The University of San Diego has compiled a list of 87 teaching methods that includes most of the teaching methods currently in use. The list has been revised to exclude teaching methods that are considered unsuitable for engineering education, and been extended for items that particularly apply in the virtual product development domain.

Educational Item Description
Appointments with students An appointment between student and educator encompasses the delivery of feedback on tasks, individual tutoring, or serves as question time. Appointments are held in presence or virtually.
Author’s chair A tool for students to present project results, that have already been revised based on constructive criticism, to peers. The aim is to receive positive feedback and to enhance critical thinking by giving and receiving feedback.
Bulletin boards A tool to visualize and display information regarding a specific topic on a single page or surface, similar to a physical pin-board.
Brainstorming A group method to generate new ideas to a specific problem. Individuals spontaneously suggest new ideas without being impeded by criticism.
Case studies A case study is an in-depth examination of a task representing a real-world scenario.
Class projects A student assignment to deepen knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges. Requires students to plan activities and assign roles. Can be carried out either in groups or individually.
Classroom discussion A classroom discussion aims at reflecting and processing teaching contents. It can include or exclude the educator, and can either be moderated or unmoderated.
Video reporting A tool used to report on project assignments to enhance student engagement and ultimately lead to better learning results.
Collaborative learning spaces A space to encourage students to advance projects, work on assignments or have group discussions. Collaborative learning spaces should facilitate student learning pairs as well as groups of varying sizes.
Montages and Collages An adaptation and combination of text, photographs and other multimodal elements to create a new whole. Can be used to visualize a new product or concept.
(Current events) quizzes Written or verbal quizzes aim at regularly assessing the learning progress of a student.
Live polling A tool to support lectures. Increases students engagement, helps to start discussions and enables the educator to check student comprehension of lecture contents.
Debates A formal discussion where participants state and exchange arguments (often opposing). In an educational context, debates are used to improve critical thinking in students and train scientific argumentation.
Designated quiet space An area in which students and educators can recuperate from emotional stress and practice self-reflection.
Discussion groups A discussion group formally or informally negotiates and exchanges information on an academic subject. Participation is not restricted to students and educators, but also external experts. Similar to classroom discussions and group discussions.
DIY activities Do-it-yourself activities comprise the creation of objects without the help of experts, using raw and semi-raw materials. They aim at enhancing student motivation, foster creative thinking, and give the students an opportunity to apply theoretical concepts to real-world challenges.
Educational games Educational games are intentionally designed to impart education. They aim at helping students to understand teaching contents and developing problem-solving skills.
Educational podcasts A podcast is a series of digital audio files that can comprehend audio lectures, discussions and expert interviews.
Essays Essays in higher education are argumentative pieces of writing that can be classified as descriptive, narrative, expository and persuasive.
Exhibits and displays Exhibitions and displays can comprehend presentations and the demonstration of a product or a project. Students creating an exhibition learn how to present their learning outcomes. Students attending can learn from reflection on the exhibited items.
Field trips An excursion is a course-related activity with educational purpose outside the classroom.
Flash cards Small note cards to improve memorisation capabilities. Flash cards usually comprise a prompt on one side of the card and the corresponding information on the other.
Flexible seating A student centered learning approach wherein the student can decide on their preferred seating option. Flexible seating aims at creating a comfortable learning environment to enhance student engagement.
Gamified learning plans Gamification is the process of integrating gaming elements into a learning plan to enhance student engagement.
Genius hour Genius hour or Passion Pursuit is an allocated period of time for students to pursue individual learning in a field of their interest.
Group discussion A group discussion aims at participants  exchanging information and reflecting on it to reach a goal. Similar to classroom discussion and discussion groups.
Guest speakers Guest speakers can contribute specific expertise via guest lectures and by answering student questions.
Hands-on activities Hands-on activities are carried out physically by the students.
Individual projects An individual assignment to deepen the students’ knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges. Requires students to plan activities.
Interviewing Students conducting interviews with experts in a specific field of research. The conduction of expert interviews is a method to generate qualitative or quantitative data.
Journaling Journal writing (learning diary) is a tool to reflect on learning contents, habitual thinking and behavioural patterns.
Laboratory experiments Experiments are similar to hands-on activities but are characterized by a processual execution, withing a controlled environment, to test a hypothesis.
Learning stations Learning stations are dedicated stations in a classroom. A supervisor at each station can give instructions and initiate reflection on the finished task. Students rotate between stations to solve tasks, using provided materials.
Lecturing Lectures are large classes held by a professor. They cover well-organized, tightly constructed and highly polished presentations of methods and contents of a subject in consideration of specific problem formulations, formation of concepts and solution approaches.
Oral reports Oral reports are student presentations of academic contents to develop presentation competencies.
Peer partner learning Peer learning involves two learners that share knowledge and experience. Peer partners can be of the same year or from different semesters.
Photography A tool to support the delivery of theoretical concepts. Choosing and creating photographs and setting a textual context requires the student to reflect on an academic topic.
Posters Posters are used in academia to visually present research studies and their findings. Posters are often displayed at scientific conferences to generate interest and initiate scientific exchange with other participants.
