This paper describes the Oral Communication Program (OCP) developed at Radford University (Virginia) and discusses key components for a proposal to acquire funding from public or private granting agencies. Analogous to the writing-across-the-curriculum movement, the OCP encourages faculty in all academic areas to incorporate oral communication…

The Winthrop College Critical Issues Symposium for freshmen is discussed, with attention to the format of the seminar, the theoretical bases, seminar goals, strategies employed, administrative and political factors, faculty development opportunities, and assessment. The symposium is designed to help freshmen become active learners, questioners,…

To help teachers develop an awareness of how they structure a discussion, an instrument was constructed called the Assessment of Classroom Interaction Dynamics (ACID). Two expert judges and 26 trainees then participated in a study (1) to estimate interrater reliability between expert judges in the use of the ACID, (2) to assess the validity of the…

Intended for college-level basic writers, this booklet integrates training in selected oral communication activities with writing instruction in order to improve students' academic writing. The first section discusses oral communication theory, emphasizing the underlying rhetorical abilities of invention, audience adaptation, and argumentation, to…

Writing techniques espoused by Peter Elbow, applied to the teaching of writing in advertising copywriting classes can help students develop into better writers, generating better copy ideas. The shift of focus from writing a finished piece the first time to concentrating on the process of writing allows for a freer flow of ideas and creativity.…

Formal and informal educational options available to older persons are briefly described, with attention to classroom courses, correspondence/home study courses, credit by examination, summer/weekend learning vacations, external degree programs, discussion groups, and self-study. Classes may be offered at public and private schools, community…

During the summer following the program's first year of operations, the Macy Program teachers at Hillhouse High School (New Haven, Connecticut) began developing an after school advisory unit for the 1986-87 school year that was to include a component aimed at improving students' interpersonal skills. The Macy Program in general is a four-year…

A study was conducted at Bunker Hill Community College to assess the impact of the use of learning groups on student absenteeism and academic performance. The study involved four sections of a Biology 1 class. Two sections were designated as the control group and were taught using the traditional course format, which involved a 2-hour session in…

The verbal interaction between a laboratory school class of sixth/seventh grade students and their teacher during 18 social studies discussions was analyzed in order to identify teacher techniques relevant to student discourse and student passivity. Classroom discussions were taped, transcribed, and analyzed according to an adaptation of the…

The use and effectiveness of study centers and study center networks as a support system in distance education were investigated, based on interviews with students, tutors, and coordinators of four Australian distance education systems. The investigation of study centers at the University of Queensland, the Riverina College of Advanced Education,…

Part of a series designed to help commuity groups engage in discussion on the possibility of individual and community transformation, this discussion paper explores how education (both in schools and in community development programs) can help promote the wholeness of human beings. The need for the content and process of the curriculum to speak to…

This teaching guide on population issues contains 19 activities for students in grades 7-12. The objective is to analyze population issues that have resulted from human population dynamics. In this guide, four categories of activities are included: some are discussion starters, some provide factual data, some focus on thinking skills, and some are…

A teacher's guide and exercises for teaching poetry by Robert Frost to English as a second language students are presented. Suggestions are presented for developing meanings for words and other meaningful units through the use of realia, pictures, demonstrations, definitions, context clues, paraphrasing, completion exercises, solving and creating…

A portable minicomputer collected data about elementary and secondary social studies teachers' oral questions and the subsequent verbal behaviors of the teachers and the students. Data indicated that literal types of questions were posed most often by teachers at the rate of l.5 per minute, and the duration of the students' answers was associated…

The document is designed to provide practical information for teachers, parents, group home workers, work activity personnel, and others interested in developing social interaction skills and appropriate social behaviors in developmentally disabled adolescents and young adults. An introductory section discusses social problems of the…