A plan to evaluate a college-orientation course required of new freshmen at Mt. San Antonio College was developed. It was designed to help students adjust to college, evaluate their interests and abilities, determine realistic vocational goals, and develop effective educational plans. Opportunities for close personal relationships between students…

A three-part review process is proposed as an aid to textbook selection for college courses. After an introductory discussion of the importance of developing standards and criteria for selecting course texts, the three-phase process is presented. The initial phase involves the establishment of departmental criteria for textbooks, which may be…

A description is provided of Tennessee's Volunteer State Community College's (VSCC's) approach to defining the goals, expected outcomes, and assessment procedures of individual courses, utilizing teacher-developed course instruction manuals and standardized course syllabi. Introductory material explains why and how the approach was developed,…

This two-part paper describes the working assumptions approach to early program evaluation and illustrates the approach with a study of a new social science curriculum in American ethnic pluralism for community colleges. Part I begins by providing a rationale for early program evaluation and describing the working assumptions approach as a model…

Assesses an evaluation model, employing an objectives rating system and a two-dimensional matrix to display the ratings, which was applied to 145 behavioral course objectives for a general chemistry course at Northern Virginia Community College to judge the appropriateness and adequacy of the course objectives. (AYC)

A model of program development and evaluation was developed at Genesee Community College, utilizing a system theory/process of deductive and inductive reasoning to ensure coherence and continuity within the program. The model links activities to specific measurable outcomes. Evaluation checks and feedback are built in at various levels so that…

The goal of teaching philosophy is to develop philosophically literate students and to ensure that students develop philosophical literacy by design and not by chance. Perhaps the best method for teaching philosophy to beginning students is the public model, in which the practice of defending positions in the public arena forces students to become…

The guidelines for evaluation of junior college journalism courses have been undertaken by the Junior College Journalism Association in cooperation with the Association for Education in Journalism and with the assistance of many interested associations, including the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The major objectives of this program are…

This 10 unit manual introduces the concepts and components of mastery learning and helps instructors organize mastery learning courses of their own. Unit I introduces mastery learning as a process involving the development and presentation of objectives, homework, formative evaluation, corrective assignments, evaluation retakes, and summative…

This self-instructional learning packet was designed to introduce instructors to the development and writing of learning packets for their own courses. The packet contains seven learning modules, each providing a rationale, learning objectives, a pre-assessment test, informational text, learning activities, and a self-assessment instrument and…

The purpose of the practicum described in this report was to develop a competency-based vocational articulation pilot project between Mercer County Community College (MCCC) located in Trenton, New Jersey, and four secondary schools for three subjects: Typewriting I and II, Stenography I and II, and Office Procedures. Chapters I and II provide an…

Though extensive research has been conducted to measure educational outcomes in terms of quantity and cost, there has been little discussion or analysis of educational quality and its measurement. Quality may be defined in terms of whether a service or product meets or exceeds prespecified standards and can be measured in relation to defined…

Reviews study that found, through use of a "performance instruction" model, a significant misalignment between the cognitive complexity levels of planned course content and that which is tested. (32 citations) (YKH)

In an attempt to meet the need for improved skills in the local workforce, San Juan College (New Mexico) made efforts to locate a target population of students and find out how successfully the courses they took met their work needs. A computer search identified a trial population of 513 students who met a set of criteria that suggested they took…