Self-determination theory (SDT) posits a framework for human motivation, highlighting an individual's interactions and perceptions of his or her environment. Research incorporating a SDT framework has identified antecedents of psychological need satisfaction (PNS) in human motivation. Individual motivation broadens levels of social interactions as…

In order to assess the impact of different college environments on student development and to provide a source of current, readily available information about college students, the American Council on Education (ACE) has undertaken a large-scale program of longitudinal research on the higher educational system. The program will be based primarily…

The 3 papers in this report cover different aspects of a longitudinal research program undertaken by the American Council on Education (ACE) to assess the impact of different college environments on student development. ACE plans to create a comprehensive file of data on students and institutions of higher education which will be updated annually.…

The American Council on Education's Office of Research has instituted a large-scale data bank for research in American higher education. This cross-sectional and longitudinal data bank is available to the general community of scholars and administrators interested in student characteristics, student development, comparative institutional effects,…

A commonly held assumption is that students should enter college with values and attitudes shared by their parents and, following 4 years of preparation, leave as adults with identical values and attitudes. It is becoming evident that today's students have chosen to depart from these expectations, since growing numbers of them are entering college…

Traditionally, universities have independently sought and preserved knowledge and prepared students for professional careers, although society has influenced and supported their objectives. Today's universities, challenged by the increasingly complex needs of society, are responding with educational innovations that are usually profitable to both.…

"The residential college concept is a symbol--a vital symbol--of a much larger concern, the humanization of student life and of American life in general." This conference was held to consider the residential college concept as a means of furthering the emotional and intellectual development of students. Nevitt Sanford, Dana L.…

This book examines the full range of experience of the nation's baccalaureate candidates. Working around the premise that education is not something that professors do but rather something students participate in, this book gives succinct accounts of the full range of goals of undergraduate education, from the acquisition of certain proficiencies…

The variety of manpower needs generated by advanced technology plus all that is known about human variability in aptitude, achievement, interests, motivations, attitudes, values and intellectual dispositions underscore the need for a highly diversified higher education system. Britain has lagged behind other industrial countries in providing a…

The inability of university professors to communicate about shared concepts and concerns--e.g., meaning, self, integrity, an ideal of truth--is related to the fragmented university, departmentalized and bureaucratized. The impact of this on the humanity of those involved is sketched, and suppositions are advanced about the nature of education.…

The intellectual development of black college students on a predominantly white campus was examined using the Reflective Judgment model of post-adolescent intellectual development. The model posits a seven-stage sequence of changes in assumptions about the sources of certainty of knowledge, and shows how these assumptions affect the ways adults…

This 1989 report provides a statistical overview of followup surveys concerning college freshmen (in 1985 and 1987) students attending two- and four-year colleges and universities. The report's purpose is to contrast college freshmen responses with those given 2 and 4 years later to better examine how students change during the undergraduate…

This 1990 report provides a statistical overview of followup surveys concerning college freshmen students entering two- and four-year colleges and universities in 1986 and 1988. The study's purpose was to compare student responses as freshmen and later in their college careers. Additionally presented is a description of the methods used in…

This report provides a statistical overview of followup surveys concerning college freshmen entering two- and four-year colleges and universities in 1987 and 1989. The study's purpose was to contrast college freshmen responses with those given 2 and 4 years later to examine how students change during the undergraduate years. Additionally presented…

Prepared by a Provost's Task Force on Assessment of Quality and Outcomes of Undergraduate Education, this report reviews the background of the currently burgeoning "assessment" movement and sets forth principles to guide the University of Arizona's efforts to redefine and reassess the quality and outcomes of its undergraduate programs.…