Interteaching: A strategy for enhancing the user-friendliness of behavioral arrangements in the college classroom

"Interteaching" is an arrangement for college classroom instruction that departs from the standard lecture format and offers an answer to criticisms commonly directed at behavioral teaching techniques. This approach evolved from exploratory use of small-group arrangements and Ferster and Perrott's (1968) "interview technique," leading ultimately to a format that is organized around focused dyadic discussion. Specific suggestions are offered that might enable both seasoned and novice instructors to incorporate this or similar arrangements into their classrooms. This approach retains some key characteristics of Keller's personalized system of instruction and precision teaching, but offers greater flexibility for strategies that are based on behavioral principles.     

Memory modulation in the classroom: selective enhancement of college examination performance by arousal induced after lecture

Laboratory studies examining moderate physiological or emotional arousal induced after learning indicate that it enhances memory consolidation. Yet, no studies have yet examined this effect in an applied context. As such, arousal was induced after a college lecture and its selective effects were examined on later exam performance. Participants were divided into two groups who either watched a neutral video clip (n=66) or an arousing video clip (n=70) after lecture in a psychology course. The final examination occurred two weeks after the experimental manipulation. Only performance on the group of final exam items that covered material from the manipulated lecture were significantly different between groups. Other metrics, such as the midterm examination and the total final examination score, did not differ between groups. The results indicate that post-lecture arousal selectively increased the later retrieval of lecture material, despite the availability of the material for study before and after the manipulation. The results reinforce the role of post-learning arousal on memory consolidation processes, expanding the literature to include a real-world learning context.     

Ethics in the classroom

In this paper, we describe our recent approaches to introducing students in a beginning computer science class to the study of ethical issues related to computer science and technology. This consists of three components: lectures on ethics and technology, in-class discussion of ethical scenarios, and a reflective paper on a topic related to ethics or the impact of technology on society. We give both student reactions to these aspects, and instructor perspective on the difficulties and benefits in exposing students to these ideas.     

Multimedia in the classroom

This paper focuses on setting up a system for developing and displaying multimedia classroom presentations that is both economical and easy to learn. Four separate aspects of the process are considered: (1) a hardware configuration to serve both the development and display processes, (2) selecting authoring software and learning to use it, (3) presentation development including locating and acquiring multimedia resources appropriate to psychology, and (4) some of the problems that can be expected to arise in both development and use of multimedia presentations. Some discussion of interactive courseware is included.     

The power of a place: Opening the college classroom to people with serious mental illness

Presented the structure and implementation of a university-based practicum course on social relationships for people with serious mental illness and college undergraduates. Grounded in an ecological view of social settings, cooperative learning models of education and mutual help principles, the practicum was designed to create a collaborative classroom setting where undergraduates and people with serious mental illness could both develop and enhance their own interpersonal skills and social network ties. The practicum demonstrates how a university can use its resources to help address community needs while simultaneously enhancing its mission of teaching and research. The role of social context in creating collaborative relationships among participants and the use of the university as a community resource are discussed.     

A comparison of two college classroom testing procedures: required remediation versus no remediation

Forty one subjects from a 10-week introductory course in Educational Psychology were randomly divided into two experimental groups. All students took weekly quizzes over content material. Members of one group received little or no academic credit if they performed at less than 90% on a weekly quiz, but could earn additional credit by taking a weekly remedial quiz. Members of the second group also took the initial weekly quizzes, but retained their raw scores and were not permitted to take the weekly remedial quizzes. Performance on a 100-item multiple-choice comprehensive final revealed a statistically significant and educationally important difference between the two groups, the required-remediation group scoring an average of one-half letter grade higher.     

The effectiveness of collaborative story building and telling in facilitating group cohesion in a college classroom setting

This study tested the notion that the construction and telling of a collaborative group story would facilitate the development of group cohesion within the context of an actual classroom setting over the duration of the course. Participants were 125 students in 8 classes (4 experimental, 4 control) of a group psychotherapy course that focused on the principles and techniques of cognitive behavior therapy in conjunction with psychodrama techniques. Results showed significantly higher cohesion scores in the experimental condition compared to the control condition, suggesting that collaborative story building and telling is a viable strategy for improving group cohesion.     

Reinforcement therapy in the classroom

Teachers were trained in the systematic use of attention and praise to reduce the disruptive classroom behavior of four first-grade children. Observation measures showed a significant improvement from baseline to treatment for these children and no significant changes for same-class controls. While the amount of teacher attention to target children remained the same from baseline to treatment, the proportion of attention to task-relevant behavior of these children increased. Psychological tests revealed no adverse changes after treatment.     

Questioning authority in the psychoanalytic classroom

Psychoanalytic educators today, like their predecessors who trained them, struggle to maintain respect for and make use of candidates' various kinds of professional expertise while offering instruction in "the subject." But unlike their predecessors, today's educators teach in the wake of various challenges to authority and knowledge in recent decades from across the disciplines. Some of the most important work of teaching in this context begins when teachers recognize that they have assumed the position of objectivity in the classroom--that they have closed down the possibilities for open discussion--and figure out (with and in front of their students) what to do next.     

Academic entitlement decreases engagement in and out of the classroom and increases classroom incivility attitudes

Social Psychology of Education - Previous research has indicated that academic entitlement can serve as a barrier between students and the benefits of a university education. As entitled students...     

HyperCourseware for interactive instruction in the electronic classroom

An electronic classroom with computer workstations and multimedia offers tremendous potential for interactive instruction. To support such instruction, HyperCourseware was developed as an environment and authoring system that recreates on a computer network familiar objects of instruction, such as the syllabus, lecture notes, class rolls, seating charts, exams, and grade lists. In addition, it provides interactive and collaborative tools for group discussion, anonymous feedback, student polling, and shared collaborative workspaces. Applications in statistics and cognitive psychology are discussed along with the specific advantages due to hypermedia links, structure of course materials, integration of parts, and classroom interactivity. Student and faculty evaluations have supported the positive educational benefits of both the electronic classroom and HyperCourseware in general.