Increasingly, college undergraduates are custom designing their courses of study and creating majors that allow them to combine often eclectic interests with career goals. In many cases, students' creations have had a lasting impact through development of new academic programs. Institutional arrangements for planning, advising, and monitoring…

The evolution of environmental education in West Germany from the late 1960s to late 1980s is chronicled, and insights into the process of environmental education gained from these experiences are discussed. Additional emphasis on direct contact with natural phenomena, more innovative teaching methods, and increased focus on collaboration are…

Using the college Classroom Environment Scales and controlling for differences in class size, a study found significant differences in college students' perceptions of their classroom social climates depending on institution type and academic discipline and that perceptions of environment differentially affected students' grades in each discipline…

Argues that educational practices that focus only on hands-on experience within a discipline are not enough to permit students to experience a discipline in its fullest sense. Emphasis should also be placed on the cognitive goals of developing the knowledge, skills, and understanding of disciplines to permit students to communicate and reason…

Focuses on the intellectual character of academic librarianship and defines the concept of librarians' programmatic responsibilities. These responsibilities are by definition undelegatable and constitute an exclusive locus of power within the profession. The role of librarians should be determined by these exclusive responsibilities, not by…

Describes a study of 328 British secondary school students that examined their attitudes toward computers in relation to gender, computer-related courses at school, and the availability of a computer at home. Use of the Computer Attitude Scale (CATT) is described, results are analyzed, and practical and theoretical implications for instructional…

Solutions to two problems in Philippine higher education and employment are proposed: for disciplines with too many graduates, overseas employment is recommended; for those with too few graduates, an incentive system tied to mandatory service is suggested. Problems and advantages of government regulation of labor supply and demand are discussed.…

Reports results of a study that investigated trends in research productivity, as measured by publication rate, among 411 senior faculty at Syracuse University. Highlights include academic rank, pre- and posttenure productivity, academic discipline, sex, productivity over time, and problems with citation analysis as a measure of quality over time.…

Peace studies, as an academic discipline, dates back to the 1950s, when the field was characterized primarily by research. The 1970s brought a focus on undergraduate education. In the 1980s, a third wave brought the field into a prominence that allows it to challenge the Gulf War. (SLD)

Research support for the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education is substantial, both from earlier, complex, longitudinal, and multi-institutional studies and from recent, more narrowly focused research. However, the findings raise a number of questions about variability across disciplines, methods, learning styles, and…

Reviews the history of African-American studies and explores its future. Three groups of scholarly practitioners in African-American studies are discussed as (1) traditionalists; (2) authentists and/or Afrocentrists; and (3) African-American feminists. Contributions of each group are examined, and the role of each in the future is considered. (SLD)

Advocates a framework for African-American development and awareness in which African-American studies will play a decisive role in debate surrounding multiculturalism. Multiculturalism and African-American studies must be articulated within a general theory of educational democracy. African-American studies must also become a projection of what…

A discussion of the precarious balance between general and vocational education in the Netherlands looks at some characteristics of the Dutch educational system, enrollment trends, and individual benefits of each kind of education. It is concluded that status and opportunities provided by general vs. vocational education vary by discipline. (MSE)

Discusses ways in which technology can affect learning, beginning with the nature of the learning process. Topics addressed include characteristics in the educational encounter, i.e., exposition, explanation, challenge, assessment, and motivation; characteristics and roles of students and teachers; matching appropriate technology with particular…

Argues that information science is the interface between people and literatures. Presents recent models of literatures that offer visual cues to relationships among writings that often are based on term occurrences/co-occurrences. Deals with online and offline visualizations and gives a critique of visualization research. Contains 240 references.…