This article describes a political debate among congressional candidates that the authors organized in 2006. The debate was structured to maximize student involvement both in the planning stages and during the event itself. After discussing relevant literature on experiential learning, the article describes the debate format and details the issues…

Student grades and student evaluations of teacher performance are unrelated. Demographic variables, e.g., student interest, class rank, are significantly related to instructor ratings. A teacher's overall rating is directly influenced by ability to stimulate interest and present course matter clearly, and indirectly influenced by organization and…

Students rate classroom deportment, rather than test scores, as the most important criterion of a teaching assistant's (TA) competency. TAs who ranked highest on overall competency were those who were most knowledgeable and interesting, and not those whose students received the highest grades. (Author/RM)