When instructors are unable to finish their teaching contracts, new instructors can benefit from knowing the feelings and concerns of the students. This reports students reactions to the situation, and recommends such things as making clear requirements and grading policy, and clearly describing preferred teaching style.

A study of student assessment of teaching assistants in physical education activity courses is described. The purpose of the study was to compare student ratings of instructional effectiveness with teaching assistants' traits of sex, age, degree, undergraduate major, and teaching experience. (MLW)

In its own fashion, philosophy encompasses everything and reflects the whole. Thus it has a special role in the liberal arts curriculum whose purpose is generality and breadth. Philosophy translates the generality of the liberal arts into reason and theory in an attempt to make the whole conceptually articulate. (JMD)

A survey of 12 colleges and universities in California was undertaken to explore common complaints with regard to introductory philosophy courses. A lack of consensus and consistency in content and reading requirements, a lack of correlation with advanced courses, and charges of irrelevance are among the complaints. Corrective recommendations are…

West Chester State College's pilot project to improve writing builds on writing skills established in the freshman English courses and extends these skills through writing practice and instruction in the humanities and other disciplines. Obstacles encountered in developing the program, program design, instructional techniques, and spinoff projects…

A former adjunct professor compares her experience teaching freshman composition at two community colleges with very different philosophies about remediation, offers some practical suggestions regarding teacher attitudes and techniques, and discusses how colleges can best use adjunct professors. (JMD)

The English Department at Fort Hays State University revised its literature curriculum to contract the course offerings and yet eliminate gaps by basing the revision on the theory that students need to be exposed to a course, but not necessarily a number of courses, in each of the basic areas of organization such as authors, periods, genres, etc.…

College faculty, both nontenured and tenured, and including tenured administrators, were asked to self-judge academic productivity for a study designed to address the relationship between tenure and academic productivity. The results indicate that about half of the responding population believes that tenure has made no difference in their…

It is argued that the skill for understanding written texts, such as those of the humanities, is more important than facts and knowledge because it lasts after formal education has ended. Therefore its development should be the uppermost educational goal. A technique is suggested to aid college teachers in developing this skill. (JMD)

Instruction in the use of college libraries makes little sense unless it is related to classroom activity. Several teaching methods are discussed that address library instruction within specific educational contexts. Focus is on a method that involves the librarian as a seminar participant with students and professor. (JMD)

A stratified random sample of male and female faculty members from two universities was surveyed regarding traits of the ideal colleague. The results were analyzed according to the respondent's sex, tenure status, private or state university position, and academic discipline. Also diagnosed was the masculine or feminine value of each trait. (JMD)

A series of highly structured, criterion-referenced, small-group discussion tutorials were designed to be used with a large introductory lecture course, Biology of Mankind, that is taught at the University of New South Wales. The design of these tutorials and their role in achieving course objectives are discussed. (JMD)

An orientation workshop for graduate teaching assistants is described. Held prior to the first day of teaching, the workshop seeks to reduce anxiety, introduce the teaching assistants to educational problems they will face and to methods and resources for coping, and to acquaint them with available university resources. (JMD)

A study to determine the influence of peer group evaluation on student attitudes and achievement in a basic speech communication course found no significant attitudinal or achievement differences. The influence of instructor race and sex is also examined in conjunction with peer evaluation. (JMD)

Results of a study of the relationship between students' feelings about themselves as learners and teaching styles (teacher-directed v self-directed) indicates that students exposed to a self-directed model feel more successful as learners, more autonomous with respect to decisions about learning, and more cooperative with peers. The survey…