Presents 3 tenets necessary for quality higher education: (1) it is the responsibility of the college for the students to acquire knowledge; (2) both the learner and the teacher are members of a learning community; (3) the integrity of the college depends upon the seriousness with which the faculty and students accept a value system based upon the…

Suggests three teacher activities appropriate to teaching meaningfully: the development of propositions; the application of propositions; and the manipulation of a proposition into logically equivalent forms. (Author)

A motivation program at Trinity College that has helped the students involved to achieve twice as well as a comparable control group is described in question and answer form. (Editor)

One way in which changing attitudes toward scientific knowledge and technology can be made the focus of attention in a college literature course is suggested by this analysis of Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus," Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," and Friedrich Durrenmatt's "The Physicists." (JMD)

The detrimental effect of evaluating college teachers with student ratings of their performance is illustrated. The author found that he could raise his ratings by reducing the quality of his teaching and concentrating on the improvement of morale among his optometry students at the University of California at Berkeley. (JMD)

It is argued that most course descriptions in college catalogs say little and tend to be unintentionally deceiving. An alternative is suggested that employs a combination of reference numbers and limited text allowing the reader to determine key elements of the course such as instructional modes and arrangements, and singular features and…

At Texas A&M University, a diagnostic pretesting system has been developed for use in the Freshman Biology Program. The system provides a profile of student competency levels for students, instructors, and the course coordinator that indicates where the curriculum of methods needs to be altered, and identifies students who need remedial help. (JMD)

Computerized analysis of multiple choice test items is explained. Examples of item analysis applications in the introductory economics course are discussed with respect to three objectives: to evaluate learning; to improve test items; and to help improve classroom instruction. Problems, costs and benefits of the procedures are identified. (JMD)

A method is described for measuring differences in grading that is free from the effects of individual student abilities and teaching quality. The analysis locates teachers on a continuum scale from "hard" to "easy" and enables the identification of possible extremes in grading that might manifest themselves in unfair treatment of students. (JMD)

Working together, the author, an educator, and a police training officer used their professional expertise to develop a curriculum for a program in report writing. The team approach enabled the author to teach elements of narrative style while the training officer concentrated on the application of these elements to specific kinds of police…

The writing lab/tutorial program at Syracuse University uses a system of internal communication through recordkeeping that helps maintain continuity between classroom and lab activities. The recordkeeping procedures include referral forms, information forms, conference record sheets and student folders. (JMD)