Examines factors affecting productivity (government regulations, energy costs, decline in the work ethic, capital investment, number of service workers, work force characteristics, management practices, and unions), and techniques to improve productivity (employee involvement, job structure, communication, flexitime, employee upgrading, incentive…

In a new environment of decreased enrollments and financial austerity, what incentives and rewards can be used to stimulate increased excellence among professors in colleges and universities? Among the possibilities are salary, tenure, rank, merit considerations, increased time for research, mobility for research pursuits, and funds for research.…

A futurist presents a picture of "cautious optimism" for the decade ahead in terms of resources--natural, technological, economic, organizational/political, human, labor and wages, and education and job skills. Our biggest problem, he says, is divisiveness, and education can help by preparing citizens to contribute to society through work. (MF)

A new educational culture, rooted in the open university and based on information technology and new institutional structures, including distance education, is emerging rapidly. It is no longer a question of whether the new higher education paradigm will develop, but how fast it will occur. Change is occurring in four major educational policy…

Experienced undergraduate students served as Peer Learning Assistants (PLAs) to facilitate group process and dynamics in cooperative learning groups. Use of this model in large classes (150 students) resulted in significant improvement in group performance and satisfaction with group experience. PLAs defused conflict within groups, and faculty…

Discusses processes used to develop faculty workload policy at 13 campuses of the University of Maryland, unique in that it incorporates a report providing clear evidence of faculty productivity and increases in teaching productivity following implementation of the policy. A case study shows both the policy and the workload reporting method…

Explores the consequences of textbook authors' failure to recognize that producers can acquire the good in which they lack a comparative advantage through either trade or internal production. Examines variations in the construction and graphical depiction of consumption possibility frontiers in principles of economics textbooks. (MJP)

Two alternative paradigms for undergraduate education are compared; one holds teaching as its purpose, the other learning. The natures of the two paradigms are examined on the following dimensions: mission and purposes, criteria for success, teaching and learning structures, underlying learning theory, concepts of productivity and methods of…

Presents strategies for improving student academic achievement and U.S. school productivity. Among the strategies are the following: making student achievement a priority goal for schools, enhancing and toughening the curriculum, managing all educational resources at the school and classroom levels, providing a variety of system incentives towards…

Examines the nature of instructional capacity and its key components, and discusses the issues of improving human capital, quantity and quality of teaching resources, instructional cultures, and performance. A table is presented providing examples of capacity-building strategies at three system levels (that is, school, district, and state). The…

Discusses computer-aided instruction (CAI) for adult learners and describes research conducted at the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory to study the impact of CAI on design professionals, i.e., architects and engineers. Attitudes of adult professionals are examined, and design requirements for a CAI system for professionals…

Significant increases in college faculty productivity will require fundamental restructuring of faculty members' work, which will meet with resistance. It will mean maximizing essential faculty-student interaction, integrating new technology fully into student learning processes, and enhancing learning through peer interaction. (MSE)

Current reform movement is stuck in a worsening negative cycle that bruises human spirit. Teacher-centered reform movement is needed. Challenging dominant assumptions about professional educators and students is necessary to generate a new sense of purpose. Metaphor for tomorrow's schools should be the successful home guided by mature, caring…

Defines and frames work within its social, cultural, and politico-economic context. Recent technological advances and a restructured global economy have underlined imperialism's central role in defining the nature of work relations and reproducing the social division of labor. As labor cheapens, schools divide into productive and distributive…

It is argued that colleges and universities can become more productive by enhancing the efficiency of student learning. This requires both acceleration of learning through individually paced mastery learning, better academic focus, year-round schooling, and an earlier start to graduate and professional education. Eight strategies for enhancing…