Museum education has changed dramatically in recent years, creating new opportunities for higher education faculty to integrate museums into evidence-based teaching and learning. Technology, innovation, and professional development have expanded museums’ capacity to support undergraduate and graduate instruction across disciplines through interactive exhibits and distance learning that connect students with experts and collections otherwise inaccessible. Framed through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), this InStruct article positions museums as course-integrated learning environments and provides practical, adaptable strategies aligned to learning outcomes. It emphasizes course-embedded evidence to assess and refine museum-based learning that deepens engagement and disciplinary thinking.
Colleges often struggle to engage and retain adult learners effectively while the U.S. military consistently produces mastery, discipline, and resilience under pressure. This practice-oriented article examines instructional principles drawn from military training—clarity of mission, structured feedback, peer accountability, and experiential mastery—and explores how these methods can enhance faculty teaching and student success in higher education. Grounded in Schlossberg’s Transition Theory, Self-Determination Theory, and Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, the paper integrates qualitative insights from Spencer (2024) with recent empirical research on debriefing, motivation, and faculty development. The discussion advances a model of mission-based pedagogy that reframes faculty teaching as a balance between structure and autonomy—emphasizing purpose, feedback, and reflection as tools for excellence. Adapting these principles does not militarize learning; it professionalizes it, fostering instructional precision and engagement across in-person, online, and hybrid learning environments where structure, feedback, and reflection sustain learner motivation and persistence.
Speaking skills are critical in a rapidly changing work landscape that requires collaboration and problem solving. However, class size (small or large) can influence students’ feelings and behaviors when practicing speaking in class, with this study finding that total class size affects students’ outcomes not only during student presentations to the whole class but also during students’ small group interactions. Students in a small class reported feeling more positive about their experiences within the class as a whole, experiencing greater interest in coursework and exhibiting greater attention.
This study investigated the role of Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) in higher education and focused on their self-efficacy, pedagogical training, and performance. Given the expanding employment of GSIs and the influence of their teaching efficacy on undergraduate education, this research examined the effectiveness of a structured professional development program designed to enhance GSIs' teaching capabilities. Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to assess GSIs' self-efficacy through surveys, exit slips, and student evaluations to gauge the educational impact. The findings indicated a notable and significant increase in GSIs' self-efficacy post-intervention, with positive feedback on teaching practices from undergraduate students. The findings underscore the importance of professional development programs in preparing GSIs for effective teaching roles, thereby improving the quality of higher education instruction and supporting the academic success of undergraduate students.
Well-being plays a critical role in student performance and engagement. The purpose of this pilot study is to describe an active and experiential learning activity and examine its effect on promoting well-being in a convenience sample of graduate students. The results of this study demonstrated that the active and experiential learning opportunities described in this article enhanced perceived well-being, including mental, emotional, and physical health. Findings from this study suggest that active and experiential learning approaches may be beneficial tools for addressing and promoting well-being for graduate students.
This study examines the influence of behavior modification interventions on the self-efficacy and self-esteem of undergraduate college students during their transition to higher education. Participants engage in a behavior modification assignment, and their experiences are assessed through pre- and post-surveys and reflective inquiry responses. Through a mixed-methods approach, the research sheds light on how behavior modification strategies empower students to adopt physical and mental health habits, with the potential to enhance their psychological well-being and academic success. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of effective interventions to promote undergraduate well-being within educational contexts.
This study explores the complex dynamics of academic enculturation and its influence on perceptions of plagiarism within higher education. Plagiarism presents an enduring challenge for educators and administrators, manifesting in various forms that often extend beyond simple deceit or theft to include profound misunderstandings shaped by cultural, generational, and educational factors. Prior research has identified multiple layers of misunderstanding associated with plagiarism, emphasizing the need for a nuanced approach to this issue. This paper specifically explores how the dimension of academic enculturation (a process through which individuals are inducted into the norms and values of the academic community) impacts perceptions and handling of plagiarism. By examining the responses of online faculty members, this study highlights the significant role that academic enculturation plays in shaping educators’ approaches to plagiarism, revealing that misunderstandings often stem from deeper educational and cultural contexts rather than mere intent to deceive. Through a comprehensive analysis of responses from online faculty members (n = 333) across various disciplines, this manuscript offers new insights into the subtleties of plagiarism as influenced by academic enculturation, thereby contributing to more effective strategies for addressing this pervasive issue in higher education.
For Students of Color in the United States, to attend university is to live and work within a social reality that reproduces a hegemonic social order. Professors can and should assist students in recognizing the dominant social standpoint embodied in much of university instruction, while also recognizing the equal validity of their own and their students’ socially situated standpoints. Building upon the scholarship of teaching and learning, I here present two pedagogical frameworks that have been constructed to recognize particular standpoints and work from them towards justice: bell hooks’ engaged pedagogy and Yosso and Solórzano’s community cultural wealth model. I also present practical applications of both, drawing on my own university teaching experience.
This paper demonstrates the value of an innovative test preparation strategy, applied over multiple semesters to one principles of macroeconomics class. The professor makes a video of himself taking a copy of the test students are preparing for, talking aloud about how to think about the question and work through the solution. A natural experiment occurred one semester when the professor was unable to provide the think-aloud preparation video, but other, standard preparation materials were in place. It is demonstrated that students increase their scores on other questions in the same modules by an average of 7.6 percentage points with think-aloud videos. Think aloud interventions are shown to be an effective tool to enhance student content learning.
