For those who advocate for greater attention to the development of the whole student, promoting a climate of student-centered learning on our campuses should be a major component of our endeavors. In "Leading the Learner-Centered Campus", Harris and Cullen provide some concrete proposals for achieving student-centered learning as central to the…

Background/Context: Twenty percent of first-year students in public 4-year institutions and 42% of first-year students in public 2-year institutions in the United States enroll in remedial courses. Yet despite widespread remediation across U.S. colleges and universities, there remains a great deal of uncertainty about how remedial courses develop…

The Honors Speech course at Florida A&M University, which is a special section of the Public Speaking course, is designed to develop appreciation of and skills in the preparation, delivery, and criticism of speeches. The honors course is different from the regular course in (1) the smaller enrollment in the course; (2) the topics of the…

Examines the relationship between the development of authority and the voice in which it is expressed in ethnographic writing. Argues that ethnographic research provides a way of helping students gain the authority that comes from the inquiry process. (FMW)

Demonstrates how collaboration among student development educators and university instructors can use content of academic courses to facilitate personal development in adolescent college students. Describes application of Chickering's seven vectors of human development to accomplish this in course entitled Drinking and Driving: Legal and Social…

Innovative use of film constituted the core of an experimental, team taught, interdisciplinary course designed to assist first-generation college students undecided as to major course of study to gain personal awareness of the interconnectedness of self and society. Course content, staffing, and evaluation are outlined. (JT)

Educational innovations are frequently undertaken with little or no planning. There are occasions, however, when it is possible to define educational problems with some precision and to plan changes which will "solve" these problems. Here is a report on such a case in the teaching of introductory anthropology at a large land-grant university.…

Describes an instructional improvement program to help faculty become aware of and adapt their instructional strategies to the developmental and learning characteristics of students. (Author/CHC)

Describes an "exit" course, Senior Seminar in Communicative Theories, developed for students majoring in Speech Communication at George Mason University. Outlines the evolution of this course and the case for adding such a course to speech communication curricula. (KEH)

A common problem in an "experiential class" is the lack of attention devoted to group closure at the end of the course. Toward the end of the semester, students working in small groups in organizational behavior classes often experience anxiety over losing the support and identity that they enjoyed as members of a small learning group. A final…

Describes the planning, implementation, and evaluation of an integrated student soil science project. Reports that the course was designed to develop student-centered approaches to learning and to develop transferable skills and personal qualities at the same time. Explains that the project included fieldwork, laboratory analysis, data…

Family stories, told and retold, become important vehicles in shaping the lives of family members. Knowing and understanding family narratives can aid students in understanding their families' histories, communication patterns, and meanings. The stories are a cohesive element for holding the family together, and may also capture the essence of the…

Teaching about diversity or multiculturalism in counselor education programs is a challenge. Racism as a topic is an emotionally charged subject. Knowledge about racism provides a foundation for personal exploration. A course in multicultural counseling is outlined with strategies for teaching it. (Author/EMK)

This report reviews the work which has been carried out under the label of "research in student learning," in order to examine the significance of the findings for distance education, and to discuss some of the methodological issues raised in carrying out this research. The discussion also provides insights into conducting this type of research in…

Describes a secondary science and mathematics teacher education course at Cornell University which encourages students to think reflectively about their understanding of subject matter and question common schooling practices contributing to poor understanding of science. The course requires significant amounts of involvement through writing,…