In this article, the author shares that he was proud of his work as the chairman of the National Two-Year College English Association (TYCA). He has a better sense now of the problems facing them, TYCA's capabilities and resources, and what they ought to do. This essay is the author's attempt to pass on that wisdom for the next waves of TYCA…

In this latest in a series of commentaries from former chairs of the national Two-Year College English Association (TYCA), the author, TYCA chair (2004-2006) and the 2009 winner of the Nell Ann Pickett Service Award, shares her views on becoming involved in local, regional, and national professional activities. Her time in national leadership gave…

Instructional practices in mathematics courses at two-year colleges include lecture as the predominant instructional form in 78% of two-year colleges, with class sizes averaging about 26 students (AACC, 2005). The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) indicates that there is a need for change in the practices of mathematics teachers…

Multimodal writing is considered as a "new" way of composing, or, somewhat cynically, as a strategy for adding relevance or interest to a required composition course. Jody Shipka's "A Multimodal Task-Based Framework for Composing" suggests that "students' uptakes of a much wider, richer repertoire of semiotic resources, coupled with their efforts…

For the last two years the author has used Repeated Reading (RR) to teach reading fluency in English as a Foreign Language classrooms in colleges and universities in Japan. RR is a method where the student reads and rereads a text silently or aloud from two to four times to reach a predetermined level of speed, accuracy, and comprehension. RR…

Two-year colleges in Japan have traditionally absorbed the major portion of female college entrants due to long-held gender stereotypes. Recently, Japanese women began to explore selfhood outside the traditional realm of marriage and motherhood. However, two-year colleges in Japan today continue to enroll mostly female students and few male…

Notwithstanding variation in institutional missions, two-year colleges are the gateway to postsecondary education for the majority of college and university students in this country. As institutions of choice for many and institutions of necessity for others, two-year institutions are constantly challenged to meet the rapidly changing needs of…

Veterans make up a fair number of potential students. It is important to understand them, even if teachers do not agree with the politics of the War on Terror, Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), or Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). In working with the veterans at Black Hawk College and other two-year and four-year institutions, the author has learned…

Given the demographic differences among two-year colleges and four-year universities and the relatively limited access to health education and campus-based health resources, this study compares the frequency of limiting dietary fat intake and exercising among two- and four-year college students. A total of 2,265 undergraduate students aged 18-25…

This position statement was inspired by the "Position Statement on Graduate Students in Writing Center Administration" (endorsed by the International Writing Center Association on November 17, 2001). A purpose of the document, to borrow language from the graduate student position statement, is to "[suggest] an ideal set of conditions," and it is…

In an earlier report, ("Physics Enrollments in Two-Year Colleges," ED547610), Susan White and Raymond Chu examined physics enrollments--both the number of students and the types of classes taught--at the 1,063 two-year college campuses in the US where they believe physics is offered. This "Focus On" considers the faculty…

This study focused on degree-seeking baccalaureate-degree holders at one two-year technical institute in the Midsouth to determine why they chose to study at the two-year college and how they compared their two-year college experience with their baccalaureate educational experience. Findings indicated the technical college was their first choice…

According to the author, the Association for Business Communication (ABC), the premiere professional organization for those who teach business communication, has long neglected and marginalized those who teach at two-year colleges, as has the discipline of business communications as a whole. The best method to determine how ABC could better meet…

The nature of teaching requires reflection for anyone (students or teacher) to learn anything at all, especially in the community-college classroom, where students often come because traditional teaching methods simply haven't served their needs. As all teacher-scholars know, stand and deliver simply does not work for most of them. They do have to…

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, 1988 (NELS: 88), this paper documents differences in the socioeconomic plans of students in two-year and four-year colleges. We found attendance at a two-year college led to a modest but statistically significant disadvantage in socioeconomic plans. However, the impact of attending a…