Realizing that students usually approach an introductory statistics course on the college level with a mixed set of fears, a course instructor devised a course introduction which emphasized that statistics were no more than tools to make sense out of research data and could be used by students much in the way that other tools were used. (DB)

Research has demonstrated consistently that participation in co-curricular activities benefits students' retention rates and educational outcomes. However, the applicability of these findings to nontraditional students has not been clear. An understanding of the factors promoting and inhibiting these unique students' participation is needed prior…

The need for an agency within the university to tackle pressing questions of the day are discussed. Such questions are of a social and educational nature. (CK)

Independent lexical development initiatives empower and equip language learners with skills to boost their lexical repertoires. Language instructors can train learners to be autonomous word learners. A sample activity, namely word of the day, is presented in this article. The activity is an independent lexical learning task, which aims to develop…

When service-learning began to gain prominence as a legitimate academic pedagogy in the early 1990's, it was believed that through intensive service experiences, students developed a greater understanding of themselves, felt empowered to make a difference in their community, made a connection to course material, and made a commitment to continue…

Under the George W. Bush U.S. presidential administration, the federal government pushed for greater accountability among institutions of higher education for educational outcomes. Graduation rate is a key performance indicator of institutional accountability. Previous researchers of student attrition focused primarily on the effects of student…

More faculty report each year that they are incorporating service-learning in their academic courses, which is often related to attempts by colleges and universities to link academics with service to the community as part of their mission, or by the academic disciplines that see service-learning as a way to link theory and practice. Critical to…

This study included an analysis of the trend of performance indicators for the technical college sector of higher education in South Carolina. In response to demands for accountability and transparency in higher education, the state of South Carolina developed sector specific performance indicators to measure various educational outcomes for each…

Teach For America (TFA) aims to address teacher shortages by sending graduates from elite colleges, most of whom do not have a background in education, to teach in low-income rural and urban schools for a two-year commitment. The impact of these graduates is hotly debated by those who, on the one hand, see this as a way to improve the supply of…

British Columbia is facing challenging economic times. Indeed, the province is managing the effects of an economic recession that has been truly global in nature. In times like these, it becomes even more important to draw on the core strengths of the province and clearly recognize that the opportunities for everyone's future lie in the innovative…

Productivity gains in higher education won't be made just by improving cost effectiveness or even performance. They need to be documented, communicated, and integrated into a strategic agenda to increase attainment. This requires special attention to "accountability" for productivity, meaning public presentation and communication of evidence about…

It is only relatively recently that empirical research has begun to emerge that has sought to further understand the factors that may contribute to the educational inequities between Indigenous Australian and non-Indigenous Australian students. Although it has been argued that research has typically employed small, unrepresentative case studies…

This in-depth study examined the perspectives of 17 Korean undergraduate exchange students attending a U.S. southern university during the 2005-2006 school year. The struggles and frustrations they experienced; the difficulties they encountered socially, culturally, and academically; their contributions to the American academic community; and…

"Paterson Teachers for Tomorrow" is a project designed to attract high school students from Paterson, NJ to careers in teaching. This article is based on an exploration of high school students' sense of self, college awareness and preparedness, and academic achievement during a year-long pre-college program. Data indicate that students…