This report summarizes the results of the Planning Introductory College Courses study which examined influences on course planning among U.S. faculty members. The study was built on exploratory interviews conducted in the 1986-87 Course Planning Exploration survey with 89 faculty members. Major findings show that when planning introductory…

Faculty beliefs about educational purpose and the nature of their academic field strongly influence how they plan introductory courses. Significantly different conceptions of educational purpose among faculty in different fields may inhibit agreement on plans for curricular coherence and ways of communicating expectations to students. Interviews…

A national survey of faculty (N=2,311) teaching introductory college courses revealed 10 factors influencing course planning including: discipline-related content, student characteristics, facilities, resources, and campus support services. The strength of these influences differed substantially by discipline but only modestly by institutional…

Viewing curriculum as an academic plan permits development of parallel course and program planning models that are dynamic, conceptually related to student learning, and familiar to institutional planners. Opportunities gained by using the academic plan umbrella for curriculum are described. (Author/MLW)

To discover how courses are planned and taught, faculty and their students at three community colleges, two liberal arts colleges, two comprehensive universities, and one doctoral university were interviewed with a protocol based on current theories of course design. Their candid responses indicate that academic content, materials, student…