The course syllabus is a contract between instructor and students, a schedule of course assignments and activities, and a roadmap delineating objectives and checkpoints in the course. It is also a planning and reference tool for both students and instructor, and it models professors' expectations for their students. This study investigated whether…

The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is increasingly offering more Web-based, online orientation courses to students. Since the fall semester of 1999, the community college campuses throughout the VCCS have offered over 100 sections of online orientation courses. However, no assessment data or research for these courses or students exists.…

This paper draws on a study of curriculum consonance (correspondence between teachers' goals, what ensues in the classroom, and what students learn) in three tenth-grade social studies classrooms. The three teachers had about the same number of years of teaching experience and educational attainment, and they were about the same age. The…

Presents an approach to teaching basic and advanced courses in cataloging that determines course objectives by identifying the categories of students involved. The course content, instructional materials, and presentation methods are described in detail, and the success of the courses in generating interest among students is discussed. (CLB)

The purpose of this project was to review the Farm Management curriculum at the North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) to determine if current curriculum content provides the knowledge and skills needed to be an entry-level farm manager in a contemporary farming operation. The nominal group technique was selected for this curriculum review.…

Describes the process of seeking accreditation of nursing education programs by the National League for Nursing, from the self-evaluation by administration and faculty of a school of nursing to collect information, assess their program against established criteria, and write a substantiating report to the accreditation visit itself. (MF)

Describes the assessment of the revised objectives of an English reading course offered at Kuwait University to foster reading comprehension for academic purposes. Analysis of data obtained from pre- and posttests showed improvement in reading skills although there were differences between students who were Arts and Science majors. (19 references)…

Discusses design issues raised during an in-house review of undergraduate English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing courses at the University of Nebraska. Issues covered include the purpose of teaching ESL in a university environment, the autonomy of instructors, focus of the writing curriculum, and the value of student effort versus student…

This paper examines the articulation of goals and means of sociological instruction in course syllabi. Three questions guide this inquiry. First, do sociology instructors articulate common learning goals? Second, what pedagogical means do instructors commonly employ to meet these goals? Third, to what extent have sociology instructors incorporated…

Despite the apparent lack of universally accepted goals or objectives for elementary science methods courses, teacher educators nationally are autonomously designing these classes to prepare prospective teachers to teach science. It is unclear, however, whether science methods courses are preparing teachers to teach science effectively or to…

The Oregon State Department of Education mandates age-appropriate curricula for all grade levels on infectious diseases, including AIDS, ARC, HIV, and Hepatitis B. The objectives of this study were: (1) to determine the extent to which AIDS education was occurring in three remote rural Oregon school districts; (2) to examine the focus of the…

In response to criticism regarding unimaginative, didactic education in pharmacy education one faculty was evaluated by an outside consultant and, as a result, developed a comprehensive course in pharmacotherapeutics to help students integrate information from several disciplines and to become better problem solvers. In order to evaluate the…

This paper analyses and evaluates the use of an asynchronous online discussion list introduced to an established distance education print based course on recreational drug use and abuse. This discussion list was established in order to be able to meet a course objective of challenging assumptions and attitudes about drug use, which was difficult…

Compares five textbook courses designed to teach Turkish. All proved disappointing with respect to course content but were well laid-out with good quality cassette recordings. The courses reviewed indicate how little consensus there is over what should go into a beginner's course. They also lacked appropriate milestones for the learner to evaluate…

This document reports on an evaluation of physical education programs in grades K-12 in Des Moines (Iowa). The document is divided into seven parts. Part 1, "Introduction," reviews the mission and philosophies regarding teaching physical education. Part 2, "Context Evaluation," summarizes Iowa state policies, standards, and…