Provides comments and ways to address some issues that affect new faculty in undergraduate psychology departments who have doctorates in license-eligible applied specialties. Suggests that issues of licensure requirements, and how they may be met, must be included in the hiring negotiations of new faculty members. (CMK)

Discusses the importance of standards in introductory programming courses that enable novice software developers to write correct programs to specification and time. Considers issues involved with assessing students' programming abilities. Provides an overview of an automated assessment system adopted at the University of Warwick (United Kingdom)…

Describes two studies that evaluated the effectiveness of a World Wide Web-based formative assessment package used in undergraduate psychology courses. Students taking online multiple-choice tests received instant feedback, and results showed that students who used the package performed better than those who did not. (Author/LRW)

Studies the performance of freshmen biology and physics-mathematics majors and chemistry majors as well as pre- and in-service chemistry teachers at two Israeli universities on algorithmic (ALG), lower-order cognitive skills (LOCS), and higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) chemistry exam questions. Finds that students in both universities…

Describes some features in the changing landscape of activities intended to improve both quality and access in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) undergraduate education. Offers a framework for discussion of historical change endeavors as an aid in considering next steps. (Author/MM)

Discusses the use of analog drawing in an undergraduate interdisciplinary arts course. States that analog drawing uses lines as representation of portraits, problems, or emotions. Explains how analog drawing was used to depict social issues and reports on the interpretations of student drawings. (CMK)

Describes an activity called the jigsaw classroom technique for use with working groups of undergraduate statistics students that divides a worksheet into two to four steps. Reveals that the students viewed the technique positively because it helped them understand statistical procedure and offered a variety of learning experiences. (CMK)

Describes an activity that enables students to exercise their data entry, computational, graphical, and writing skills to learn the importance of graphs in good statistical analysis. Students use four data sets to enter data, compute Pearson correlation values, plot scatter graphs, and write results paragraphs. (CMK)

Investigates the extent to which people interpret real-life moral dilemmas in terms of an internal moral orientation or the content of the dilemma. Lists the opinions of 30 women and 30 men describing their views on real-life prosocial, antisocial, and social pressure types of moral dilemmas. Includes references. (CMK)

Describes two studies that investigated factors affecting the demands for undergraduate courses in information and library studies: one a survey of students at The Robert Gordon University (Scotland) and one a survey of secondary school students in Scotland. Concludes that the profession should focus on undergraduate education and make career…

Reports an action research project to evaluate an intervention designed to increase students' confidence in an undergraduate peer assessment of posters in Psychology. Evidence from qualitative evaluation questionnaires suggested that students' initial resistance to the peer assessment was transformed by their participation in these processes. (AEF)

Points out that assessment of courses and curricula lags behind implementation and focuses on an evaluation project at the University of Arizona. Describes an effort to determine the effectiveness of science courses for non-majors. (DDR)

Argues that students should do hands-on work with original primary sources that are within archival collections. Gives students an opportunity to interact in an unfamiliar environment, learn new techniques for discovery, and develop a connection with people from the past. Offers examples of how students can work with archival materials. (CMK)

Believes that there are benefits to having introductory psychology students generate a lifeline at the beginning of the course and again after they learn about developmental psychology. Presents results from evaluations where the students rate the lifelines favorably. States that creating the second lifeline encouraged students to personalize the…

Using the example of LaGuardia Community College in Long Island, New York, discusses how to use learning communities to promote inclusion and reflective examination on a range of diversity issues. Offers ground rules for class discussion of diversity and other classroom activities for fostering meaningful dialogue. (EV)