Policy and practice in higher education today are defined and limited by what many have claimed are "new realities" confronting colleges and universities. Gary Rhoades contends that three of these are embedded in the just-in-time hiring practices, the at-will conditions of work, and the depersonalized curricular delivery models assigned…

The push for increased use of online teaching in colleges and universities has been gaining momentum for some time, but even in that context the recent enthusiasm for MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), free online courses that often enroll tens of thousands of students, is remarkable and rightly dubbed "MOOC Mania." As with so many…

There is nothing more baffling than the art of teaching. Day in and day out, teachers move through classrooms and courses, lectures and discussion groups. What have students seen teachers do that has made a difference for them? What pedagogical behaviors, values, and attributes earn teachers praise from the population they work so hard to serve?…

Four faculty members from different disciplines at the University of Northern Iowa discuss whether and to what extent they were engaging in the critical pedagogy proposed by bell hooks [sic], a writer on feminism, racism, pedagogy, and black intellectual life. They also consider the ways in which hooks's work informs their understanding of…

Reports on a survey of Minnesota's African-American community college faculty concerning their own employment situations and the reasons why the recruitment and retention of African-American faculty have not been successful overall despite two decades of affirmative action. Looks at social and psychological barriers to increasing diversity, and…

Reviews research concerning the effectiveness of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) in higher education, focusing on what it demonstrates about WAC's value in improving subject-area knowledge and writing skills. Concludes that the approach can be effective, but that collaborative, inclusive effort to implement it is needed, including teacher…

Techniques for successful team teaching, drawn from an informal survey of Middlesex Community College (Massachusetts) instructors with team teaching experience, are outlined. Issues addressed include techniques for beginning class, taking attendance, seating, forms of address, passing out material, grading assignments, working together in the…

A study of 330 faculty leaving 1 research university over a period of 10 years investigated the reasons for faculty departure from the institution. Salary, retirement, and faculty development opportunities were the three most common reasons for leaving. Trends by academic rank, gender, and discipline varied over the study's period, with…

College faculty suffer from loss of esteem and place in the institutional structure, discrepancies between their commitment and that of the institution, and government intrusion into the academy. Burnout is one result of this loss of power and opportunity. Faculty must not become passive or cease caring or creating. (MSE)

The attitudes of eight part-time faculty members about their lack of job security, the increasing elusiveness of regular positions, inadequate compensation, commitment to the profession, distance from their peers, and other features of their employment situation are discussed. (MSE)

Ohio University's development and implementation of an early retirement incentive program is described and discussed in the context of faculty demographics and faculty attitudes. (MSE)

The role of feminist faculty and unions in forming alliances to change the traditional academic power structure and in addressing faculty issues common to women and other groups is discussed. (MSE)

A study examined the nature and scope of teaching-related activities of undergraduate faculty, based on a 1992-93 national faculty survey. The research investigated faculty's professional and personal goals, principal activities and primary interests, preferences for teaching and research, expectations for students, allocation of time, teaching…

Part of a national project on college faculty peer review in 12 institutions, this study drew on faculty's self-reflective commentaries, artifacts of instruction, and observation of discipline-specific (history and chemistry) group discussions to investigate what peers value most in teaching. Results and their implications for peer reviewers,…

The Florida International University College of Engineering and Design developed a program of incentives and rewards for undergraduate instruction. Full-time faculty with above-average teaching productivity (measured by students taught, classes taught, new courses established, new course preparations designed) were asked to submit portfolios,…