In this essay, the authors argue that linked-course learning communities serve students at nonresidential metropolitan public universities by increasing their academic achievement, reducing their attrition, and engaging them in the project of public education. They use a winter 2004 research project to argue that linked courses create supportive…

Examines the context of present curriculum development in geomorphology and the way in which it has developed in recent years. Discusses the content of the geomorphology curriculum in higher education and the consequences of curriculum development together with a consideration of future trends and their implications. (GEA)

Examines the impact of women's studies on the higher education curriculum by tracing the history and documenting specific examples of the institutionalization of women's studies. Suggests that new generations of scholars have benefited from the curricular revisions that resulted from the women's studies movement. (51 citations). (MAB)

Outlines research on how expert teachers function in the classroom. Shows the structure of an expert teacher's lessons and how she handles content in the teaching of mathematics. The studies suggest that content knowledge is critical and that expert teachers manage time and academic engagement equally well. (MD)

Addresses the problem of outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate subject matter used as the basis for instruction in developing countries, noting that distance education is especially vulnerable. A content evaluation procedure to be incorporated into instructional design models and other strategies for avoiding invalid content are suggested. (MES)

Reacts to criticisms of the mainstream approach to economics. Claims alternative approaches produce no workable analytic mechanisms. Emphasizes that there is no magic formula for teaching economics. Advocates offering teachers a choice of curricula and allowing adaptation and individualization of material. Points out types of core material to be…

In the early days of online courses, a widespread production model was to provide faculty members with release time and/or stipends in return for developing and delivering their own courses. These early online courses were developed by a cadre of faculty "zealots" who believed that information technology could transform learning. Such faculty…

Educators in speech communication are confronted with determining what criteria comprise "disciplinary breadth" in basic courses. Such a course ought to teach students about the disciplinary perspective and process, promote active learning, emphasize methods of thinking characteristic of the discipline, and encourage life-long learning.…

Designed to assist California community college personnel in implementing 1986 regulations concerning associate degree requirements, this paper analyzes the key terms in the new policy, "college level" and "critical thinking," and discusses practical implications for assessment, curriculum, and instruction. First, the paper…

Discusses the relationship between Piaget's theory of cognitive development and Perry's theory of intellectual and ethical development, and recommends a framework for their application in course design. Involving students in examining not only course content, but also their beliefs and reasoning patterns, is recommended as a route for improving…

Telecourses differ in fundamental ways from regular college courses; i.e., faculty are not the only ones involved in telecourse design and production; colleges are not the sole funding agencies for their production; and telecourses are designed to be marketed, rather than to be offered by a single institution. These differences mean that…

A pedagogy appropriate to college level courses and comprised of interdisciplinary content, multidisciplinary faculty, and students from diverse academic backgrounds and with varying levels of skills merits development. A taxonomy of some of the difficulties in the construction of such a course in Mexican American studies, for example, focuses on…

Because most countries in the western hemisphere have rejected authoritarian governments and economic policies for more democratic governments and freer economies, schools have a responsibility to help maintain democracy by teaching their students to take an active role in deciding both their political and economic futures. Healthy democracies…

States that because of an unclear rationale for instructional goals, the expanding environment organizational scheme results in trivial course content. Recommends that elementary social studies be guided by a citizenship education rationale. Two illustrative lessons, using story, biography, and historical narrative, are provided: Sojourner Truth…

Given the global significance of Soviet-U.S. relations, elementary and secondary school students should learn about the Soviet Union, but most students graduate from high school with little knowledge and many misconceptions about this country. It is important to teach about the Soviet Union because of: (1) its emphasis in the U.S. media; (2) its…