This chapter describes the process and challenges of implementing a civic engagement graduation requirement at Kingsborough Community College.

The use of scuba diving as a recreational activity within traditional university instructional programs has been well established. Departments focusing on kinesiology, physical education, or exercise science have often provided scuba diving lessons as part of their activity-based course offerings. However, few departments have developed an…

This article chronicles the undergraduate research (UGR) process in the Sport Sciences Department at Wingate University. The main focus is a description of a course-based approach to UGR, followed by a brief summation of the department's experiential component that results in graduating seniors completing an extensive research project to meet…

In 1996, faculty at Sitting Bull College (SBC, Fort Yates, North Dakota) developed its Environmental Science (ENS) Program, basing it on the scientific method and techniques students would need for employment in environmental technician positions with local and tribal agencies. Over the course of 15 years, this employment-based training evolved…

Gannon University, located in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania, created a middle level teacher preparation curriculum focused on sustainability. After reviewing the literature about learning, teacher preparation, and barriers to campus greening, the article describes how Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) was integrated into the middle level…

Describes a program in which adult students can earn a regular diploma from the local high school by passing competency examinations in basic skills and by earning credit for learning gained through life experience. (Author/IRT)

This paper presents an addendum on Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) Academic Support Programs for the fiscal year 2006. This addendum supplements the report submitted in January 2006 regarding MCAS academic support programs for students who had not yet passed the grade 10 English language arts and mathematics MCAS tests…

Reviews the practice of holding exit interviews with graduating psychology students at Loyola University (Louisiana). Discusses the benefits and limitations of exit interviews, stating that they provide unique data unavailable from other sources. (GEA)

Activity and interest in competency-based education are growing. As of March 1978, some type of competency-based education requirement had been instituted in 34 states. Many recent changes in American society are affecting competency-based education. For example, today's learners are likely to be lifelong learners, but their learning may be…

This practicum reports on the conceptualization, development, testing, and implementation of the guidelines, procedures, and a model for alternative programs for earning graduation credit. New requirements for graduation were adopted by the Maryland State Department of Education in November, 1974, but the development of specific policies and…

Maryland is the first state to require every student to perform service as a condition of receiving a high school diploma. In Baltimore, once electives became mandatory, a new coordinator for service learning was appointed, a service-learning program--the Baltimore Alliance for Student Service--was established, and a revised five-year…

Describes modifications to the four original requirements of the foreign language program at the International School of the Americas, an experimental school located 150 miles from the Mexican border. (SR)

Describes an immersion program for native Spanish-speaking university students from the University of California, Los Angeles, that was created to help them fulfill the language requirement. Reasons for the program, student characteristics, language characteristics, expected goals and outcomes of the program, and program observations are provided.…

College programs in the arts are described, and an essay on the role of the arts in liberal education is presented. In the essay, "Windows and Doors," Thomas K. Hearn, Jr. suggests that imagination is the primary agent of the educational process and is basic to moral development and moral thought. He argues that the arts have an…

This paper explains competency-based education and its positive and negative aspects. The author cites accountability, better instructional plans, and increased opportunity for student success as positive aspects. Problems mentioned include adjusting to new terminology and more record-keeping. Typical components of competency-based instructional…