Function (biology)

Context (archaeology)

Teaching method

Mathematics education

Biology

Portfolio

Teaching and learning center

Pedagogy

Experiential learning

Economics

Computer science

Evolutionary biology

Paleontology

Psychology

Cooperative learning

Artificial intelligence

Financial economics

Finance

Active learning (machine learning)

Order (exchange)

Higher Education Research & Development

Many teachers see major difficulties in maintaining academic standards in today's larger and more diversified classes. The problem becomes more tractable if learning outcomes are seen as more a function of students' activities than of their fixed characteristics. The teacher's job is then to organise the teaching/learning context so that all students are more likely to use the higher order learning processes which "academic" students use spontaneously. This may be achieved when all components are aligned, so that objectives express the kinds of understanding that we want from students, the teaching context encourages students to undertake the learning activities likely to achieve those understandings, and the assessment tasks tell students what activities are required of them, and tell us how well the objectives have been met. Two examples of aligned teaching systems are described: problem-based learning and the learning portfolio.

What the student does: teaching for enhanced learning