Students approaches to learning have generally been grouped into three categories: surface learners who rely heavily on rote learning and memorization; deep learners who strive to understand meaning, question premises, challenge assumptions, and further consider the implications and applications of the material; and, strategic learners who take a systematic, organized and goal-oriented approach to study…

In a 2008 article published in Active Learning in Higher Education Kember et al. (9(3):249-263)  found that one of the most important means of motivating student learning was to establish relevance.  The authors interviewed students from 9 undergraduate programmes at 3 different universities in Hong Kong, to charaterize the teaching and learning environments that best…

Eric Mazur’s Confessions of a Converted Lecturer is a MUST SEE for everyone with an interest in improving higher education.  Spoken with simple, humble elegance, this Harvard physics Professor offers some poignant advice on how to shift the classroom focus from teaching to student learning.   Mazur has transformed his classroom teaching practices to encourage…

In a recent article published in the journal Active Learning in Higher Education (2009, 10: 172-184) Bantram and Bailey explored the responses of students to this very question at a university in the UK. Four predominant themes were noted (in relative order of importance): Teaching Skills: Students felt that an effective teacher explained ideas and…

In a 2009 article published in Peer Review, Ken Bain and James Zimmerman explored how great instructors inspired a deep approach to learning. In comparison to surface learners, deep learners are said to take a superior approach to learning by relying less on memorization, and more on questioning premises, challenging assumptions and considering the implications…

In a 2009 article published in Science (2009:323) Smith et al., found that when undergraduate students at the University of Colorado-Boulder were posed with a multiple-choice question during lecture, and then were given an opportunity to actively engaged in small-group peer discussion regarding their individual responses, they increased their conceptual understanding of the course material,…

In a truly inspirational presentation, grounded in an extraoridinarly philosophy that extends much beyond the borders of Ghana, Patrick Awuah speaks of addressing challenge through leadership and a liberal education. He reminds us of one of the most important purposes of a university – to serve humanity and, “…to train leaders of exceptional integrity who have…

The scholarship of teaching and learning combines the experience of teaching, the scholarship of research, and the dissemination of this knowledge such that the broader academic community can benefit from this scholarly product.  SoTL has been touted as one of the primary methods to increase the quality and value of teaching in higher education.  But,…