A performance audit examined immediate, intermediate, and long-range effects of two minority graduate fellowship programs sponsored by the state of Illinois, the Illinois Minority Graduate Incentive Program (IMGIP) and the Illinois Consortium for Educational Opportunity Program (ICEOP). Findings show the diversification of minority doctoral study…

Explores the extent to which published advice on the organization and structure of theses and dissertations concurs with what happens in actual practice. Examines guides and handbooks that focus on thesis and dissertation writing and postgraduate research. Found that only a few books devoted a substantial amount of space to this topic. Discusses…

This article focuses on the assessment of writing abilities among master of social work students. The purposes and methods of writing assessment are explored, as well as the evaluation and reporting of results. The article also summarizes results from an assessment project conducted in 2003 of 129 MSW students' writing skill. Among the findings…

This case study investigated how 23 students adapted to using a completely online textbook in lieu of a traditional paper text. All were enrolled in a single advanced MSW practice course. A variety of adaptation styles evolved. The students' primary strategy was to revert to making paper copies when permitted to do so instead of reading the…

In the education literature, team-based projects have proven to be an effective pedagogical methodology. We have been using "RoboCup" challenges as the basis for class projects in undergraduate and masters level courses. This article discusses several independent efforts in this direction and presents our work in the development of shared…

There is an increasing development of courses and course components taught through teaching and learning dialogues online yet there is little secure knowledge regarding the educational quality of these dialogues. Drawing on contemporary sociocultural research, this paper adapts a well-established analytical framework (see Mercer, 1995) that has…

Black graduate students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) usually are classified into four categories--teaching assistant, research assistant, graduate assistant and (Black) student quota. And each group has its own unique set of problems. On any predominantly White campus, Black faculty are expected to, and are unofficially required to,…

This narrative recounts the disruption of my graduate research project by persistent, self-reflexive questioning of the process of doing independent research for the first time, and draws its texts from the resulting master's thesis. In this story, the ethnographic method I chose initially to study the experience of women returning to school to…

Effectively covering Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW) and Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) standards in a three-credit hour course is perhaps the greatest challenge in teaching group counseling. This study explores the use of an electronic course tool to deliver group theory, while using face-to-face class…

This article identifies the orientations to learning of a group of mature students, all practising managers, who were on part-time postgraduate management courses. The orientations to learning approach provided an effective framework for gaining insights into the complexities of learner motivations and how these influence learning behaviour. A…

This investigation examines the difficulties encountered by one graduate teaching assistant as she taught "Physics for Elementary Education," a large-enrollment, inquiry-based science course taught at a public Midwestern university. The methodological approach of hermeneutic phenomenology served as the lens to investigate the research question,…

This study evaluates the use of full-text databases amongst 425 undergraduate and graduate students in western New York. A review of literature implicated convenience, time issues, article retrieval option knowledge, and the appreciation and understanding of research article quality as potential predictors of full-text reliance. These variables…

In order to design effective interventions for working with graduate and professional students, educators must first assess students' needs and experiences. This chapter highlights the importance of assessment in graduate and professional education and offers insights gained from three studies.

This study expanded and tested Furnham and Bochner's (1982) model of culture shock, employing a sample of 156 male international students in a Canadian university. Path analysis was used to assess the effects of cultural differences, size of co-national group, family status, cross-cultural experience, and social interaction with hosts on culture…

The purpose of this research was to examine the campus experiences of undergraduate and graduate women students at a research university. Although it has been more than 20 years since the term "chilly campus climate" was described in Hall and Sandler's (1984) seminal work, this study found such a climate, in terms of campus safety, still exists…