This article describes five major stylistic qualities that college teachers possess and offers suggestions for when and how to employ them. It also discusses the development of the Teaching Style Inventory, which was administered to 381 faculty members to gauge the distribution of teaching styles across gender, academic rank, course level, and…

This article discusses William G. Perry's model of intellectual development, which posits that college students move through four phases of understanding their relationship to knowledge: dualism (knowledge as received truth), multiplicity (knowledge as opinion), relativism (knowledge as relativistic), and commitment in relativism. Specific…

Discusses ethical dilemmas that professors face in the classroom, drawing on three examples involving students: (1) discussing the illegal activities of an employer; (2) participating in politically controversial military activities; and (3) making racist comments. Argues that academic and professional organizations should issue codes of ethics…

Discusses how and why college students commit plagiarism, suggesting techniques that instructors can use to help student avoid plagiarism. Instructors should define and discuss plagiarism thoroughly; discuss hypothetical cases; review the conventions of quoting and documenting material; require multiple drafts of essays; and offer responses…

A discussion of creativity and curiosity, particularly in the context of college instruction, examines two psychological models of creativity, the cognitive approach of Howard Gardner and one aligned with depth psychology (James Hillman). Commonalities are noted: preference for mess over management and for boundaries transgressed rather than…

This article provides college teachers with specific suggestions for improving students' writing styles and techniques. Elements of readability, sentence structure and combination, and overall construction are outlined and stylistic strategies are explained with numerous examples. (MSE)

A whole-class exercise used in college composition classes to demonstrate the writing process is described. The class works together to produce a collaborative paper, in rough draft, in one hour. Steps used to produce it include specification of topic, discussion of purpose and audience, prewriting for ideas, development of thesis and outline,…

Suggestions provided to college students preparing to write a library research paper are presented. They address topic preparation and research, use of sources, information-gathering procedures, organization of the paper's content, and presentation of references. (MSE)

One college teacher's approach to the problem of student procrastination in research paper writing has been to implement a liberal policy concerning deadlines that includes incentives for early submission of work, such as more extensive feedback and options for rewriting. The policy has had modest success and is appreciated by students for…

Development and implementation of a holistic method for scoring writing assignments in a college general education chemistry course are described. The system included assessment of discrete elements in the paper's focus, appearance, content, and structure according to specific criteria. The approach saved considerable scoring time and enhanced…

Based on research on cognitive style and forms of intelligence, and in light of the new advantages offered by computer technology, this article proposes that college educators must investigate new ways of teaching and explore curricula that are very different from the traditional approach. (MSE)

Techniques for teaching electronic library research skills to college students with computer anxiety are outlined. The approach focuses on active learning techniques (journal writing, problem solving, sorting, database indexing, use of flow charts) using the ERIC bibliographic database and careful design of assignments that encourage active…

A University of Idaho introductory course in political science describes basic concepts, institutions, and processes of politics and relate their importance to students' daily lives. The course is comparative in organization and structured to promote critical and analytical thinking about politics. (MSE)

Effects of two college classroom racial incidents at the National Louis University Atlanta (GA) Academic Center are on the facilitating/learning model with adult learners are examined. Discussion focuses on the importance of group dynamics in the multicultural classroom, interventions in racial incidents, and strategies for moving the group from…

A technique for provoking thought and discussion about a new subject in the college classroom involves having each student write facts they know about the subject on an index card, then reading cards at random to begin discussion. Content of the cards reveals significant concepts, concerns, and misinformation helpful in approaching the topic. (MSE)