Innovative Techniques and the Integrated Model of Teaching the First Accounting Course for English as Second Language learners

Across the world, the first accounting course provides serious challenges for teaching. These arise from powerful negative perceptions which include the anxiety associated with tertiary-level study and the differing backgrounds or majors of students required to take the course. This paper outlines some examples of nontraditional teaching techniques and highlights how the course could be best structured to overcome such negative views while at the same time responding to the changes in the industry. The design and content of the proposed course emphasizes the USER approach and is directed to English as second language learners. This is a case study in an Australian offshore campus and is the end result of the progressive improvement in the structure and delivery of the course.

A Review of Nontraditional Teaching Methods: Flipped Classroom, Gamification, Case Study, Self-Learning, and Social Media

Traditional teaching methods rely solely on the use of textbooks, but teaching effectiveness assessment methods have demonstrated that most students taught by this method do not absorb the course content up to the expected level. Multiple researchers have introduced nontraditional teaching methods, but there is no scientific consensus on the best nontraditional teaching methods that are tailored to learners’ abilities while most effectively addressing the course objectives. Therefore, the goal of this review was to address the following questions across all engineering disciplines, based on learners’ abilities and the course objectives: (a) What are the benefits of nontraditional teaching methods? and (b) How would you categorize the benefits of nontraditional teaching methods? A qualitative review was conducted to achieve these goals, and the initial search for papers, using relevant keywords, resulted in more than 2000 peer-reviewed articles that were published between 2000 and 2017. A total of 125 peer-reviewed articles pertaining to the most frequently studied nontraditional teaching methods were comprehensively studied and analyzed. The analysis resulted in practical guidelines, including a list of the benefits of the five studied nontraditional teaching methods (flipped classroom, gamification, case study, self-learning, and social media) belonging to four categories: technical/professional, personal skills/ability, personal attitude, and time and space. Based on the results, the authors established significant guidelines for instructors who aim to optimize learners’ achievements by adopting the most effective teaching styles, based on their course objectives and the learners’ abilities.

Teaching Social Justice in Counseling Psychology

Recent years have witnessed increased calls from counseling psychology to include social justice competencies in the training of future practitioners. Integration of social justice awareness, advocacy skills, and opportunities for social change action are needed extensions of the field’s commitment to multicultural competency. Classroom teaching is a key component of transforming counseling psychology curricula and of developing students’ awareness of the value of social justice perspectives, yet pedagogical applications are rarely present in the literature. This article provides a case example of the integration of social justice and multicultural consciousness across the curriculum of one counseling psychology program. It highlights examples of innovative pedagogical techniques within a variety of core courses. We present specific examples of readings and nontraditional teaching approaches to promote social justice consciousness, including experiential exercises, self-reflection opportunities, use of video and online discussions, and assignments.

Shifting from Traditional to Nontraditional Teaching Practices Using Multiple Representations

Algebraic reasoning skills can be enhanced by building connections among symbolic, tabular, and graphical representations. But how do classroom teachers change traditional teaching practices to foster the use of different representational forms? This article explores how I learned to incorporate representational fluency in teaching and assessment. It builds on ideas from classroom practice and advocates making small changes in teaching practices to foster connections between representations.

Unique Pain Management Staff Education Program in a Community Hospital

This paper describes a unique and exciting way to educate medical/surgical care providers in pain management. The Medical Pathway, consisting of medicine, oncology, renal, and surgery care providers, chose pain management as a quality improvement initiative. Nurses, a pharmacist, a physical therapist, and a representative from the Healing Arts Department constituted the pain management team. The goal of the team was staff education on pain management. This education was accomplished by implementing a yearlong series of traditional lectures and nontraditional teaching techniques, such as “Pain Awareness Days.”