(1984). The Thieves of Academe: Plagiarism in the University System. Improving College and University Teaching: Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 35-39.
(1984). Remedial Math: Its Effect on the Final Grade in Algebra. Improving College and University Teaching: Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 146-149.
(1984). Simulations in the Classroom. Improving College and University Teaching: Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 144-145.
Most students or prospective students have the abil ity to assess their own skill or knowledge level if they are given the proper tools and motivation. At Wau kesha County Technical Institute (WCTI), Pewaukee, Wisconsin, 1 helped develop self-diagnostic tools which were beneficial to both students and school. Self-assessments are voluntary, take-home, self scoring, self-evaluating diagnostic tests in basic skills. These voluntary tests tell new or prospective students if they are academically prepared to begin the course work of specific vocational or associate degree programs at the post-secondary level, or if they need remediation in any of the basic skills. Furthermore, the assessments can indicate the kind of remediation necessary for the stu dent. Without entrance testing, placement is usually based upon the student's high school record. That record, however, is not always up-to-date or reliable since the average age of students in post-secondary schools is now approaching thirty. (At WCTI only 7 percent of the students have just completed high school.) Yet, many schools will not update the student records by adopting mandatory placement testing because they believe that the students who could benefit most from a placement test would fear it so much that they would never even come to school. The open-door policy at many institutions creates a large need for developmental and remedial programs. Yet, if there is no placement testing, the students who need remedial help often are neither identified nor plac
Demand for college composition courses appears to be growing faster than sections can be add d or in structors hired. As part of a renewed emphasis on com munication skills and in an effort to correct the serious deficiencies in basic writing among college students, composition programs have been reorganized to focus part-timers or temporaries. This proliferation of sec tions and attendant last-minute shuffling of faculty only exacerbate diversity of standards in multiple-section courses.
Increasing numbers of students who are considered to be non-traditional, unde prepared, reading deficient, marginal, and/or remedial are enrolling in institutions of higher education (5, 10, 12). With the advent of equal opportunity laws and open admissions policies, many senior colleges and universities have attempted to ad dress the needs of these students by initiating courses called remedial, basic skills, or developmental educa tion. Mason, Myers and Callaway (8) reported that 64 percent of the colleges and universities responding to their nationwide survey provide reading improvement courses for such students. The Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education found that com prehensive basic skills programs exist in 80 percent of the nation's institutions (13). This is not surprising when one considers that 20 percent of all four-year colleges in the country must accept every high school graduate within the state (1).
(1984). Retesting: A Logical Alternative in College Instruction. Improving College and University Teaching: Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 99-103.
The importance of faculty development is clearly rec gnized in many colleges and universiti s. Even with widespread support for the notion, there is little consensus as to the locus of responsibility for such pro grams, appropriate size of the investment, or whether such activities should be related to the institutional mis sion. Given the demographic characteristics of most faculties and the labor intensive nature of higher educa tion, faculty development opportunities appear to be a critical institutional responsibility. Ways need to be found to organize such programs to increase responsiveness to both individual faculty and institutional needs. One fears that, especially in times of limited resources, ill-defined programs may become easy targets for fiscal reversions and low priority. The purpose of this paper is to describe and critique a col legewide faculty development program organized around human resource development (HRD) concepts.
extent of the problem confronting self-government to day. Any effort to improve citizen participation must ad dress the qualitative as well as the quantitative aspects of that participation. The only way to improve the quality of citizen participation is to renew our commit ment to civic education. A successful civic education is one that accomplishes two distinct yet related objec tives: first, citizens must be educated in the basic prin ciples and precepts of the American political system; second, they must be kept informed on specific issues and controversies that require the attention of our political system. The accomplishment of these educa tional objectives is vital to the preservation and im provement of popular government.
teaching something can try novel, or at least alternative, methods of presenting the classes they must teach. An innovation that college faculty can use?the quality circle?is a technique that has been eminently successful in its applications in Japanese industry. Quality circles are not really new for they have been used in Japan for about twenty years and are just now begin ning to be seen in industry in the United States. But they have been used very little in the college classroom. This paper describes the use of quality circles in three undergraduate courses in general chemistry at The Penn sylvania State University. The literature of business and management is begin ning to grow rapidly in the number of reports of the use of quality circles and several books are also available which deal, at least in part, with the topic. A general
of interest in what academics term 'popular history. success of television docudramas such as ''Roots, Shogun, 'The Holocaust, and The Blue and the Gray attests to the popularity of historical themes with the public, as does the best-seller status attained by serious works such as Gordon Prange's posthumous volumes, At Dawn We Slept and Miracle at Midway. Indicative too of the public's continuing hunger for knowledge of the past has been a steady, even spec tacular growth of interest in military history. Books and articles designed to satisfy a vast readership pour forth from prestigious academic journals and popular maga zines alike. Battlefield tours are offered by book clubs and travel agencies; and enactment societies?voluntary organizations which exist to recreate in dramatic and
(1984). Lectures, Textbooks, and the College Librarian. Improving College and University Teaching: Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 103-106.
(1984). Ratings: Student Rating Scales for Tenure and Promotion. Improving College and University Teaching: Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 87-90.
