Nearly one half of students planning to earn a STEM degree either change majors or leave college without a degree. The completion percentage is much lower for underrepresented minorities, of whom less than one third complete their STEM degree within six years. At the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the STEM Boot Camp program was designed to…

Introductory college courses are designed to comprehensively introduce divergent disciplines (Zipp, 2012) and can prepare students to understand the risks for multiple minoritized identities in their fields of study (Shriberg, 2016). This approach is effective, however, only if faculty are appropriately equipped to use intersectional pedagogy.…

This article describes the kinds of writing that could be introduced at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced course levels in the psychology major. We present exemplars of writing assignments across three institutions, including textual analysis, integrating intratext and intertext writing, and a capstone thesis project, where the skills…

Programming is recognized as one of seven grand challenges in computing education. Decades of research have shown that the major problems novices experience are composition-based---they may know what the individual programming language constructs are, but they do not know how to put them together. Despite this fact, textbooks, educational…

With large numbers of underprepared students enrolling at community colleges, faculty are beginning to recognize that developmental education is a collegewide responsibility that needs to be fully integrated with the college's broader curriculum and varied missions. (Contains 1 table.)

The Honors Speech course at Florida A&M University, which is a special section of the Public Speaking course, is designed to develop appreciation of and skills in the preparation, delivery, and criticism of speeches. The honors course is different from the regular course in (1) the smaller enrollment in the course; (2) the topics of the…

The Center for Teacher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was designed to reform teacher education programs. The collaborative operation of a beginning course to introduce students to the field of education and to the approach to professional training applied at the center is presented. (SM)

The degree of incivility varies, but there seems to be general agreement that it is on the rise on college campuses across the country. A number of key elements are involved in the communication aspects of civility: a lack of respect for another human being; name calling and dehumanization; disqualification from dialogue; threats and incitation;…

This paper provides examples of how portfolios are used at the University of Dayton (Ohio) in an introductory course titled "The Profession of Teaching" to enhance the interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, linguistic, and spatial intelligence of preservice teachers. For example, students can include audiotapes of their experiences,…

Many times, college students are exposed to the communication discipline solely through the basic public speaking course, allowing limited opportunity to experience critical thinking and writing within the discipline. This paper examines the importance of teaching critical thinking and writing skills in the basic course, encouraging educators to…

Portfolio design is integrated as an early project in the teacher education curriculum at the University of Idaho. The project provides students with a first experience in gathering and organizing data for the purpose of tracking professional growth and development. It also provides faculty with an authentic assessment tool. The portfolio causes…

The use of videotape technology is an effective pedagogical tool with which to improve the overall performance of students enrolled in sections of basic public speaking. These uses and benefits in the classroom include: (1) practice feedback; (2) identification of style inhibitors; (3) analysis of structural-content issues; (4) suggestions for…

Recommendations over a decade ago from the National Institute of Education have led to a paradigm shift in the teaching profession, based on changes in how knowledge is acquired, what role students play, and what purpose faculty members serve in the process. In the old paradigm, knowledge was transferred from faculty to student in what was…

The Purdue University (Indiana) Department of Freshman Engineering offers a counselor-tutorial program to high-potential, but academically disadvantaged, freshmen. The program's counseling and tutorial services are intended to help students successfully complete their first-year courses in calculus, chemistry, and physics. Experience shows…

English literature survey courses can and should be taught as part of junior and community college curriculums. However, since students in any one course may have different levels of learning and ability, it is important to structure courses so that students do not face tasks that they are unable to successfully complete. Teachers should be aware…