Examines the effectiveness of two writing-to-learn formats in helping developmental students master biological information and in decreasing writing anxiety. Objective measures showed a small but significant decrease in writing anxiety over the quarter, unrelated to writing format. Writing format also had little effect on content knowledge, based…

As part of a study on planning in early grades social studies, teachers' unit plans were examined for evidence that reading and discussing a research report about what young children knew about the production, distribution, and consumption of food influenced their choices of curricular goals and instructional practices. Unit plans were…

A 2-credit service-learning biotechnology course designed as a general education elective for students of all majors and at all levels was offered as an 8-week, half-semester course. The course met for a total of 3 hours of lecture/discussion and 2 hours of service-learning workshop weekly, during which students participated in discussions about…

Teacher education programs employ various strategies aimed at providing teachers with the knowledge, habits of mind, and practices necessary to work with increasingly racially and ethnically diverse students. Often, these efforts have centered on the addition of a multicultural foundations course. Research on multicultural foundations courses…

Extensive assessment of innovative core courses pointed to five features of the courses that led to students being actively engaged in learning. Faculty teaching the courses created an environment to foster collaborative learning, facilitated student ownership of learning, structured their courses to connect academic ideas with other disciplines…

Course management systems (CMSs), such as Blackboard, Desire2Learn, or WebCT, have become a common resource at universities, colleges, and distance learning organizations. Research into how these systems are used for learning is in an early state. Currently, this research focuses on technical features in a CMS more than research about how people…

An assessment course for teachers is described that uses validity as the primary focus. Five dimensions of validity for classroom-based assessments are highlighted in a course that relies on the use of a process portfolio. The five dimensions are: (1) looking at the content of the assessment in relation to the content of the domain of reference;…

This study sought to identify major factors of teaching evaluation as related to professors' overall teaching effectiveness. Undergraduate and graduate students at a university in the southeastern United States were asked to rate 126 business faculty through anonymous course evaluations. Students rated faculty on 12 specific items related to…

Several factors have indicated the necessity of formally requiring computer literacy at the university level. This paper discusses the reasoning for, the development of, and content of two computer literacy courses required of all freshmen. The first course contains computer awareness and knowledge that students should have upon entering the…

In an effort to enhance students' understanding of research, a collaborative learning approach was employed in an upper division social psychology course at State University of New York's College at Buffalo. Students worked together in small groups to develop hypotheses, design simple correlational studies, and interpret results, while each…

A study was conducted to examine how undergraduates with little or no field experiences in school classrooms make sense out of university course work. This document presents the story of one preservice teacher, Jeneane, a 22-year old woman preparing to teach English. Jeneane's learning from a teacher education course should be a tale replete with…

The Faculty of Public Administration at the University of Twente in Enschede (Netherlands) asked for a course in study skills to improve the passing rates of public administration (PA) students. Interviews with students and a questionnaire about study skills confirmed the need for such a course, but the University's previous experience suggested…

This paper focuses on the development of a modified, zero-based curriculum review of programs at a land-grant research university in the southeastern United States which was directed toward demonstrating the viability, and justifying the existence, of current programs. A small group of faculty developed an eight-step process which was used by…

This paper discusses the remaking of the MIS (Management Information Systems) core course in a graduate business degree program. The graduate MIS course has many of the same problems as the undergraduate one, which has been described as "the widow maker." Several attempts to modify the course resulted in lower evaluations. The course…

In 1990, a study was conducted at Mt. San Antonio College to examine the relationship between students' successful completion of English and Learning Resources Network (LERN) courses and the completion of other college courses during the same semester. The study population included all students who were enrolled in either English 1A, 68, 67, or…