Teaching and learning in higher education: Recent trends

In the last decade, the questioning of traditional teaching and learning methods and instructional systems and the search for more effective alternatives have gained momentum in higher education. Recent trends can be grouped as follows:

–	-facilitation of student learning with an emphasis on individualizing instruction, and increased use of multi-media systems, learning resource centers, and peer teaching;
–	-evaluation of teaching: the widespread and systematic use of student evaluations by means of questionnaires and greater use of these data for purposes of faculty selection and promotion;
–	-university-teacher training including the creation of pedagogical service units on many campuses, courses and workshops on instruction for faculty and graduate students, and increased collaboration between content specialists and instructional and media consultants in curricular reforms;
–	-new systems of higher education, such as the Open University or the University Without Walls, designed to offer radical alternatives to new as well as traditional types of students.

These trends, which have been accompanied by intense research and evaluation efforts, will be described and assessed.