This practice report explores the development and impact of two podcasts that we have developed and hosted. Drawing on our experiences as academics working closely together, one non-Indigenous (Barney) and the other Ngugi/Wakka Wakka (Bunda), we discuss the reasons for choosing the podcast medium, the development of the podcasts and their emerging…

Higher education insiders trumpet the use of results for improvement as the most important part of the assessment cycle. Yet, at the same time, we acknowledge the rarity of improvement, especially at a program level. What are some reasons the most important phase of assessment occurs so infrequently? To seek answers, we investigated the "Use…

This article discusses the tension between quality assurance and quality enhancement in engineering education at a programme level. It acknowledges that accreditation has evolved for many years, but does not agilely support innovation or implement changes in educational programmes. Existing quality assurance systems, institutional collaboration…

There remains a lack of published empirical data on the substantive outcomes of higher learning and the establishment of quality processes for determining them. Studies that do exist are nationally focused with available rankings of institutions reflecting neither the quality of teaching and learning nor the diversity of institutions. This article…

Women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and in STEM leadership positions. According to the most recent data available from the National Science Foundation, in academia only 31% of full-time STEM faculty and 27% of STEM deans and department heads are women. By comparison at Stevenson…

Describes a curriculum review of the Department of Speech Communication at North Carolina State University, including the strategy the department used and the results of the process--a new curriculum package. (MS)

The study reported here is part of a continuing project with the goal of determining the place of behavioral accounting in the accounting curricula. While the first two studies focused on the graduate accounting curricula and the practitioners' opinions on the subject, this study concentrates on the behavioral accounting content of undergraduate…

Attempts to locate the changes and challenges to the traditional understanding of what journalism is, to describe ways of dealing with them up to this point, and to formulate a number of arenas to explore initiatives to educate the new journalists of today and tomorrow. Notes that the argument is based on recent developments in journalism…

David Pearce Snyder has predicted that "if a significant number of major mainstream institutions do not undertake publicly acknowledged initiatives to dramatically improve the relevance of their curriculums, the rigor of their standards, and the productivity of their operations...the marketplace will have begun to make available so many…

Describes issues surrounding the general weakness in formal statistics education for both undergraduate and graduate students, and the minimal collaboration between statisticians and atmospheric scientists. Recommends statistics curriculum guidelines for atmospheric science students and ways to improve overall interaction between the disciplines.…

Education currently faces a crisis in curriculum reform which presents a danger to pedagogical programs. Changes in teacher education programs should be based on research and should be accomplished by a reflective and rational process. Methods of reform are explored. (DF)

Describes reorganization of an early childhood education program for teachers at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Lists changes in program elements, highlights program goals, describes key conceptual features, and includes student comments as evidence of program effectiveness. Notes that program focus is developing the students' capacity…

This presentation considers the need to rename and reorganize the traditional paradigm that governs the organization and implementation of undergraduate and graduate teacher education programs. Two particular components of the preparation paradigm--the academic component and the professional preservice component--are given particular attention.…

DESPITE THE IMPORTANCE OF COURSES DESIGNED TO INTEREST THE ENGLISH MAJOR AND TO PREPARE FUTURE ENGLISH TEACHERS, ENGLISH DEPARTMENTS MUST CONCERN THEMSELVES MORE WITH THE NEEDS OF THE GENERAL STUDENT. DEPARTMENTS MUST ALMOST REVERSE THEIR CURRENT VALUE SYSTEM IF THEY HOPE TO SHAPE YOUNG MINDS AND PROVIDE A HUMANISTIC ALTERNATIVE TO THE NARROW…

Describes one department's experience with curriculum development through the formulation of a departmental mission statement reflecting the shared sociological goals of faculty and students. Discusses the process of achieving consensus, the actual mission statement, and the curricular and program implications of such a process. (KO)