Provides findings from a literature review and 1977 survey of science, social science, and science-related technology instructors regarding the curricular functions of their courses. Findings indicate that transfer, general education, preparation for work, and remediation functions were being served by the courses, but predominately as combined…

Reviews briefly the literature associated with the Conference on College Composition and Communication's "Students' Right to Their Own Language" statement. Explores the status of standard English at community colleges in Michigan, as expressed in first-year composition course objectives and descriptions. Considers the history of the…

Two types of link courses conducted at two Australian technical colleges were studied. The study demonstrated the need for clearly stating course objectives. This promotes communication among school teachers and career counselors, students, and technical college teachers, so that students can select appropriate link courses. (CT)

Discusses the relationship between student assessment and instructional improvement. Describes the development and administration of a Teaching Goals Inventory, which helps teachers clarify what they want their students to learn and helps institutions discover teaching priorities among departments and within the college as a whole. (DMM)

Describes a national study of extended orientation courses. Finds them equally common at two- and four-year colleges but different in administrative structures and content emphases. Two-year college courses have larger class sizes, shorter durations, and less varied content and are less likely to be required or to introduce an academic discipline.…

Two one-semester English courses, English 50.1 (English Fundamentals), concentrating on sentence construction, and English 50.2 (Basic Writing Skills), concentrating on paragraph development, were devised at Cerritos College (California) in an attempt to improve the effectiveness of the old English 50 (Grammar and Composition), which had combined…

Describes a study of teaching techniques used by faculty at a large midwestern community college and the student learning outcomes they sought to accomplish. Lecture predominated, though most faculty also used other methods. Faculty who mostly used techniques other than lecture sought to achieve higher order learning objectives. (DMM)

A study was conducted to review the major functions of a two-year college curriculum as identified in the literature; to relate these functions to specific academic areas within the sciences, social sciences, and science-related technologies; and to relate curriculum functions to specific courses within these academic areas. The literature on the…

A study was conducted to assess faculty and student preferences regarding the goals and content of Saddleback College's (California) liberal arts mathematics course. Following a review of the literature, an extensive list of course goals, content areas, and prior student preparation needs was formed into a questionnaire, which was administered to…

As part of an effort to survey members of the humanities faculty at 178 community colleges about their instructional practices, a sample of 1110 class sections was chosen by pulling every tenth section from the colleges' fall 1977 schedules of day and evening classes. Because 92 class sections were not offered, only 1018 survey forms were…

Draws from a nationwide survey of community college humanities instructors to profile the course aims and instructional practices of literature instructors. Focuses on teaching experience, highest degree held, instructional objectives, teaching methods, evaluation methods preferred, and the perceived importance of various student abilities. (DMM)

The offshoots of women's studies programs, such as cultural diversity, men's studies, and African-American studies, are now viewed as being at odds with women's studies although they share the same goal of transforming the curriculum. Most notable among these is men's studies and its relationship to women's studies. The challenge for teachers is…

As part of a sabbatical leave for professional development, a faculty member from Missouri's St. Louis Community College (SLCC) undertook a survey to determine principles and instructional practices in community college writing programs. A literature review was conducted of theories related to writing instruction. In addition, questionnaires were…

Although cooperation between community college and university faculty regarding the characteristics of college-level coursework has been difficult to attain, the development of such standards could reduce frustration and costs for transfer students and help reduce duplication of efforts. In an effort to find areas of agreement on such…

A criterion-referenced approach to a physical science course for nonmajors was implemented at Rhode Island Junior College. The basic unit of knowledge for this study was motion and the related topics of force, work, energy, power, and momentum. At completion, each student was expected to exhibit the ability to: (1) use energy more efficiently, (2)…