This article examines how local experiments and negotiation processes contribute to social and field-level learning. The analysis is framed within the niche development literature, which offers a framework for analyzing the relation between projects in local contexts and the transfer of local experiences into generally applicable rules. The…

As instances of behavior, words interact with environments. But they also interact with each other and with other kinds of behavior. Because of the interlocking nature of the contingencies into which words enter, their behavioral properties may become increasingly removed from nonverbal contingencies, and their relationship to those contingencies…

Studies of intellectual realism have shown that children aged 7 to 9 copy a line drawing of a cube less accurately than a non-object pattern composed of the same lines (Phillips, Hobbs, & Pratt, 1978). However, it remains unclear whether performance is worse on the cube because it is a three-dimensional representation, or because it is a…

The non-standard practice at Cowles Library at Drake University has been to display electronic journals and some print journals in the Knowledge Base while simultaneously listing print journals and some electronic journals in the online public access catalog (OPAC). The result was a system that made it difficult for patrons to determine our…

As a symptom of globalization and the marketization of the universities, more and more scholars, many or most, of whom use English as an additional language (EAL), are being required to published in English. This article presents some qualitative data which highlights some of the difficulties encountered by such writers. It first discusses a…

The ability of students to plagiarise coursework assessments has been a topic of much debate in recent years. The consequences of plagiarism for students may be devastating, since their failure to learn and use appropriate study skills will affect both their university experience and their subsequent career. This project set out to investigate…

The Black College and University Act defined an historically black college and university (HBCU) as one that existed before 1964 with a historic and contemporary mission of educating blacks while being open to all. An HBCU must either have earned accreditation from a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association or be making reasonable…

Undergraduates studied nonword exemplars and then created their own novel nonwords. In Experiment 1, people studied legal or illegal nonwords. In Experiment 2, people studied illegal nonwords, but to increase awareness of the features, half of the participants assessed the features of the nonwords. Despite instructions to avoid copying any aspect…

The Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP) is an independent, nonprofit research center based in Washington, DC that is dedicated to researching public policy and economic issues relating to postsecondary education. CCAP aims to facilitate a broader dialogue that challenges conventional thinking about costs, efficiency and…

Almost everyone agrees that colleges have become costly to attend and are a growing burden on society to finance. Rising tuition costs threaten the ability and desire of students to attend college. Are there things that can be done to significantly reduce the cost of college? The answer is an emphatic "yes." The Center for College Affordability…

The fact that far too many students leave high school unprepared to become contributing members of society is hardly news. What is news is the growing number of schools that are proving public education can work for every student. Unlike a decade ago, when it was hard to find more than a handful of high-performing public schools, today many such…

Higher education under State control and partial State support has been accepted in principle by each of the 48 States. The extent of support and the method of control vary greatly from State to State but there has been universal acceptance of the principle that higher education is at least in part a State responsibility. In carrying out this…

Computers, computer programs, and other novel and vivid technological applications to language learning can unintentionally redirect attentional resources and therefore increase the salience of unplanned as well as targeted features. Incidental activities such as keyboarding (Henry, 1992), manipulation of a mouse (Meunier, 1996), and other…

On November 3, 1929, C. L. Starr, president of the Oregon State Board of Higher Education, requested that a survey be made of State institutions of higher learning, including normal schools. The five institutions involved were the University of Oregon, the Oregon State College, and the normal schools at Monmouth, Ashland, and La Grande. The…