Problem-solving activities Problem-solving activities require students to develop a method to solve a set of tasks they have not yet been confronted with.
Reflective discussion A reflective discussion aims at reflecting, processing and deepening the understanding of information. Similar to classroom and group discussion.
Research projects An assignment to answer a research question with the aim of deepening the students’ knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges. Requires the student to plan a structured approach to answering the question.
Role playing Role playing requires students to engage in taking on the perspective of another person or a specific job role to gain affective, cognitive, and behavioral understanding.
Science fairs Science fairs are events for students to present science project outcomes. Students have to demonstrate how a hypothesis was tested and to which conclusion they came. A science fair can be of competitive character. Otherwise, similar to exhibitions.
Scrapbooks Scrapbooks are arrangements of scraps, which can be images, objects with a specific connotation and text to relate concerns and opinions of a researcher. Scrapbooks are shared and reflected upon collaboratively to enable self-learning.
Storytelling Storytelling is a communication tool to convey information, ideas and implicit knowledge by telling fictional or non-fictional stories. The aim is to establish increased memorability in the recipient.
Student podcasts A podcast can comprehend audio lectures, discussions and expert interviews. Student podcasts require the student to research a topic and choose an adequate auditive medium to present it.
Student portfolios A portfolio is a collection of work samples and other evidence that represent knowledge. It can be used for student self reflection and to assess student abilities.
Student presentations A presentation is a speech to impart an audience with information and ideas and to influence their attitude regarding a specific topic. Students learn how to structure and present their learning outcomes and develop public speaking competencies.
Student-conceived projects An assignment conceived by students to explore their field of interest and deepen their knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges. Requires the students to plan activities.
Reading assignments A student assignment to read teaching material. Students acquire an understanding of theoretical concepts and can comprehend intellectual debates.
TED talks TED Talks are presentations and short talks  on scientific claims in a variety of fields hosted by the nonprofit organization TED (Technology Education Design). However, speakers are not obliged to restrict to peer-reviewed findings.
Team-building exercises Team building activities aim at improving efficiency and performance of a work team by improving interpersonal relations and establishing trust within the team.
Team projects A student assignment to deepen their knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges. Requires students to plan activities and assign roles.
Term papers Term papers are extensive assignments that require students to conduct research on a topic and document findings in a written report.
Textbook assignments A textbook is an instructional teaching material containing theoretical concepts of a subject, often paired with practice problems that apply to the concepts. Textbook assignments can consist of reading and problem-solving tasks.
Timelines A timeline is a depiction of a sequence of events within a time frame, which allows students to analyze cause and coherence of events. Creating a timeline allows for the structuring of learning plans and projects.
Use of community or local resources A mutually beneficial collaboration of universities with public and private entities to foster teaching and research.
Video creation The process of creating video content. Students learn to structure and present video contents.
Video lessons Video lessons are recorded lectures of an educator. Videos can substitute or be incorporated into live lectures. Asynchronous media such as video allows for increased student-centered learning.
Web quests A web quest is an instructional tool designed for web learning, prompting learners to solve tasks using internet resources. The educator provides sources of information, guidance and a description of the learning process.
Workbooks (Exercise Book) A workbook contains instructional exercises and practice problems that are supplemental to understanding and applying theoretical concepts.
Design specific tools and methodologies (extension)
Physical Prototypes Physical prototypes are tangible, three-dimensional representations of a product, process or concept. Students create physical prototypes to validate design choices.
Virtual Prototypes A virtual prototype is a digital mock-up comprising geometrical and functional simulations with the aim to validate its design. Digital mock-ups can easily be subjected to change and are therefore created before a physical prototype is produced.
Artistic sketches Artistic sketches are rough drawings to visually explain concepts, processes and ideas.
Technical drawings/ Technical sketches Technical drawings follow standardized norms on how parts and products are visually represented to explain their function and how they are constructed. Drawings are created using drawing instruments or computer aided technologies. A technical sketch is similar to a technical drawing, but is created by hand.
Standards Technical standards are norms to establish uniform criteria for products, processes and methods.
Market research Market research describes activities to determine customer needs and preferences. Qualitative and quantitative methods to obtain data can be employed.
Network of Problems A tool to analyse complex problems by breaking them down into sub-problems and partial solutions. A semantic map visually arranges and depicts relationships of problems and solutions.
Gallery Method A method to generate and advance ideas in a group. Group members are introduced to a problem statement and are prompted to sketch solutions individually. The sketches are then put on a wall and reviewed by the group. In the final step, each individual refines their sketch based on inspiration gathered during the review.
Hackathons Hackathons are collaborative events during which teams develop novel software or hardware products in the scope of a given problem or theme.
AR-visualization Augmented reality visualization enhances real world objects and environments by overlaying computer graphics. It can be employed to explain abstract concepts and processes and to make visual and spatial inspections of virtual prototypes.
VR-visualization Virtual reality visualization is a three-dimensional computer simulation. Users can interact with this environment via visual and auditory output devices.  It can be employed to explain abstract concepts and processes and to make visual and spatial inspections of virtual prototypes.

Sources

Lathan J., The Complete List of Teaching Methods, University of San Diego, Retrieved August 20, 2021 from https://onlinedegrees.sandiego.edu/complete-list-teaching-methods/