Selecting an undergraduate institution in the United States has been one of the most challenging experiences in college students and their families' lives. Students must weigh in both academic and non-academic factors during the college selection process. Once students have selected a 2-year or 4-year institutions, they are required to take a set…

Hybrid courses at the college level have become increasingly popular for over two decades. Traditional, face-to-face and distance learning (online) have satisfied a large number of students in terms of effectively learning new course materials and retaining these materials long after college graduation. Hybrid courses attempt to end the sharp…

Attending an undergraduate institution in the United States is one of the most exciting and unique experiences in college students' lives. Although students have only spent several years in college, it has strong impacts that may last a lifetime. Strong institutional commitment, through its investment and allocation of various resources, is a…

Field trips are an important component of upper undergraduate and graduate-level science courses, especially in the fields of biology, geoscience, and environmental science. Field trips can provide a new perspective to a course's content and quality. Science field trips can facilitate active student learning, yet often can be constrained by time,…

The physical design of classrooms, including studios, laboratories, auditoriums, and other indoor environments, can have a profound impact on student learning and subsequent overall ratings (student evaluations) of college instructors. Many college classrooms have been conventionally designed in the shape of a square or a rectangle, with…

Learning is an active process, best facilitated by involving the learning in cognitive engagement with the information to be learned. Most college ecology instructors consist of lecture and exams, but also include active components of laboratories and field trips (campus and off-campus). Field trips can be subdivided into three major phases:…

The strategic plan for providing college education outside of the traditional classroom environment has rapidly evolved over the past decade via electronic mediums. Advances in technology, along with increasing student enrollment size, have led many higher education institutions to begin offering distance education (web-based) courses. Current…

Conducting and publishing original research under close supervision of a faculty mentor is a valuable experience for undergraduate students regardless of their academic discipline. However, limited space, funding, and resources, along with large numbers of undergraduate students preclude requiring all students to participate in one-on-one research…

Variation in general instructional objectives among instructors in two community colleges (X and Y) located in a western state was investigated through a survey research. A three-part survey instrument was developed to facilitate this study. Although instructors realized the importance of each cognitive item, they focused significantly more on…

Variation in assessment techniques was examined among instructors based on their status (full-time vs. part-time) and educational level (doctorate vs. nondoctorate). To facilitate this study, a survey instrument was developed and distributed to 400 randomly selected faculty members employed at the two largest institutions, Community Colleges X and…

Some students at the master-level viewed research methodology courses negatively. This study investigated six factors that changed attitudes of graduate school students toward research during the course of a semester at a mid-sized university (University X) located in a western state. To facilitate this study, a survey instrument (Student Research…

Variation in teaching techniques was examined among instructors based on their status (full-time vs. part-time) and educational level (doctorate vs. nondoctorate). To facilitate this study, a survey instrument was developed and distributed to 400 randomly selected faculty members employed at the two largest institutions, Community Colleges X and…

Campus involvement affecting satisfaction and academic achievement (overall grade point average) of hospitality undergraduate students at a state university in the Midwest (University X) was investigated through a survey research. A four-part survey instrument was developed to facilitate this study. There were a number of academic, professional,…