Mentorship has existed in the health professions disciplines for centuries. This chapter discusses the challenges of mentorship specifically tailored to students in academic difficulty.

There are unique moments in curriculum development when an opportunity for a fresh start or a major turn in design fleetingly presents itself. These moments opened up in different locations across McMaster University at different times and eventually led to several quite different initiatives in inquiry-guided learning (IGL). Well-travelled…

Although the causes of achievement are many and varied, it is widely assumed that "motivation" and "self-regulation" are crucial determinants of academic performance. Substantial evidence indicates that students who focus on learning and understanding course material are more likely to perform well academically (Dweck and Leggett, 1988).…

Informed by Rosenberg's (2003) concept of nonviolent communication, the author's pedagogical perspective encourages educators to criticize institutional and classroom practices that ideologically place underserved students at disadvantaged positions. At the same time, this perspective urges teachers to be self-reflective of their actions through…

Faculty in higher education may find themselves reading student work or hearing students' voices in class or in online course discussion boards that reveal a lot of personal information, information that they think might be better kept private, information that may be concerning or even threatening. In their attempts to create richer learning…

Examines how the structure of learning communities shapes the teaching/learning task, and describes the kind of pedagogical adjustments that learning communities demand of students and faculty. Notes that the structure creates avenues for intellectual and pedagogical exploration; the attitude of shared inquiry and mutual, responsible community can…

Socialization of teaching assistants occurs through a process of communication as new teaching assistants learn what it means to be teachers as well as graduate students. The skills, behavior, and attitudes developed while one is a teaching assistant are important determinants of a future faculty role. (MLW)

An important ethical task is for the college faculty member to handle the teacher-student relationship well outside the classroom. May Sarton's novel "The Small Room" depicts both success and failure. The teacher should always act as a friend, seeking the good of the student for the student's own sake and recognizing this as a unique…

Sound ethical decisions depend on clear problem definition, careful review of alternatives, consideration of consequences, and thoughtful application of relevant principles of responsibility. Often they also require a willingness to receive corrective insight and to check judgments with moral intuitions. Higher education has a special…

The pedagogical assumptions and teaching practices of learning community models reflect exemplary conditions for learning, so using these models with unprepared students seems desirable and worthy of investigation. This chapter describes the key role of faculty in creating active, integrative learning experiences for students in basic skills…

The implications for administrators, instructional staff, faculty and teaching assistant developers, and students of efforts to address college classroom diversity are summarized; resource people at colleges and universities with successful programs are listed; and an annotated bibliography of related print materials is provided. (Author/MSE)

An examination of the different ways in which the honors concept has been adapted from its elitist British university origins and of the assumptions underlying those adaptations reveals both the virtues and the problems inherent in the Americanization of honors. (Author/MSE)

College faculty and students play important roles in maintaining a tension-free, democratic, and effective learning environment for a diverse student body. Although many instructors feel unprepared to manage disruptive or harmful behaviors, they must receive training to learn to negotiate difficult dialogs, especially as the student population…

The extent to which college teachers should disclose their own ethical and political views, or serve as advocates of them, is discussed. It is argued that the teacher who can convey the strengths of positions he opposes and weaknesses of those he embraces models critical reflection, encouraging and empowering critical thought in students. (MSE)

By helping faculty collaborate to enrich their teaching abilities and by supporting them when faculty/student relationships occasionally fail, the department chair models leadership skills that faculty themselves can use. The skills of leadership correspond very closely to good teaching skills, and can be combined with the skills of principled…