The professoriate, as a whole, is growing older and more experienced; yet institutions often overlook the professional development needs of mid-career and senior faculty. This article, based on a review of the literature and the development of a peer coaching project, examines peer coaching as a professional development opportunity for experienced…

In this article we argue that student learning is enhanced by "theoretical eclecticism," which we define as intentionally drawing on different theories of learning when making instructional decisions to provide students with the instructional support they need to be successful. We briefly review the literature on four views of learning and on…

This study examined the experiences of 13 graduate students enrolled in a closed, lock-step master's degree of the education cohort program. Interview and observational data, collected over 10 months and across four courses, were qualitatively analyzed to explore students' understanding of the meaning of cohort membership and how that membership…

Journal articles within the field of higher education that focus on college and university administrators, have for the most part, examined topics such as leadership, governance, and institutional effectiveness. Recently, internal and external critics have questioned the ability of college and universities to impact educational outcomes, more…

This article describes the first implementation of the "Real-time Case Method" (RTCM)--a new instructional practice that makes use of various technologies to create a new type of case study. Data obtained from five instructors at four business schools in the U.S. and Canada were analyzed using analytic induction. Analysis suggests RTCM was…

Presents an adaptation of Biggs and Collis' (1982) Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome which illustrates stages of interdisciplinary knowledge integration and explains corresponding patterns of learners' intellectual functioning, from acquisition of single-subject information to transfer of interdisciplinary knowledge to other topics,…

While research has a great deal to tell educators about how college students learn, the educational community is becoming dependent on research and ignoring what can be learned from the principles of good practice in the classroom. Research should be the beginning, not the conclusion, of the investigation into student learning processes. (MSE)

Transference is unconscious displacement of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from previous relationships onto a new relationship, and can intensify college faculty/student relationships. Analysis of 350 items in the college teaching and transference literatures provides a conceptual foundation for understanding this phenomenon in the classroom,…

Public opinion poll data dating from 1973 suggest a trustworthy and honest professoriate engaged in important work through college teaching, research, and service, but the same surveys show hesitation in granting full academic freedom to teachers holding controversial ideas. The impact of events, such as publication of critical reports, on college…

The professor has appeared as a fictional character since the Middle Ages, and several professorial images occur in academic fiction. Analysis of fictional images reveals that authors most often depict professors with no ambitions to gain power, whether economic, personal, political, or philosophical, as estimable characters; authors condemn…

Reviews literature concerning need for and use of strategic planning in higher education institutions, and examines the systems approach as a means of enhancing strategic planning. Compares planning models and outlines a model designed for colleges and universities that uses concepts of the systems approach, combines elements of existing models,…

Existing theories and research evidence on organizational change within colleges and universities are reviewed to provide some general guidelines for institutions seeking to refine their purposes, develop programs, and improve effectiveness and efficiency. Several propositions concerning the nature of higher education institutions, the politics of…

Special liberal studies baccalaureate programming for adults is discussed. Such programs may provide access through open admissions, have special seminar courses, recognize and grant credit for life experience, provide special counseling, schedule classes in the evening, and make available other desired options and services. (Author/MLW)

Despite an absence of distinctions in implementation, it is argued, there are perceived and actual differences between the Ed.D. and Ph.D. degrees in education. It is suggested that all doctoral degrees in education be changed to the Ph.D. with two tracks--one for researchers/professors and one for administration/teachers. (Author/MLW)

Recent establishment of degree programs in quality and reliability at several leading American academic institutions provides evidence that quality is making ivory tower in-roads. One critical difference in the orientations of U.S. and Japanese firms is in the shouldering of responsibility for product/service quality and reliability. (MLW)