Ten years ago, after 20 years as a university professor, I was asked to direct the teaching and learning support center at my university. I quickly realized I had almost no knowledge of the published scholarship on this subject. From my reading of this literature, I found the research on the predictors of student learning particularly informative.…

Undergraduate geography field courses are relatively rare at American universities, though they can exemplify well the fundamental tenets of learner-centered education. This article reports on an intensive three-week field analysis course taught at Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff, within the Department of Geography, Planning, and…

A discussion of retrospective evaluation of student learning looks at the purposes, expectations, and values inherent in evaluation and proposes faculty-developed, course-based assessment as a controllable and beneficial evaluation method. (MSE)

Elements that might be included in a course syllabus are discussed, and reasons for a well-written syllabus are briefly noted. The following syllabus elements are covered: course description, course objectives, course structure, textbook and required materials, recommended optional materials, course schedule, deadlines, evaluation methods, policy…

The structure of a course designed to teach oral communicative competence is outlined, and the approach to evaluation is discussed. Evaluation includes both a criterion test and a specific oral task that students must accomplish. (MSE)

Assessment of student work in the collaborative classroom is dynamic, ongoing, and can be suited to the particular needs of individual instructors. It enables both instructor and students to reframe their personal understandings of the learning process and knowledge acquisition. The challenges can be met by planning, careful consideration of…

It is proposed, as an extension of earlier research, that there is a correlation between the design of British economics programs in higher education and the syllabi, teaching and evaluation methods, and instructional materials used in them. A clear link between the functions of economics degrees, course structures, and employment entry…

This course guide describes a one-semester, junior and senior, elective course in Afro-American literature, organized generally by genre and based on a required reading list of eight paperback books. An introduction points out the importance of including black literature in all 4 years of required English classes, rather than offering only a…

Economics lessons and suggestions on how to organize and teach high school economics courses are provided. An overview discusses how to organize an economics course, key economic concepts, how to choose instructional materials, and how to evaluate students. A bibliography of resource materials and addresses of resource organizations are also…

This module is one of a series of 127 performance-based teacher education (PBTE) learning packages focusing upon specific professional competencies of vocational teachers. The competencies upon which these modules are based were identified and verified through research as being important to successful vocational teaching at both the secondary and…

A conference was held by the University of New South Wales, Australia, to enable staff and students to examine the purposes of student assessment, implications of various forms of assessment, and ways in which assessment might be most effectively conducted. Eric Daniels spoke on the jury system of assessment in architecture, Raja Bandaranayake…