The course evaluation process used by an Australian provider of vocational education and training was evaluated using guidelines suggested by the literature and feedback obtained from multiple stakeholders. The modified model has six phases: initiation, compliance, data collection, integrating, reporting, and dissemination. (SK)

The fast development of information and communication technologies (ICT) improves greatly education quality. E-learning is an important education component at Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM) and, in addition, it is obligatory for all our teachers and students. In this paper, the development process of course "Sociology"…

The demand for online courses is growing. This paper offers suggestions on how to teach online courses that promote student engagement and learning. We discuss the benefits and challenges of teaching online. We share research-based strategies for designing an online course and draw upon our experience of developing fully online sociology courses.…

Students enrolled in a large-lecture, non-majors biology course employing a diversified instructional approach featuring both instructor-centered and student-centered techniques evaluated the effectiveness of each approach in fostering course goals. Students perceived both approaches to be effective to some extent. Students indicated that the…

"Chemical Engineering Modeling" is a first-semester graduate course traditionally taught in a lecture format at Oklahoma State University. The course as taught by the author for the past seven years focuses on numerical and mathematical methods as necessary skills for incoming graduate students. Recent changes to the course have included Visual…

The year 2006 saw the implementation of a new curriculum for teaching English First Additional Language (FAL) in grades 10-12 in South African high schools. The curriculum includes the teaching and assessment of visual literacy--a challenge for teachers whose apartheid-era teacher education did not address visual literacy at all. The article is a…

Rice University has created a team-taught interactive biology course for nonmajors with a focus on cutting edge biology in the news--advances in biotechnology, medicine, and science policy, along with the biological principles and methodology upon which these advances are based. The challenges inherent to teaching current topics were minimized by…

Research into higher education is an expanding field, but it is notable that, while certain kinds of research get funded, undertaken and reported, others generally do not. Thus, articles that critique developing national policies are commonplace, as are reports evaluating the positive effects of innovations in course design or institutional…

The results of administering the Astronomy Diagnostic Test (ADT) to introductory astronomy students at Henry Ford Community College over three years have shown gains comparable with national averages. Results have also accurately corresponded to course goals, showing greater gains in topics covered in more detail, and lower gains in topics covered…

The following project aimed at promoting integrated and long-lasting learning is described for an Immunology course, but it may be adapted to other disciplines. Students were asked to develop and carry out a research project to examine the relationship between immune function and stress. The experiments were required to include the assessment of…

During the past 30 years, there have been calls for universities and business schools to internationalize curriculum, students and faculty. As most U.S. business schools have added international components to their respective programs, the assessment of these programs was subsequently recommended from accreditation and competitive perspectives. To…

Revenue, expenditure, and employment data indicate that county governments--once taken for granted and playing "second fiddle" to municipalities--are playing an increasingly important role (and sometimes a role equal to that of municipalities) as vital service providers. Therefore, one would expect that county governments and municipal governments…

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) asked online students in SREB states for feedback about their experiences through a voluntary online questionnaire in spring 2008. This report summarizes more than 2,000 responses and provides insight into what students think about online learning and how courses might be improved. Specifically, the…

This study investigated whether two different versions of an online professional development course produced different impacts on the intended outcomes of the course. Variations of an online course for middle school algebra teachers were created for two experimental conditions. One was an actively facilitated course with asynchronous peer…

Traditionally the measures used to evaluate the impact of an educational programme on student outcomes and the extent to which students change is a comparison of the student's pre-test scores with his/her post-test scores. However, this method of evaluating change may be problematic due to the confounding factor of response shift bias when student…