Educators use the term "authentic assessment" to refer to the practice of realistic student involvement in the evaluation of student achievement. Authentic assessments are performance-based and instructionally appropriate. One method of authentic assessment is the assembly and review of a portfolio of a student's work. The portfolio is a…

Inservice training sessions were provided for teachers from elementary to high school level on the topic of Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences and its application to instruction and curriculum. In the training, participants experience, plan, and reflect on the intelligences and their uses in their lives and their classrooms. The…

This document is a report on the Council of Europe's October 1990 conference on the subject of the arts in education. Aimed at those with interests in the education of students ranging from ages 11 to 18, the conference included administrators, inspectors, advisers, teachers, and practicing artists. Planners of the event sought to foster stronger…

This paper reports on two studies, one quantitative and the other qualitative, on the effectiveness and influence of Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) at the University of Washington. A quantitative panel study compared 442 freshmen participating in 21 FIGs with 1818 non-participating freshmen. Findings indicated that the FIG program provided a…

This paper presents results from the first phase of a longitudinal study of the Australian Postgraduate Awards (Industry) Scheme, a recent government initiative under which graduate students receive grants to conduct projects for Masters or PhD degrees, supervised jointly by university and industry partners. The study involved national surveys of…

This paper identifies the bases and rationale for the concept of cooperative learning; describes the dynamics of the cooperative learning approach; and proposes methods that college faculty can use to enhance student motivation and learning. Cooperative learning is defined and is reported to have positive effects on student achievement, human…

This paper reports results of a follow-up, second-year survey conducted in an effort to gain a greater understanding of the perceptions and level of acceptance of informed educators regarding the Louisiana Teaching Internship Program (LTIP) and the Louisiana Teacher Evaluation Program (LTEP) prior to statewide implementation. These are new and…

This paper presents the results of a study concerning the impact of changing demographic on curriculum and instruction in higher education and specifically, the impact of the adult student population on Otterbein College, Ohio. The study discusses gender and age considerations in its exploration of the school's student attitudes, teaching…

The report describes a special program at the University of Rochester (New York) which annually offers up to 20 students a tuition-free fifth year of education. The program is intended to allow students to study subjects distant from the requirements of their concentrations. Students present their intellectual ambitions in an application process…

This paper discusses the transformation of the university ideal, as envisioned by Wilhelm von Humbolt, from cooperation between science and practical application (Lehre und Leben) and the belief in education and upbringing to a belief in material progress. The paper explores Humboldt's idea of a university, and to what extent it is or is not being…

Students' orientations to learning, their perceptions of gain from their studies at Great Britain's Open University, and their development as learners were studied. Thirty students were followed from their first university course, the Social Science Foundation Course, through their two subsequent years of study, using in-depth interviews to…

Information on a Northern Kentucky University course entitled "The Mind of the University" is presented in several articles. After Darryl Poole briefly discusses the origins of the course, H. L. Wallace describes the background of the project, course themes, class materials, and testing/grading. The objective of the course is defined as…

This study of seven female nurses who were presently students at or had graduated from John Abbott College was conducted to determine whether the moral and intellectual development of the participants followed parallel courses; whether the participants adopted a "justice" or a "care" approach to moral questions per Carol Gilligan's model; whether…

The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), a longitudinal study sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics, provides trend data about transitions experienced as young people develop, attend school, and embark on careers. The study began with a national sample of about 26,000 eighth graders in 1988 and follows these…

The efforts of student affairs aimed at improving quality of life, integrating new student groups, and attracting and retaining students are becoming critical to colleges and universities. Student affairs organizations can respond to the changing conditions and take a leadership role in new institutional strategies; they can become…