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Teaching and Learning in Hard and Soft Disciplines at North American Universities Osama, Ahmed; Andres, Lesley

Abstract

In this study we employed National Student and Faculty Surveys of Student Engagement (NSSE and FSSE) from various USA and Canada universities to investigate teaching and learning practices in hard and soft disciplines. Using seven years of quantitative data extracted from the surveys, the trends of different teaching practices and learning outcomes in hard and soft disciplines were assessed. Also, we examined the association between the studied teaching practices and the resulting learning outcomes. Regression analysis was also performed to develop a model for the deep learning index. Results demonstrated that faculty in hard disciplines were more dependent on teacher-centered approaches than those in soft disciplines; the latter relied mainly on student-centered approaches. Moreover, student-centered approaches to teaching were found to have a positive impact on deep learning sub-scales, while teacher-centered approaches affected those sub-scales negatively.

Item Metadata

Title
Teaching and Learning in Hard and Soft Disciplines at North American Universities
Creator
Osama, Ahmed; Andres, Lesley
Date Issued
2016
Description
In this study we employed National Student and Faculty Surveys of Student Engagement (NSSE and FSSE) from various USA and Canada universities to investigate teaching and learning practices in hard and soft disciplines. Using seven years of quantitative data extracted from the surveys, the trends of different teaching practices and learning outcomes in hard and soft disciplines were assessed. Also, we examined the association between the studied teaching practices and the resulting learning outcomes. Regression analysis was also performed to develop a model for the deep learning index. Results demonstrated that faculty in hard disciplines were more dependent on teacher-centered approaches than those in soft disciplines; the latter relied mainly on student-centered approaches. Moreover, student-centered approaches to teaching were found to have a positive impact on deep learning sub-scales, while teacher-centered approaches affected those sub-scales negatively.
Subject
Deep Learning; Hard and Soft Disciplines; Teacher Centered Approaches; Student Centered Approaches; National and Faculty Surveys of Student Engagement
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Series
University of British Columbia. EDST 521
Date Available
2016-10-14
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0314909
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/59302
Affiliation
Applied Science, Faculty of; Education, Faculty of; Civil Engineering, Department of; Educational Studies (EDST), Department of
Campus
UBCV
Peer Review Status
Unreviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Graduate
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International