This study was conducted to identify the personality characteristics of high achieving developmental, or remedial, students and to discover how personality characteristics relate to academic performance among high-achieving developmental and non-developmental college students to determine if a correlation exists between personality and…

This study evaluated two developmental learning communities, named the Integrated Studies Communities ISC, at Parkland College in Illinois. The primary purpose of the study was to compare the students in the ISC with similar underprepared students in the regular curriculum. The ISC offers four linked courses, and participating students take them…

This proceedings publication addresses issues in developmental education at the postsecondary level. Papers are: "Public Relations: Making Videos to Promote Your Program" (Carol H. Bader and Kathy Liles); "Winning Strategies Through Individualized Learning in the Success Center" (Deanna L. Culbertson and Phillip C. Johnson); "Implementing Holistic…

Compares the effects of explicit instruction of the Preread-Read-Organize-Review (PROR) textbook reading strategy in a course-based context (where students apply reading strategies to their own college textbooks) versus a content-based context (where students apply reading strategies only to texts provided in the reading class). Draws no…

This report describes the developmental education program at Jefferson Davis Community College (JDCC) (Alabama). Approximately 59% of JDCC's student population must take pre-college, or developmental, courses in math, reading, English, and study skills. JDCC's developmental program includes computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in reading, math, and…

Examines the effectiveness of a personalized learning assistance intervention to overcome developmental students' procrastination in a computer-based introductory psychology course taught with the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI). An evaluation of the intervention suggests that it was effective in getting the procrastinating students to…

Offers seven suggestions academic assistance professionals can adopt in order to evaluate strategic models, such as study strategy courses or paired courses. Reports that a 1997 study found that only 25% of four-year institutions complete ongoing and systematic evaluation of their academic assistance programs. (Contains 32 references.) (NB)

Focuses on three key ideas students need to understand in order to become master students: the importance of ideas or concepts in thinking, how to think within the ideas of a subject or discipline, and how to learn important ideas from textbooks. Makes suggestions to students, including creating a glossary of ideas learned in each course. (NB)

Asserts that the arts offer students in developmental education new ways to acquire creative and critical skills that are essential for becoming self-directed learners. States that the arts offer alternative forms of literacy and ways to construct meaning and sensitize students to other cultures. Contains 19 references. (VWC)

Suggests that verbal and visual metaphors help academically underprepared students make conceptual connections between their own knowledge and classroom learning. Describes an exercise involving writing about art that helps develop metaphoric thinking. States that in this exercise, students used their senses, prior knowledge, and imaginations to…

Elaborates some strategies for incorporating soap opera into a composition course for remedial English students. Approach provides an instructional uniformity--everyone will be writing on the same subject matter; and plot, narrative, characterization, structure, etc. can be discussed and essay topics developed. (NKA)

Suggests that there are three ways of taking in information: internalizing inert information, forming activated ignorance, or achieving activated knowledge. Explains that only activated knowledge leads the learner, by implication, to more knowledge, and that seeking the logic of things can lead to discovery of activated knowledge. (NB)

Describes the results of a study that tracked college algebra students who had previously completed an Academic Assistance mathematics course that facilitated collaborative learning. Only 53% of all students who enrolled in college algebra in fall 1994 earned grades of C or higher, but 95% of students who had previously participated in the…

Describes the research rationale for the developmental course offered to entering students at Upsala College (NJ) called "Precise Thinking." This skills-development program integrates reading, writing, and mathematical skills with underlying metacognitive processes to teach students perseverance and strategies for problem-solving and self-directed…

Describes the Conditional Acceptance Program (CAP), an intervention program geared towards underprepared, underachieving entering college freshmen. Identifies key program components while establishing the primary theoretical basis or rationale for each, and encourages the reader to critically evaluate and reflect upon various and integrated…