Engaging with the conference topic directly, a topic both trendy and identified with the contemporary trend to customize learning, this Lightning Talk, using an interactive approach and stimulating PowerPoint slides, will review in a brief but meaningful manner the pedagogical challenges related to learning in the 21st century college classroom.

While acknowledging the difference technology has made, the talk will focus on the essential parameters which impact deep and high-order learning: student motivation in relation to academic tasks in the context of student-faculty interaction; student employment of meta-cognitive strategies; collaborative learning activities in a supportive learning environment; and student determination to engage meaningfully with challenging assessment tasks (Kenney, Dumont, & Kenney, 1995; Chapman, 2003). Effective pedagogies of learning thus recognize the powerful interplay among students, teachers, learning spaces, and technology: student engagement a la mode!