An active learning method incorporated into one college teacher's art history survey classes encourages students to begin to express ideas about what they see through three stages of a learning cycle: exploration, invention, and application. The method can be used in almost any field and has special advantages for introductory courses. (MSE)

The development and structure of 6 interdisciplinary world civilization courses by 14 faculty at San Jose State University are described. The curriculum provides a framework for investigation of common problems facing all cultures, analysis and assessment of attempted solutions, successful and unsuccessful, and evaluation of contemporary attempts…

College administrators must find a balance between their administrative roles and the responsibility of assuring academic freedom to faculty. When they do this well, most administrative problems are resolved without excessive difficulty. Appropriate managerial strategies can help mediate professional/administrative conflict. (MSE)

The good teacher, never a force-feeder, understands that the proper relation between teacher and learner is indirect, and only in this indirect relationship is there space for respect. The teaching styles of five college professors illustrate the value of playful interaction between professor and student. (MSE)

Common notions about what college writing centers are and do are examined so that faculty and students may understand how to make the best use of them. Issues discussed include their organizational status and role, audience, and specific functions and activities. The structure and objectives of tutoring sessions is briefly addressed. (MSE)

One teacher devotes a portion of the college freshman composition course to an archetypal approach to literature, presenting students with basic story elements (archetypal patterns and characters) in myth and literature to which they can relate their own lives. Students create puppets and puppet plays in highly imaginative and entertaining ways.…

Letters over a period of 25 years from a Canadian who came to the United States after college graduation to teach in various parts of the country, then returned to teach in Canada, reflect substantial differences between the 2 educational systems in regard to the teaching and testing of writing. (MSE)

Writing seminars designed for the business community reveal that this population is motivated and willing to attack problems of logic, organization, and coherence. The approach used includes instruction in the basic principles of clarity in writing and a required oral presentation about a piece of company writing needing revision. (MSE)

College students about to graduate are encouraged to resist the temptation to consider their educations finished when they leave the campus, to engage in lifelong education, and to strive to be a true amateur, in the original sense of the word. (MSE)

Use of debate in graduate study in education, especially with intrinsically interesting topics, can be valuable for developing critical thinking skills needed by teachers, counselors, and administrators. Debates address a range of communication skills and provide opportunities for teamwork and assessment of individual strengths and weaknesses.…

An accounting professor stresses the value of the student-faculty relationship and a number of nonacademic factors, such as involvement in student life and the comfort of the faculty office, in developing an environment in which students want to learn and enjoy what they are studying. (MSE)

Some solutions are offered for three large-class testing problems: how to offer students an opportunity to be assessed in an essay format without straining the available grading resources; deal with students who miss a required examination; and generate large numbers of new, relevant examination questions regularly. (MSE)

The incorporation of social interaction methods of teaching and the notion of the teacher as a performing artist in an undergraduate education course is described. Techniques used include icebreakers, group process, learning in pairs, role playing and discussion, and experiential activities. (MSE)

The quality of the student-teacher relationship is critical in opening the heart and mind. The highest form of learning occurs when the teacher loves and accepts the student so fully that the student feels safe enough to go within to see himself/herself and emerge with new answers about his/her life. (MSE)

College teachers can help students rethink two stereotypes emerging in American literature classes--the self-destructive writer who must necessarily be addicted, and the beer-guzzling, wild-partying college student--through an examination of the impact of alcoholism on the author's life. A course on Tennessee Williams illustrates the approach.…