In a study using student rating data from over 8,000 course sections in a large university, disciplinary differences and the value students placed on the time they spent preparing for class are correlated with students' evaluations of teaching. Implications for faculty promotion and tenure policy, instructional improvement, and further research…

Members of academia must cultivate the three virtues of community, collegiality, and diversity. A radical tolerance of differences must be fostered if approachable communities of scholars are to be sustained. Valuing others and making diversity welcome are vital for the well-being of society as a whole. (SLD)

Argues that student evaluations of teacher performance are too often based on subjective viewpoints of little value in helping faculty improve instruction. Describes Illinois Valley Community College's development, at the departmental level, of an evaluation instrument that focuses on observable teacher behaviors and is tailored to specific…

Information on degrees conferred in 1992-93 is presented in tabular and graphic form and includes data on the number of degrees awarded, by degree type (associate, bachelor's master's doctoral, professional), gender, ethnic group or alien status, discipline area, and percentage change over five years. (MSE)

Asserts that, while historians value public communication, their view of the public is dominated by traditional college classroom demographics. Maintains that historians should broaden these boundaries to include nontraditional students. Describes efforts in Wyoming to present history in public meetings. (CFR)

Presents reactions to a survey of attitudes toward history, historiography, and instruction among contemporary historians. Contends that both museums and universities are undergoing fundamental transformations and that more communication between historians and museum curators is desirable. (CFR)

Examines practices and training of historians and sociologists. Cites problems in both fields for graduate students interested in social science approaches to historical questions in developing generalized interests into well-defined research topics. Suggests that collaboration will help sociology students ground research in historical evidence…

Attempts to achieve educational equality for girls are examined critically, and reform issues are discussed, including the public/private dichotomy within education and efforts to increase female access to and participation in male-dominated subject areas. These issues are then related to the Australian gender-inclusive curriculum design and to…

Describes a study that examined the effects of personal attributes, organizational factors, and attitudinal factors on the adoption of computers for instruction by university faculty. Results are reported which indicate that the technological orientation of the faculty's discipline, computer self-efficacy, computer utility beliefs, and attitude…

Reports a content analysis of 27 current textbooks in introductory psychology and 12 for human development courses. Representation of work, theory, and behavior of males continues significantly to exceed the representation of females; and females are frequently portrayed in negative and gender-biased ways. (SLD)

This study investigated changes in publishing opportunities by college/university faculty between 1972 and 1988 in three disciplines: biology, philosophy, and English. Changes in amount of publishing space available and numbers of individuals competing for that space indicated inflation rates for all three fields (especially biology) requiring…

Discussion of scientific information and communication focuses on a study that considers the extent to which research orientation, interdisciplinary work, and disciplinary differences are associated with the use of information sources, with the extent of computer-mediated communication, and with experiencing scientific information overload.…

Discusses the need to provide learner-directed computer-assisted language learning (CALL) for mature students to perfect their English. Topics addressed include expert procedural knowledge, including lexical, grammatical, and discourse skills; and expert domain knowledge, including dictionaries and thesauri, tagged corpora, and discipline-specific…

Discussion of the direction and governance of German higher education since the 1960s looks at the relationship of faculty to disciplines, the role of the state in higher education, and failed efforts at reform. New reform debates are examined. It is noted that change at the system level continues to be difficult. (Author/MSE)

Reports the results of a survey of Croatian researchers in seven scientific disciplines that was conducted to identify their preferred channels of information and to determine interdisciplinary variations in communication behavior. Highlights include information retrieval practices, major information sources, attendance at national and…