This paper provides a theory-based introduction to instructional design that can be used in pedagogy seminars, training sessions, professional development events, colloquiums, and/or programmatic guidebooks. It includes a series of activities designed to assist instructors in the classes they teach. The exercises combine theory with practice to…

The Department of Mathematics at Bates College has offered a senior seminar capstone course for over a dozen years. In this article, we discuss the coexistence of seminar and thesis, our other capstone experience. We discuss in detail the goals of our seminar, various ways we structure the seminar to accomplish those goals, and methods of…

I have taught Plato's "Republic" for several years although seminars on this text can be difficult and pose certain challenges, most especially with first year students new to university: the ancient Greeks seem a long way from the technocratic society we live in today. More importantly, the complexity of our relationship to each other…

This article provides information on a chemical information literacy program designed primarily for new graduate students. The full implementation of this program is discussed, including defining its purpose, topics covered, content presented, methods of marketing, and evaluation. The result is a series of voluntary seminars given biweekly…

In this article, the author looks closely at the challenges of teaching a graduate multicultural education seminar from an instructor's personal perspective. First, she discusses her cultural identity and her rationale for teaching multicultural education. Second, she explains her philosophy of multicultural education. Third, she outlines the…

Designing a senior seminar as a "capstone" course for English majors provided an educator the opportunity to devise a course that might provide the majors and anyone who teaches the course an experience of what Paulo Freire calls "liberatory education." According to the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education…

Describes a course which provides nonscience students with an understanding of methods and nature of natural science. The course is a seminar organized around a detailed examination of the Copernican revolution, in part through Copernicus's original writings, and in part through contemporary historical and philosophical analysis. (Author/SK)

In overcoming the physical limitations of a single campus, distance education promises to diversify the student population, exposing students to a wider array of experiences and backgrounds. This paper reports how adequately distance education technology fulfilled that promise in a joint seminar in American politics that included students at the…

Argues that assessing how teachers apply their teaching knowledge requires an approach that examines their cognitive development and attitudes, allows teachers to demonstrate their competencies, and recognizes the complexities of learning to teach. One such approach is portfolio assessment with its three components to portfolio design: purposes,…

The content of a series of seminars on prescription drug promotion seminars that have been conducted for medical students and other health professionals is outlined. Focus is on dramatizing media-practitioner interaction and conflicts of interest. Also reported are results of a pretest that surveys student attitudes toward such ethical…

Lists common problems associated with teaching large lecture classes and asserts that there are ways to surmount them through innovative teaching techniques. Provides an overview of the introductory American government course at Kent State University, and discusses techniques used in it to provide the benefits of a small seminar course. (DSK)

Mitchell High School's Senior Seminar is a 5-credit interdisciplinary and experiential intensive learning program offered for one semester during a student's senior year. During that time the student takes no other coursework; he focuses on single subjects in learning blocks that may extend from two to four weeks. Program goals center on learning…

Describes seminars developed at McGill University library to teach faculty, students, and staff about the Internet. Topics discussed include growth in use of the Internet and other developments that have placed new demands on libraries; course design and objectives; the need for hands-on training; and funding needs for training. (19 references)…

This paper presents the report of a University of Maryland focus group evaluating a seminar in teaching designed for undergraduate teaching fellows in engineering. The course's purpose was to provide the fellows the opportunity to apply teaching theory to practice. Focus groups were conducted in order to evaluate the course and the teaching…

This paper describes the creation of a journal entitled "Issues in Education" by eight elementary education and reading students in a graduate seminar course. The journal, published each semester by the Elementary Education Department, Towson State University (Maryland), presents articles illustrative of current teacher concerns. Topics relate to…