Most higher education institutions employ a traditional, summative scoring system to report student grades at the end of each semester. This system is limited in that it offers a final grade based on individual assignments completed throughout the semester without testing whether students have sufficiently understood the learning objectives of the…

Engineering is the science, art, and business of designing and getting things done; engineers are required to make things happen through interpersonal relationships. At Monash University (Australia), a new course, Management for Engineers, was set up in 1990 to encourage a more holistic approach to the process of engineering. The course included…

Medical and dental clinical training involve learning of a sequential set of behaviors leading to a specified terminal behavior which must be performed according to certain criteria. Because of the multiplicity of behaviors and criteria involved in learning to perform the target behaviors as a coordinated whole, the traditional format of stating…

An instructional unit, "Coping in the World of Work: Practice in Problem Solving," designed to assist 11th and 12th grade high school students in developing the ability to solve vocational adjustment problems was developed and evaluated. Instructional goals of the unit included the following: (1) To become acquainted with the range of job…

This curriculum guide proposes competency areas, goals, and objectives for the interdisciplinary training of health and social service undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students by faculty members responsible for teaching courses about the care of the elderly and their families. Various levels of student involvement are outlined and…

The family communication course at Arapahoe Community College attempts to acquaint students with the central role of communication in the maintenance and enhancement of family relationships and to equip them with knowledge that can produce a greater flexibility in their communication within their own family units. The course is built around two…

Intended as a resource for student seminars, this guide describes the seminar process and provides suggestions for making seminars more productive. First, the learning objectives of the seminar process are listed, indicating that students should gain the following skills: group interaction, integrative discussion, critical evaluation, and…

Competencies or general life skills and understandings that a political sciences course attempts to promote in the student in a general education curriculum are examined. General education is described as a set of skills which help individuals exercise control over their own lives. These compentencies consist of the understandings that (1)…

The Master Student course was introduced at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology to improve student retention; provide individuals with skills to become successful students; and to graduate students with technical, critical thinking, and effective communication skills. The course provides a point of entry into the institution in the areas of…

Instructional systems development (ISD) is a systems approach to curriculum development and instructional delivery. It is oriented toward occupational needs with an emphasis on what it is that students must learn to perform specific tasks, what facilities best provide a setting for the neccessary learning, and what instructional methods and media…

The scientific community needs to reappraise its actions and become concerned with the real world problems that threaten existence in society. These include world poverty, starvation, and declining quality of life. Geographers need to develop greater concern resulting in evaluating their research, curricula, educational goals and course content in…

This study was conducted to explore the relationship between teachers' stated instructional objectives, students' study skill deficiencies, and the kinds of assessment items found on tests and other course documents. High school biology teachers (N=10) were interviewed individually about their teaching philosophies and practices. Responses were…

Many classical pianists want to develop jazz piano skills because they have acquired: (1) an awareness of the importance of jazz as an art form; (2) an attraction to the sophistication and complexity of jazz music; (3) an interest in exploring contemporary music styles; and (4) a desire to become involved with a type of music which is viewed as…

This paper presents a new approach designed to help students understand the concepts around which introductory social and political science courses are typically built. The social science course, "Problem Solving in Society," includes an exercise requiring the class as a whole to select, and develop proposals to alleviate, a social problem.…