The mission of a community college is distinct from a research one university, where empirical research is valued over investigation of discipline-based teaching and learning. The open-access, affordable, workforce, and transfer emphasis that serves many non-traditional community college students is a rich, meaningful environment for fostering the…

Curiosity is associated with cognitive development and learning. In fact, Piaget suggested that being curious is a prerequisite for knowledge construction. One way to increase curiosity is to put individuals in situations of uncertainty, so that they become motivated to seek knowledge of the unfamiliar. A teaching method that appears to do this…

This qualitative collective case study explored the experiences of faculty members in the social and behavioral sciences and SLO coordinators at community colleges in California as they engaged in student learning outcomes assessment (SLOA). Semi-structured interviews with eight faculty members and five student learning outcomes coordinators…

Contextualized teaching and learning (CTL), or the concept of relating subject matter content to meaningful situations that are relevant to students' lives, offers one promising approach to helping students learn more effectively. This brief offers instructors, college leaders, policy makers and funders a high-level summary of the CTL…

Reviews the literature related to distance education under three thematic areas: learners and learning, teachers and teaching, and mission and boundaries. Suggests that, as distance education becomes more central to the community college, educational focus will shift from teaching to learning. (54 citations) (JDI)

The papers presented at this meeting of the annual conference of the Quebec Association of Collegiate Pedagogy and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges covered the following topics: (1) Students and Teachers, including papers focusing on faculty and student characteristics and concerns; (2) Development of Human Resources, including…

Designed to promote discourse on teaching, learning, and professional development, this spring 1992 issue of Massachusetts Bay Community College's (MBCC's) "Educational Forum" documents modes of inquiry and faculty development activities that MBCC has found promising. The following articles are contained in the issue: (1) "Education Through…

This theoretical analysis articulates verbal rule properties and use implications, describes an empirical study examining characteristics of problem solving performance when verbal rules are instructed as a problem solving method, and discusses role of verbal rules in problem solving and implications for learning procedural skills. (MBR)

This paper uses the psychology of learning to develop techniques for teaching science at community colleges. In order to maximize student learning, teachers should strive to develop and maintain learner interest through voice inflection and by using a wide variety of teaching methods, including discussions, experiments, demonstrations, lectures,…

This document contains two essays, both of which discuss the ascendancy of the learning paradigm over the teaching paradigm. "Philosophy and the Learning Paradigm" reviews the effects of post-modernism on student learning with regard to loss of authority in the classroom, lack of academic standards in writing, and perceptions of…

In February 1997, the Alabama State Board of Education authorized the Alabama College System to convert to a semester based academic calendar, effective for the 1998-99 academic year. The decision to move forward with the semester conversion was guided by the fact that collegiate research indicates that the semester system provides a superior…

The concept presented in this document offers an alternative to the traditional structure and ideology of the community college. The "learning college" is based on the assumption that learning experiences are designed to meet the needs and convenience of students rather than those of the institution, its faculty, and staff. Six key…

The major problem faced by those who would evaluate teaching has been the difficulty of defining teaching effectiveness or establishing criteria for measurement. Traditionally, evaluations have focused on teacher performance in the classroom or on teacher traits as the criteria of effectiveness. However, previous studies have indicated that…

Asserts that while economic development increasingly demands greater technological sophistication, community colleges are faced with growing numbers of developmentally challenged students. Suggests that learning communities may effectively resolve this paradox. Focuses on one small community college in Louisiana, where a learning community is in…

This annual serial volume contains 13 articles offering practical pedagogical ideas from faculty at New Hampshire Technical Colleges. After a brief preface, the following articles are presented: (1) "Variety Is the Spice of Learning," by Sandra Cole; (2) "Separating the Wheat from the Chaff at the Annual Conference," by Diana…