Educating Globally Competent Citizens, a product of AASCU's American Democracy Project and its Global Engagement Initiative, introduces readers to a set of global challenges facing society based on the Center for Strategic and International Studies' 7 Revolutions. The toolkit is designed to aid faculty in incorporating global challenges into new…

Outsourcing--defined as an "institution's decision to contract with an external organization to provide a traditional function or service" (IHEP, 2005)--is nothing new to higher education. For decades, institutions have been "contracting out" or "privatizing" a variety of operational functions, hoping to reduce costs, improve service quality,…

Describes how professors can guide and encourage graduate students to write for publication, thereby empowering students as professional practitioners and reformers in their fields. Teachers can take steps to create an environment of professional scholarship within their classes. Demystifying writing for publication reinforces class content and…

Looks at the trend toward the early-start semester calendar in American colleges and universities, and examines administrative, pedagogical, and fiscal considerations in making the change from a quarter system. Topics discussed include the impact on the curriculum and instruction, summer session, access, enrollment management, and institutional…

An Undergraduate Research Program has been established at Cornell to provide a tutorial in which students can become involved in faculty research and learn first-hand how it is done. They earn credit for their participation. (Author/LBH)

Describes a serious graduate student and his reasons for leaving public education. (PG)

A survey of 130 students in 2 community colleges measured perceived differences in educational experiences as high school seniors and college freshmen, academic and personal skills perceived as needed at college entry, and perceived development of those skills. Respondents felt overall academic instruction was better in college. (Author/MSE)

A national survey of colleges and universities gathered information on variation in academic calendars across schools and over time; how many days, weeks, or minutes are considered necessary for a semester or a unit of academic credit; and who sets those standards. Results suggest little standardization and a shrinking semester. (MSE)

Efficient use of television for teaching cannot be achieved without meaningful cost comparisons with conventional classroom methods. Considerable effort has been spent at the University of Michigan in developing a unit cost basis for televised filmed lectures to include not only salaries, but administrative costs, supplies, amortization of…

On locally developed surveys, community college students indicated academic and personal concerns before and after transfer to a four-year institution and compared both institutions in attention given to six academic skill areas: overall instruction; abstract thinking; reading; written work; library use; and personal attention by faculty. (MSE)

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)

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)

In order to examine the value of student evaluations of faculty, a survey of seniors regarding the quality of teaching they received in their four years of undergraduate college was undertaken. Topics include: the qualities of the best and worst teachers; preferred teaching methods; and faculty age, educational background, and department…