Uses 9 years of applications of award finalists for the Hesburgh Award for innovation in undergraduate teaching to examine leading-edge efforts to improve teaching and learning in 2- and 4-year colleges and universities. Describes efforts in three major categories: improving teaching, redesigning courses, and changing the learning environment of…

Identifies the legal principles and constraints that apply to expression of spirituality on the college campus by members of the community, be they students or employees. Specifically addresses the hesitancy heard from student affairs professionals who are unaware of or confused about the legal issues involved in religion and spirituality on the…

Argues that the international definition of a university allows for significant diversity in educational delivery and offers a New Zealand example in the transition of the Auckland Institute of Technology into the Auckland University of Technology. The university has formed an alliance with the University of Auckland to work toward some common…

Drinking games among American college students, although popular, contribute significantly to excessive drinking and alcohol-related problems. Drinking games appear to facilitate socialization, and are especially prevalent among younger students. This article reviews the qualitative and quantitative research on drinking games. Findings from…

One hundred forty-two upper-class women, majoring in either education or engineering, responded to two open-ended questions about classroom characteristics that encouraged or discouraged participation. Results suggest that instructors play a pivotal role in creating a positive climate for women. Suggestions for improving educational environments…

New student orientation programs are designed to ease the transition of new students into their collegiate environments. As diverse enrollments have increased throughout higher education, new student orientation programs have been identified as a key tool for establishing levels of expectation and performance, including the promotion of diversity…

Contemporary academic fiction features a plethora of characters, male and female, identified by a bodily defect or medical malady as a primary character trait. These representations of the damaged college professor have joined other popular academic stereotypes, such as the absent-minded professor, the lecherous professor, and the sadistic…

Digital repositories can help Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to develop coherent and coordinated approaches to capture, identify, store and retrieve intellectual assets such as datasets, course material and research papers. With the advances of technology, an increasing number of Higher Education Institutions are implementing digital…

This study investigates the process of adjustment among adult learners by focusing on their own perceptions as they make the transition to higher education in an Irish setting, in order to gain a richer understanding about early university experience. The analysis of the journal-based reflections confirms existing insights about the complexity of…

This paper considers both how the mandatory introduction of student evaluation of teaching surveys (SETs) fits into the social and political context of tertiary education in Japan, and the assumptions about teaching underlying SETs. Through interviews with English teachers, a technical-rational perspective whereby teaching is a profession only to…

This two-part series describes the structure of the stoichiometry course at North Carolina State University. The course had a variety of learning objectives, and several nontraditional pedagogies were used in the course delivery. This first paper outlines the course structure and policies, the preparation given to the teaching assistants who…

Colleges and universities that aim to sustain or expand community partnerships and institutionalize civic engagement face important faculty challenges. Faculty adoption of community-based pedagogies and research approaches, in turn, faces important practical and conceptual barriers, as engagement activities appear in competition with expected…

In this article, the author explores and weighs all the options in choosing furniture for student housing. The first step in acquiring or upgrading residence hall furniture is to research. The Internet and colleagues on campus or at other institutions are options for gathering information. After researching product choices, administrators need to…

Participatory exercises are standard practice in qualitative methods courses; less common are projects that engage students in the entire research process, from research design to write-up. Although the teaching literature provides several models of complete research projects, their feasibility, and appropriateness for large, compulsory,…

Conversations continue as to whether and how community-based learning and research (CBLR) can be most effectively integrated into the mission and practice of institutions of higher education (IHEs). In 2005, eight District of Columbia- (DC-) area universities affiliated with the Community Research and Learning (CoRAL) Network engaged in a planning…