Over the past decade in Australia there has been an increasing focus in higher education on identifying cogent approaches for assisting first-year university students in their transition into the university setting. In recent years, an emerging body of literature has given emphasis to the efficacy of a range of strategies for engaging first-year…

A survey of the 76 graduates of Kent State's applied sociology masters program, designed to prepare students for employment outside academe, found one graduate employed outside her field, four who continued their education and became practicing sociologists, and a majority who used their training as human service practitioners. (MSE)

Reports findings from a national demonstration project involving the National Council on the Aging (NCOA) and 13 colleges. Studied 39 courses in which students were involved in service-learning in aging and described the range of demonstrably feasible adaptations, what students learned, and faculty perceptions of their benefits and costs.…

Investigated effects of characteristics of service-learning experiences on development of undergraduates. Participants (n=48) in service-learning courses and control students (n=48) wrote pre- and postresponses to social problems. Service-learning students made significant gains on certain cognitive dimensions and had significant increases in…

Recruiting mentors is a continuous challenge for most programs. A systematic recruitment plan, carefully developed and implemented, will increase a program's chances for success. Drawing from effective practices used by volunteer-based organizations and research findings about mentoring, the material in this document describes recruitment…

This paper offers a definition for the word "effective" and then discusses implications of research on the environment in relation to designing effective instruction. Similarities and differences involved in designing effective instruction are presented across four different contexts: K-12, higher education, human services, and…

Practicum experiences are thought to be a time for honing clinical skills and integrating content course material with clinical practice. Often, however, the range of clinical problems encountered during practica is restricted, limiting the variety of learning experiences available to practicum group members. To provide a wider range of…

Explored number of programs initiated to involve older adults in meaningful volunteer tasks, responsibilities, and roles on university campuses. Data demonstrate the feasibility of these programs and positive outcomes include improvement of intergenerational communication, reduction of ageism, provision of services to educational institutions, and…

Applying for public assistance can be a difficult, long, and humiliating process. Administrative practices can prevent applicants from receiving their lawful benefits from agencies handling Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). To examine these problems, Project Fair Play recruited graduate social work and law students as advocates for…

The National and Community Service Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-610), enacted in November 1990, authorized the establishment of a program for minority students to receive financial assistance grants in preparation and exchange for Peace Corps service. Although more than 3 years have passed since the enactment of the authorizing legislation, the…

The National Service (NS) program links financial assistance for education to community service. Four issues of primary concern arise as policymakers and program planners move from the program's concept to the fine points of its design and implementation: (1) achieving balance among the program's conflicting goals; (2) expanding educational…

This report describes activities and accomplishments of a 3-year project at Sinte Gleska University (South Dakota) which revised the school's Human Services curriculum and training model and normed a variety of assessment instruments on Lakota people. Sinte Gleska University is a tribally chartered institution, located on an Indian reservation,…

Commissioned by the Office of Career Education (OCE), this monograph provides a perspective from which the OCE could (1) examine the human services education model implemented by the authors, and (2) consider its possible usefulness in OCE's future planning and development. The focus is on the potential alliance of career education and human…