific assessment practice and investigate the impact of the active learning classroom. Results indicate that perceptions and practices vary widely, but that both peer interactions and active learning classrooms may have a positive impact on teaching innovation adoption and practices in a university biology department. In addition, the pattern of interactions within this department allows instructors of varying assessment experience to interact, making it potentially conducive to the spread of teaching ideas. The model and results presented here will assist in understanding the factors involved in instructor decision-making and can be leveraged to help promote the use of formative assessment and other evidence-based teaching practices.

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