A key concept in contemporary Catholic educational discourse makes a distinction between religious education and catechesis. This distinction is based on the assumptions of faith commitment on the part of catechesis and the focus on cognitive outcomes on the part of religious education. Many official documents on Canadian Catholic school…

This article is a personal reflection on the challenges, frustrations, and rewards of transforming a traditional face-to-face strategic management course into a blended format. The article describes both the discovery process that leads to a significantly redesigned course and the distillation of that experience into six core questions that can…

A growing number of business leaders, politicians, and educators are united around the idea that students need "21st-century skills" to be successful today. It's exciting to believe that one lives in times that are so revolutionary that they demand new and different abilities. But in fact, the skills students need in the 21st century are not new.…

As long as there have been public schools, there have been reformers of public schools. All too often, they have insisted on sweeping changes; enamored of their bold, new idea, they haven't considered whether anything established ought to endure. The result? A century of faddish ideas, but little real progress. Among today's most vocal reformers…

This article presents the authors' critique of lessons proposed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21). The authors initiate a discussion about content that they hope will play out in schoolhouses and statehouses across the country. They take on a different task: they present a handful of lesson ideas from P21 that could enhance studies…

Discusses criteria to apply to key aspects of the inspection and monitoring process in modern language instruction. Quality assurance includes assessment of the whole learning environment. Ten characteristics of a good modern language lesson are listed. (six references) (CK)

Reviews several issues involved in the reform of history teaching and suggests directions in which American history educators might proceed. Stresses the British model of understanding, cause and effect, and chronological sequence. (TRS)

Criticizes the secretaries of state for education and science because their nationally agreed upon statements on course objectives, content, and assessment methods are too narrow and confining. (DF)

An environmental education-oriented global studies program to promote attitudes of environmental stewardship can be implemented in K-12 rural school systems, as an integrated part of social studies instruction, without overburdening the curriculum, by using the Curriculum Organization and Program Evaluation (COPE) model. The model provides…

Reviews instructional design models; discusses characteristics of distance education in higher education via interactive television; and presents a nine-step instructional design model designed specifically for college course delivery via interactive television. Course goals, content analysis, performance objectives, learner characteristics,…

The concept of general education, its specific goals, and its role in the college curriculum are discussed. The goals of general education appear to center around teaching students to think analytically and to synthesize ideas into a general understanding. It is suggested, however, that these objectives tend to get lost in the specifics of…

A brief overview of trends in assessment in psychology degrees is presented. Both natural evolutionary changes in education and external, professionally-based forces have exerted considerable influence upon both the psychology curriculum and the methods of assessment to which psychology students have been subjected. (MLW)

Technocratic rationality emphasizes manipulation and control of variables, predictability of outcomes, and efficiency of means. Whether discipline-based art education represents an acquiescence to technocratic rationality for the sake of survival is discussed. (RM)

In response to Gerhard Lenski's article, this author asserts that most sociologists are not prepared to teach anthropology. Lenski suggested that the introductory sociology course be reorganized into three courses. His discussion of the content of these courses makes clear that he is advocating that sociologists begin teaching from an…

This article, in response to Vivelo's attack on the author's proposal, argues that to neglect the comparative and historical dimensions of social phenomena in the introductory sociology course may be hazardous. In his discussion of the introductory sociology course, Vivelo urged sociologists to teach about contemporary American society, leaving…