Two-year colleges provide access and opportunity for students with various academic backgrounds to pursue a post-secondary education. While two-year colleges take pride in admitting any student with a high school diploma or equivalent, in recent years colleges have been under scrutiny for low completion and graduation rates. Particular attention…

This study utilizes a mixed methods exploratory design to examine the nature of math faculty engagement in the student learning outcomes assessment cycle. The focus of the study is on the types of changes that math faculty are implementing as a result of assessment outcomes and the institutional environmental factors that impact faculty engagement…

For postsecondary institutions, organisational change is an inevitable and ongoing process. Institutions face a growing need to assess student learning assessment as part of an institution's comprehensive assessment plan. While a growing body of literature suggests that learner-centred assessment is a best practice in higher education pedagogy, it…

After twenty years of expanding school-choice options, state leaders, educators, and families have a new tool: course choice, a strategy for students to learn from unconventional providers that might range from top-tier universities or innovative community colleges to local employers, labs, or hospitals. In "Expanding the Education Universe:…

This document is the first in a series of annual, faculty-designed supplements to Nassau Community College's (NCC's) (New York) manual, "Concepts & Procedures for Academic Assessment." The supplements are intended to provide faculty a forum through which they can communicate assessment designs and the impacts of those designs on…

Curriculum alignment is the conscious congruence of three educational elements: curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Alignment is rooted in the belief that instructional plans are established through outcomes-based content goals and the goal of assuring that delivery and assessment are congruent. Platform unity, based on the Principles of…

This document describes the formulation of academic assessment at Nassau Community College (NCC) (New York), presenting methods that can help faculty implement classroom assessment in the courses they teach. Section 1, the introduction, discusses assessment from philosophical and historical perspectives. Section 2 presents the five steps of…

Fifty instructors, from nine school districts and five 4-year institutions, are taking part in the SET program--Students Evaluate Teaching. Research shows that (1) students can and do make fairly sound ratings of their teachers; (2) they tend to agree with each other; (3) teachers rated best by students tend to obtain highest student gains; (4)…

Instructional techniques are outlined, as utilized in a remedial algebra course offered at the Community College of Allegheny County. The paper first provides background information concerning the college, the characteristics of its students, the content of the remedial course, and the testing procedures used to place students in the course. The…

The first in a series of annual reports designed to provide new ideas for faculty at California's Los Rios Community College District, this document reviews innovative instructional techniques and presents an overview of classroom-based assessment and cooperative-collaborative learning. Following a brief introduction, the report describes (K.…

The authors teach upper-level science courses in cell biology, genetics, and biochemistry at a public, four-year "community university" that serves a demographically diverse population of traditional and nontraditional students. In this article, they describe some of the issues they have found to be particularly significant at their "community…

IMMEDIATE RESPONSE SYSTEMS MAY BE AN EFFECTIVE MEANS OF INDIVIDUALIZING INSTRUCTION AND OF HELPING THE INSTRUCTOR TO EVALUATE THE PROGRESS OF HIS STUDENTS. SUCH A SYSTEM PROVIDES FOR CONTINUOUS ACTIVE RESPONSE, THE IMMEDIATE KNOWLEDGE OF THE RESULTS OF A RESPONSE, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF CORRECTING ERRONEOUS RESPONSES BEFORE PROCEEDING. THE BASIC…

Explains problems with teaching the research paper in stages and suggests an alternative, the cumulative research paper. (EL)

This document attempts to provide information on what has been done on evaluation of faculty in Florida's community junior colleges. There is a need for a clear definition of excellent teaching and a need for a means of measuring or evaluating such teaching. The five discussions comprising this document are: (1) evaluation of faculty by students,…

This document discusses the experience of a history professor at a two-year college. The professor's students sit placidly through class, exhibiting politeness, but no interest in the lecture. Different teaching methods are discussed. One solution would be to just accept the students as they are, deliver neatly packaged lectures, give multiple…