Blended learning is a hybrid of classroom and online learning that includes some of the conveniences of online courses without the complete loss of face-to-face contact. The present study used a causal-comparative design to examine the relationship of sense of community between traditional classroom, blended, and fully online higher education…

When the author began teaching as a young assistant professor at Caltech in 1966, his assignment was to take over the undergraduate biochemistry course taught for many years by Henry Borsook, who was about to retire. Students dreaded this course. Having delighted in biochemistry during his graduate training at Stanford, he was determined to put…

Social work is committed to promoting social justice, inclusion and the empowerment of people. Qualitative research methods offer exciting possibilities for operationalizing this commitment. Drawing predominantly on constructivist and/or critical paradigms for understanding, qualitative research fosters a rebalancing of power within the…

Race-conscious affirmative action in higher education survived a close challenge in 2003 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that race was a valid academic admission criteria in the "Grutter v. Bollinger" case. Two years later, a number of "pipeline" programs to help under-represented minorities gain admission to and complete graduate school have…

For more than 60 years, the health education profession has worked to develop, implement, and refine guidelines for preparing and training health educators. Among the seminal works documenting this dedication to, and quest for, quality assurance in professional preparation and practice are guidelines for professional education of health educators…

This paper is a reflection on the process of dance choreography, an assignment for pedagogical evaluation at postgraduate level in an Indian university. It is also a recapitulation and reconstruction of my experiences while undergoing a Master's course in Bharatanatyam (a style of classical dance) in the Centre for Performing Arts (CPA),…

Stand-alone communication courses are still the dominant model in both Indian and US schools. Communication courses are taught separately and not integrated into the main course curriculum in a formal manner by communication faculty working alongside with the rest of the faculty. Although this may over-generalize, it suggests the background…

This longitudinal study explored the degree to which a required MBA course emphasizing experiential learning positively influenced student retention. Results from subgroup comparisons across multiple time periods suggest that this type of teaching methodology leads to enhanced retention effects. The improved retention is attributed to the…

Despite the importance of standards in evaluating the academic level of graduate programs, there are no unified standards that can be used as a basis for evaluating all programs. The standards used by different evaluation committees and academic accreditation organizations differ in their organizational structure, the aspects they focus on, and…

This project investigated the effects of technology task autonomy, teacher gender, and student gender on student achievement scores for students disaggregated by IEP and SES in middle school science classrooms. Participants were from the treatment group in a larger quasi-experimental design project that investigated the effects of integrated…

Literacy coaching is a very hot topic (Cassidy & Cassidy, 2007) that has been spurred on by two opposite belief systems. On one hand, the Reading First schools can receive federal funding to hire coaches to raise test scores. This has led some teachers to characterize coaches as "test-prep enforcers." On the other hand, Bean, Swan…

Studying in a second language is probably one of the greatest challenges for international students. In this study, the relationship between language preparation and the first year graduate study among East Asian international graduate students in the United States was investigated in order to provide implications and suggestions for university…

A combination of factors including longer working hours, emphasis on professional development, and increased access to the Internet have fuelled the current high demand for distance learning options in tertiary biology. Distance learner students come from a heterogeneous pool of ages, backgrounds and abilities and they require choice in how they…

To help inform policymakers and the public about the progress of education in the United States, Congress has mandated that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) produce an annual report, "The Condition of Education." This year's report presents 42 indicators on important topics and trends in U.S. education. These…

This paper examines the feasibility of delivering graduate level education courses using student-designed curricula. A total of 56 students in three different graduate education courses were given the option of following the instructor's syllabus or creating their own course. Students in the "History, Foundations, and Philosophy of…