Classroom assessment techniques were used in a large survey college course in psychology to monitor student performance and collect other forms of student feedback. As a result, student-teacher role relations changed, the teacher adopted the role of learning coach and reduced lecture content, and the classroom environment was enlivened. (MSE)

Sound ethical decisions depend on clear problem definition, careful review of alternatives, consideration of consequences, and thoughtful application of relevant principles of responsibility. Often they also require a willingness to receive corrective insight and to check judgments with moral intuitions. Higher education has a special…

Views of teaching assistants (TAs) concerning the significance and impact of the job are considered, along with their interactions with the college and students. Teaching competence, knowledge, facilitating learning, TAs' responsibilities to the student, and feedback to TAs are also covered, including first person comments of three TAs. (SW)

The implications for administrators, instructional staff, faculty and teaching assistant developers, and students of efforts to address college classroom diversity are summarized; resource people at colleges and universities with successful programs are listed; and an annotated bibliography of related print materials is provided. (Author/MSE)

Seven characteristics of active learning were identified (experiential learning, collaboration, discovery, use of authentic problems, planning before doing, risk-taking, integrative learning), and then used to reconceptualize an introductory statistics course. The model involves students as apprentices to faculty active learners. (MSE)

College faculty and students play important roles in maintaining a tension-free, democratic, and effective learning environment for a diverse student body. Although many instructors feel unprepared to manage disruptive or harmful behaviors, they must receive training to learn to negotiate difficult dialogs, especially as the student population…

By helping faculty collaborate to enrich their teaching abilities and by supporting them when faculty/student relationships occasionally fail, the department chair models leadership skills that faculty themselves can use. The skills of leadership correspond very closely to good teaching skills, and can be combined with the skills of principled…

Based on the research reported in this volume, the authors offer recommendations for all affected parties.

College instructors should focus their teaching not only on content but also on how to learn content in the context of particular courses. Students need practice with a variety of learning strategies before they can understand why particular ones are most effective or be helped to improve their efficiency in using them. (Author/MSE)

Librarians can promote and improve their programs of bibliographic instruction through a faculty development effort on undergraduate use of the college library. Results of this kind of program have included improved course assignment formulation, imaginative assignments, and new, library-centered courses. (MSE)

Every college teacher has a professional obligation to formulate and articulate a rationale for his or her instructional world. Faculty members' personal theories about teaching and learning are often implicit and likely to be inaccurate. When implicit theories become explicit, they can blend with formal theories to improve the practice of…

Promotion of an alliance between college teachers and students requires shifting from a perception of the teacher as an agent of student change to that of teacher as partner in the change process. Twenty-five guidelines cover mutual respect, shared responsibility and mutual commitment to goals, effective communication and feedback, cooperation,…

Practical suggestions and application of six principles from cognitive psychology can make learning more efficient now and produce learners who will be more self-sufficient in the future. This means redefining student and teacher roles, organizing the course and content in a way consistent with how learning occurs, and helping students learn how…

In contrast with most academic departments, interdisciplinary programs lack automatic identity, clear space, or curricular territory, and motivation is closely linked to program success. This includes motivation of students in class and outside of class, of contributing faculty, of administrators, and of societal peer groups, such as professional…

The nature of collaborative learning is examined, including some discussion of the role of the instructor. A collaborative learning situation in a women's studies course is described as an example of integration of the approach into content area instruction. (MSE)