Student-teachers must be afforded opportunities to seek guidance on challenges that arise during teaching experiences, such as addressing student behavior, creating meaningful lessons, and fostering open and welcoming learning environments. Student-teachers can undergo negative experiences, which can lead to frustration, anger, and lack of interest in the profession. One way to address these challenges is through dialogue (Kumar & Downey, 2018). In this qualitative study, the researcher investigated whether a nuanced version of the Socratic method, developed by Leonard Nelson (1882-1927), can be an efficacious instructional strategy for finding solutions to student-teachers’ classroom challenges. The research study consisted of five undergraduate students enrolled in a student teaching seminar at a private midwestern university. The course prepared students for roles as new teachers by reading, discussing, and sharing challenges about teaching. Both the researcher and research participants worked together to faithfully follow the essential steps of a Nelsonian Socratic method approach. Once the preparation was settled, the researcher, as the external analyst, facilitated a Nelsonian Socratic dialogue with the student-teachers on a specific challenge a student teacher within the group was facing. After the dialogue, participants were assembled in a focus group and asked several questions about their experiences participating in a Nelsonian Socratic dialogue. Descriptive, categorical, and analytical coding of data indicated that participants reached consensus on a solution for the student-teacher’s challenge and perceived the Nelsonian Socratic method approach as an effective dialogic strategy that generated feelings of belongingness and empowerment as a group, a shared understanding about the challenge, and a healthy respect for dialogue.
Homelessness among at-risk transitional age youth is an increasingly growing crisis impacting college-aged students across the United States. Thankfully, along with interest in their local community’s success, universities have the necessary resources that may offer a unique solution to this crisis. This study describes the pilot of a collaborative effort among a local youth shelter, mental health center, and a private university that provides housing and a college education simultaneously for college students experiencing homelessness and evaluates whether students who participate in such programs experience and maintain increases in life satisfaction, wellbeing, and resilience. Data were collected from a total of seven college students over a period of four years for this longitudinal study, yielding limited but encouraging results about the pilot process and the potential for an expansion of the project. Students were asked to complete surveys that assessed resilience and life satisfaction using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (2003) and the Satisfaction with Life scale (International Wellbeing Group, 2013). Results showed students in the program presented similar scores as the general population (Zimmermann et al., 2020). Scores of well-being and resilience fluctuated; however, over time student wellbeing and resilience increased overall. Students participating in this comprehensive program achieved stability, safety, an increased standard of living, and connection. Results suggest that universities have the resources and networks to provide wrap-around services to students facing homelessness, increasing overall life satisfaction and resilience, and improving the likelihood of graduation.
Online teaching requires faculty development and support to effectively meet the needs of students. Universities should widely recognize that having self-assured and competent online adjunct instructors greatly influences professional sustainability, learning outcomes, and student achievement. The objective of this descriptive study was to gain insights and perspectives on confidence and instructional effectiveness of online adjunct faculty as compared to those who taught on campus or in a blended format, after they participated in an online faculty orientation course. Survey data was collected, and correlational analysis was used to identify relationships between adjunct faculty’s perceived confidence and their instructional preparedness in their respective teaching modalities. Results indicate faculty may increase their confidence and instructional effectiveness after participating in an online training course.
University First Year Seminar (FYS) programs are diverse in their content and pedagogy. Yet all seek to assist first-year students in the difficult college transition. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate if grouping similar academic majors into the existing First Year Seminar (FYS) courses would improve social connectedness, use of academic resources, and engagement on campus. A subset of first year students were assigned to either the control group (CON) of normal mixed major sections, or to the experimental course (EXP) with only related majors. Thirteen EXP and 36 CON students completed the data collection, including an 18-question social support survey administered at the beginning and end of the course. Additionally, two open-ended qualitative analysis questions were asked related to student expectations and perceived course outcomes. Lastly, the three instructors of the EXP and CON courses studied were interviewed using phenomenological methods approximately one week after the end of the semester. Between-groups analysis of the 18 quantitative survey questions identified that the CON group reported more personal conversations with peers and attendance of campus activities while the EXP group reported more faculty interactions. At the beginning of the course, 77% of the EXP group expected to create social connections as a primary course outcome, while only 19% of the CON group did. Academic skills were a higher expectation among the CON group than the EXP group. When asked more directly, both groups expected to make social connections in the class (86%). However, by the end of the study, the reported outcomes were equivocal. Interviews with FYS professors uncovered their own valuable perceptions of connectedness to the university and recommendations for instructor support were made.
Research shows that students benefit from outside-of-class interaction with instructors (Guerrero & Rod, 2013; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005) yet rarely take advantage of visiting faculty during office hours (Abdul-Wahab et al., 2019; Bippus et al., 2003; Griffin et al., 2014). We interviewed 39 students in six focus groups to learn more about why this is the case. Our transcribed focus group discussions revealed six barriers students experience interacting with faculty during office hours and six ways students perceive faculty mitigating the barriers. From these data, we note three implications for instructors as they understand and manage their interaction with students outside of class.
Asynchronous online discussion (AOD) can provide an interactive educational experience through formation of learning communities that enable students to develop professional knowledge and critical thinking skills as they engage with colleagues and instructors. We find significant differences between undergraduate and graduate student perceptions of the efficacy of AOD. In this paper, we explore the pedagogical benefits of AOD and describe considerations that guide how they are designed and managed effectively and efficiently. Additionally, we report the results of a survey that measures student perceptions of the extent to which AOD provided a positive educational experience and contributed to their learning.
