A review of the research literature on teaching and learning in the college classroom is presented. An introduction notes the role of research in identifying new goals for higher education and offers a conceptual framework based on a student mediation model and a focus on the process-product relationships between faculty teacher behavior and…

In a study at the University of Illinois, student written comments to four open-ended questions in end-of-semester student evaluations of 60 courses from ten different fields, taught by instructors of different ranks, were analyzed and classified into 22 categories. Nearly two-thirds were about the instructor, and one of four comments were on…

A course was designed to teach the use of learning principles in the development of teaching materials reflecting the best in the present state of the "theory of instruction." Based on Keller's Personalized Instruction System, the course aimed to establish in students a working knowledge of behavioral principles, the ability to…

The problem of evaluating instructional materials in foreign language courses in terms of educational relevance is examined in this survey of a third-semester, college, Spanish class. Students were given reading materials in the social sciences in lieu of the more traditional literary selections and asked to evaluate them through an attitudinal…

This paper presents a French-as-a-Second-Language writing course for non-Francophone students at an advanced university level. Because this approach to teaching writing focuses on the writer (and on the reader's expectations), as well as on textuality, the organization (i.e., the architecture) of this course is as complex as writing. (32…

A college second language program compared the effectiveness of traditional second language instruction and a communicative approach in second year French, German, and Spanish courses. The communicative classes used only authentic materials, thematically organized and prepared for classroom use by the instructors. Similar topics were addressed in…

A model to describe how adults work on university courses at a distance from campus was developed at an Australian university. The model was designed to describe how students define the task/goal and plan their study, based on G. Ploya's (1957) Heuristic and A. Newell's and H. A. Simon's (1972) General Problem Solver. Verbal reports were obtained…

The objective of the pilot studies was to evolve a course which would increase the confidence and competence of young people to undertake the responsibility of parenthood, as well as to sharpen the awareness and sensitivity of those who had already undertaken this role. Three training groups of students were selected from Lake Erie College and the…

A report of a cooperative project involving a university instructional development center and a history department discusses the process of working with students in course redesign, analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of student involvement, and concludes with recommendations for future projects. The purpose of the project is to…

Compared two group career decision-making courses with a comparison group on such factors as occupational certainty and satisfaction, appropriateness, and information-seeking behavior. Results were mixed, but generally the 20-session course was favored by study participants over the 10-session course. (Author/TE)

A large introductory anthropology course at Utah State University was organized to promote collaboration among and between students and faculty. Students were divided into and worked in "clans" for the entire term. A study of the course suggests that learning and a sense of community resulted directly from this organization. (MSE)

Describes a team-taught college course designed to develop philosophical literacy among students as groundwork for future humanities courses. Unifying motif was "dialog" between faculty from different areas of expertise; the concept of philosophy as dialog; and the student-teacher relationship as dialog. Discusses course design, lessons learned,…

Study investigated the association between university social-work students' ratings of teaching ability and several course, student, and instructor variables. Analysis of over 5,000 standard evaluation forms indicated strong positive relationships between ratings of teaching effectiveness and ratings of skills, as reflected by course organization,…

Describes development of a Temple University course on curriculum in early childhood education that provides 60 percent of instruction on-line. Includes information on course design, instructional methods, course implementation, and student course evaluation. Found that students' views about on-line instruction were positive overall and that…

A course in Human Resource consulting ("Human Resources Field Research") was designed and implemented at a university in cooperation with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Students work with local business executives, SHRM representatives, and the class instructor to complete projects for the client business firms. Trial…