The National population commission of Nigeria estimated the population of Nigeria to be 121 million in the year 2001. Out of this population, women constitute 50 percent. Inspite of this massive size, the Annual Abstract of Statistics reveals that 9.6 million female pupils were registered for the primary school as against 11.9 million male pupils…

This study focuses on processes and outcomes associated with a faculty grassroots initiative to reform teaching and learning in an introductory chemistry course at a research university. The purpose of this study is threefold. First, the study considers faculty groups and teams as sites and sources of pedagogical change in an effort to improve…

This empirical study employed the inductive qualitative research method with four faculty who retired from a private, religiously-affiliated, Midwestern university. Participants possessed diverging experiences and representative prototypes. The literature suggests that higher education likely will experience significant numbers of retired faculty…

In order to enhance the quality of teaching in higher education establishments, as "stakeholders" of the institution, the opinions of students related to the teaching they receive are given precedence. This is achieved by using mandatory SET questionnaires on a routine basis in colleges and universities throughout the world. This study reports the…

The purpose of this study was to analyze science education searches and hiring practices for faculty positions listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education for an academic year. Chairs of searches completed a survey about successful and unsuccessful searches. Over 70% of searches were successful in hiring new science education faculty with 33%…

Admission to a doctoral program is both an individual and a faculty activity. Individuals must make decisions to apply and faculty must make decisions about acceptance. Decision making of these different stakeholders is addressed by only limited research within the professional literature. The focus of this study is to provide information…

In the spring of 2003, a survey was conducted to examine the differences in perceptions of academic rigor and engagement between faculty and undergraduate students at a small, liberal arts university in the Midwest. Although a sample bias in the student responses (students with higher GPAs had a higher tendency to respond) precluded a number of…

Two college teachers, one from social science education and one from English education, team-taught part of a teaching methods course involving 20 students in the preparation of interdisciplinary units. Observations and student journal entries show that a valuable teaching technique was developed. (SLD)

Faculty morale and its relationship to selected other variables was studied with 77 faculty members at Tennessee State University. Significant negative relationships were determined between faculty morale and work load, faculty-administrator relationships, research opportunities, personnel management, and physical conditions. Sixty percent of…

Differences in attitude toward classroom testing were studied with 219 college faculty members and 108 students. Although both groups acknowledged the importance of tests, more positive attitudes were found for faulty members rather than students, and the greatest discrepancy in attitude scores was for items regarding the fairness of tests. (SLD)

The impacts of instructor gender and race on student evaluations of teaching effectiveness, particularly when courses contained controversial content, were studied with 190 undergraduates. No support was found for the hypothesis that students would rate women and minority instructors lower, but the same material was thought to be more…

The literature on the use of student ratings of teachers is reviewed, and the empirical, discriminant, and content validity of the ratings are discussed. Since findings regarding validity conflict, teacher rating forms should be used with caution. Suggestions for improved use are included. (GDC)

University students and faculty participated in a study to determine the factors that account for college students' interest in their classes. Results showed that three factors--instructor communication, course stimulation, and course applicability explain 66 percent of the variance in interest. Student attendance and class participation were also…

College students' ratings of their instructors used for the purpose of promotion were compared with those obtained for the purpose of teachers' self-improvement. The students also provided reasons for rating their instructors as they did. Results indicated that students do not rate their instructors differently for either type of questionnaire.…

The views of university faculty, primary school teachers and parents about reading instruction and the importance of language for school success were investigated. Results indicate all had different concepts of teaching and learning. Differences in attitudes about the importance of language for school success were not so marked. (Author/GK)