Faculty beliefs about educational purpose and the nature of their academic field strongly influence how they plan introductory courses. Significantly different conceptions of educational purpose among faculty in different fields may inhibit agreement on plans for curricular coherence and ways of communicating expectations to students. Interviews…

The evaluation of "institutional effectiveness" is required by many accrediting agencies and mandated by some state legislatures. It was hypothesized that the degree to which institutions have mobilized to meet these new accountability demands is related to the existence of a formal institutional research office. To test this hypothesis,…

This report describes the process used by Oakland Community College (OCC) to define general education and to identify courses to fulfill general education requirements in accordance with that definition. Following an overview of the curriculum development process, three recommendations are presented. The first defines general education as…

Courses that address the needs of adult learners to better understand marketplace issues and options and to develop effective financial planning, management and decision-making skills are fairly common in community, technical, and junior colleges. A study was conducted to determine the status of such consumer-related studies, identify colleges…

Information on the Colorado College Plan, students and faculty at Colorado College, and reactions to the Colorado College Plan is presented. The plan is a revised curricular program, a main feature of which is the division of the academic year into nine blocks. Students take one course per block, faculty members teach a single course, and varied…

Between October 1982 and May 1983, a survey was conducted to study educational practices across Canada with regard to the general education component of community college programs and to ascertain the opinions of faculty and administrators about what these practices should be. By means of a questionnaire mailed to a stratified cluster sample of…

The learning community movement is a response to several widespread educational problems, including the mismatched expectations of career-oriented students and research- and discipline-oriented faculty; the inadequate amount of intellectual interaction between students and between faculty and students; the lack of coherence among most of the…

The program development project described in this report was undertaken at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to develop faculty expertise and experience in undergraduate teaching in gerontology and to lay the foundation for an interdisciplinary, undergraduate minor in gerontology. Three core courses for the minor in gerontology were…

The Whitney M. Young, Jr. College of Leadership Studies, described in this report, was established in 1983 as part of an effort to turn Kentucky State University into the state's leading small, liberal arts institution. The curriculum is based upon the "great books" model of St. John's College and other schools, with particular…

In this book, a direction is proposed for the community/junior college whereby the college may better serve its students and community by employing current knowledge of effective instruction. Because the junior college takes pride in being a "teaching institution," the text deals particularly with the history and current status of curriculum and…

Classical studies have value for all students and particular benefits for gifted students at all educational levels. A gradual retrenchment of formal, philological classical studies in elementary and secondary schools and universities has taken place in the last four decades. Once traditional Latin and Greek were dropped, however, many colleges…

The goals of liberal education are to deepen the understanding of the nature of humankind and of the human condition. In the last half century, fundamental changes have occurred in perceptions of how the human species relates to the rest of the universe, due to developments in science and the creation of the cognitive sciences. There is now the…

The way in which findings from a statewide study on permanency planning were utilized and integrated within an accredited undergraduate social work curriculum is described. The concept of permanency planning (through the provision of in-home services to help the child remain in his/her biological home or the removal of the child and placement in…

Noting that most graduate study in communication consists of specialization within the broader field, this paper argues that graduate level communication programs are not only justifiable but also are mandatory if students of communication are to advance much beyond the practitioner stage. The first section of the paper, "Graduate Communication…

Perspectives on the undergraduate curriculum are offered at a faculty convocation by the President Emeritus of Ohio State University. Criticisms of the content and quality of college studies are noted. It is suggested that for the most part today's curriculum reflects the legacy of the 1960s and 1970s by emphasizing the individual's right to…