Innovation Exposition: Advanced Research Course in Psychology (PSY 390)

The innovative Advanced Research course was designed in the early 1980s, well before the pedagogical approach of enquiry-based instruction was widely championed in the late 1990s to early 2000s (National Science Educational Standards, 1996; National Research Council, 2000). Enquiry-based instruction entails “learning through doing” and is a method of teaching and learning based on self-directed enquiry (EBL) or research (RBL) by the student (University of Manchester, 2007; University of Reading, n.d.). This course integrates a research experience for students in the psychology curriculum that reflects a cutting edge approach to teaching psychology. The “lone-wolf” model of science is outdated and one of the primary “opportunities” of today’s best practices in scientific discovery is the collaborative research model. The course provides students with critical pre-professional experiences and the research outcomes are presented at regional, national, and international professional venues

Differential use and benefits of PowerPoint in upper level versus lower level courses

The study examines whether college instructors use PowerPoint differently in upper level versus lower level courses and whether PowerPoint differentially affects the learning and behaviours of students in those courses. The authors surveyed 191 students from 14 Psychology classes and found that instructors teaching higher level courses use PowerPoint more frequently and are more likely to make the slides available to students than those teaching beginning-level courses. We also found that students in upper level courses reported greater benefits associated with the use of PowerPoint than those in lower level courses