The knowledge structure in a course determines what strategies students need in order to learn the subject matter and what methods a teacher may use to teach it. The conceptual structures in university courses were analyzed to provide a baseline for understanding the characteristics and organization of course content. (Author/MLW)

The general education curriculum should include academic experiences based upon selected theories of intellectual development. The works of Dewey, Piaget, and Perry provide the theoretical framework for an interdisciplinary model that takes cognitive development as the primary goal and disciplinary exposure as a by-product. (Author/MLW)

The role of evaluation in improving academic performance is explored. A theoretical development of formative evaluation in higher education and a critique of higher education in the light of that theory is presented. Grading, feedforward, feedback, course length, and cumulative assessment are discussed. (Author/MLW)

An academic support program that integrates learning skills instruction into entry-level college courses is described and evaluated. The program is shown to have a positive effect upon student performance, attrition, and reenrollment patterns. Longitudinal shifts in grade distribution patterns are noted. (Author/MLW)

Job change patterns of academic administrators were studied, focusing on trends for different groups of administrators. The prevalent pattern was for persons to assume their current positions from within institutions. Job changes within and across colleges and universities differed based on personal and career characteristics including gender and…

The academic labor market is shown as being divided into tenure track and nontenure track positions, which is interpreted by means of dual labor market theory. Consequences of a dual labor market for both institutions of higher education and individual academicians are suggested. (Author/MLW)

Faculty development in Mexico may have raised teacher productivity, but it has not enabled universities to make the radical changes necessary to improve society. The active involvement of professors is required in the analysis and solution of problems in their communities prior to their participation in modifications of the university. (Author/MLW)

A videotape of a class is discussed by the instructor and her students. Communication patterns, previously unexpressed feelings, and planned improvements are noted. The results showed that the students became more productive and began to develop seminar participation skills that could be transferred to other classes. (Author/MLW)

One potential factor contributing to increased productivity in higher education is the implementation of instructional innovations. A model of the innovation process was tested. Results suggest that formal organizational mechanisms for facilitating the discovery and implementation of innovations are as important to the process as faculty…

Common strategies for making public educational policy are outlined and a variety of indirect and slow as well as direct uses of policy are examined. Some suggestions are provided for policy analysts to make their work more relevant to current policy debates. (MSE)

Research is summarized on fundamentally different styles of inquiry, especially relating to the structure of the disciplines in the university as they reflect the structure of knowledge. Relations among the sciences and dimensions of cognitive style are examined, and an exercise is described to challenge perceptions of the disciplines. (MSE)

Recent enrollment shifts and current knowledge of the dynamics of competition in higher education are examined. Results of a study identifying several structural characteristics of competing college groups in New York State are reported and implications for future enrollment patterns there and elsewhere are discussed. (Author/MSE)

Some policy initiatives can be effective with some forms of dropout in some subpopulations. Reduction, rather than elimination of attrition, and transfer as a means of meeting student needs should be considered more seriously. (Author/MSE)

David Riesman's "On Higher Education: The Academic Enterprise in an Era of Rising Student Consumerism" is criticized as evading the real issue of the conflict between traditional, self-serving faculty notions of higher education's purpose and the much-changed demands of the student population. (MSE)

Limitations in defining the academic profession are examined, and values potentially in conflict with the profession are identified. The role of the individual faculty member in understanding and dealing with these conflicts is explored. The focus is on ethical conflicts in teaching and service rather than research. (MSE)