A program of faculty development that uses peer consultants to interpret classroom processes to the teachers, rather than giving advice, is described. Among significant benefits were improved faculty relations and increased guest lectures among faculty. (MSE)

Regardless of how easy a course is made for nonscience majors, few attempts have been made to use students' abilities within the academic context to enhance their appreciation of science. The teaching of nonscience majors must be viewed by the science teacher as important as the teaching of science majors. (MLW)

An annotated bibliography of "Essential Sources on Teaching" was assembled and made available to the faculty of the Penn State Instructional Development Program. The faculty's favorable response was responsible for the identification of this collection. (Author/MLW)

A symposium is described that provided instruction in research methodology to 12 college faculty members and required each to undertake a research project for instructional improvement. The symposium's content and format are outlined, and the results of the efforts are briefly noted. (MSE)

A humanist describes his reaction to instruction in research methodology, and specifically statistical measurement, from initial discomfort, through confusion, to reassessment and reinforcement of his own assumptions and instructional intentions. The experience in specifying outcomes helped enhance his intuition about teaching. (MSE)

The criteria and methods for evaluating faculty who teach undergraduates only are discussed with special emphasis on those teaching at lower-division campuses. It is suggested that there would be more effort expended to teach well if faculty knew that effort and performance as teachers were respected and rewarded. (MLW)

Focusing its efforts on the improvements of the teacher-learning process in higher education, the Institute for Educational Technology at the University of Surrey engages in applied research and service activities including the development and evaluation of teaching and learning innovations, and the training of university teachers. Research and…

A faculty member's research project to determine the effectiveness of an Arabic language component in a course on Islam is described. The construction of the course with an experimental model and problems in measurement of results are outlined. (MSE)

A faculty member's experiment to test the hypothesis that choice of an academic major is related to a student's ease in written and aural skills in a foreign language is described. Majors were given values according to their aural or analytical characteristics, and correlated with achievement. No significant relationship was found. (MSE)

A study investigated the effectiveness of stereochemistry lap-dissolve projection as an aid to students in developing three-dimensional imaging and whether certain visual orientation tasks could be correlated with aptitude. Students found the slides helpful, and a modest correlation of achievement and visual skills was found. (MSE)

A personal approach to instructional development that uses teaching consultants is described and illustrated with anecdotes from the first year of one such service at a large midwestern university. This individualized approach emphasizes the particular needs, interests, and limitations of each teacher-client on a case-by-case basis. (JMD)

The teaching "case study" of an outstanding teacher who improved through participation in a teaching/learning research project is described. Data from the study show that students learned significantly more from him at the end of the project than they did at the beginning. (MLW)

The role of faculty colleagues in the evaluation of college teaching is not defined adequately. A distinction needs to be made between summative evaluation conducted for administrative decisions such as pay increases, promotion, and tenure, and formative evaluations designed to improve teaching. (MLW)

A project to determine student attitudes toward interactive closed-circuit television instruction on two university campuses is described. Course design, results, costs, and implementation difficulties are discussed. Differences between the campuses' responses may be attributable to teacher familiarity, student differences, and familiarity with…

To reduce test anxiety, students were given increased information about the probable question types on end-of-unit examinations. Two experimental testing formats, a combination of the two, and the typical practice of providing no additional information were compared. Results show that additional information can reduce anxiety but not necessarily…