Polarization in political culture and the decline of public education for civic engagement have become serious challenges to a healthy constitutional federal republic in the United States. Communication as a field of study in American universities is well-poised to address these challenges and contribute meaningfully to improving the civic…

This article offers a brief history on the origin of universities, summarizes how faith shaped higher education from the European university's advent to its Western reproduction, and presents recommendations from a contemporary faith integration method employed in many faith-based universities in the United States. Response to intervention was…

The creation of ePortfolios as a capstone project for school counselors-in-training has many benefits for the students, instructors, and program. However, there can be tension due to misalignments in goals and lived experiences of the ePortfolio even when the students find ePortfolios useful. This paper explores this tension between instructor…

In today's educational context, characterized by growing inequality and the rise of neoliberal ideology, universities are dealing with pressures to contribute to the global workforce and partner with private interests rather than educating citizens and serving the public good. This article presents youth participatory action research (YPAR) as a…

This study was designed to determine if language acquisition can occur in a virtual situation in the absence of explicit instruction. After spending 1 year establishing a virtual community, the authors observed and analyzed interpersonal interactions and the development of Chinese communication competence, communication models, and interaction…

A team at the University of California, Merced, collaborated to evaluate the value of integrating information literacy into introductory composition courses through a curriculum developed by librarians and writing faculty. Using a mixed-methods approach, the team investigated the impact of the curriculum on students' learning and achievement at…

This study examines the influence of action research on California community college practitioners' attitudes, beliefs, and behavior using the Center for Urban Education's (CUE) Equity Scorecard tools and process. This developmental evaluation study began March 2011 and concluded April 2012. The pseudonym of the field site studied is Las Flores…

In the wake of accreditation cycles stressing student outcomes, we believed the reflective and practitioner-centered philosophy of action research a perfect fit for effecting institutional improvements for a four-year grant-funded effort in our urban-suburban community colleges in California. We learned that things were both worse and better than…

Over the past 50 years, considerable research has been dedicated to chemistry education. In evaluating principal chemistry courses in higher education, educators have noted the learning process for first-year general chemistry courses may be challenging. The current study investigated perceptions of faculty, students and administrators on…

Action research classes are being offered in many universities as part of the education curriculum. The definition and methods for conducting educational action research are as varied as the projects and people engaging in them. This paper seeks to define educational action research as it applies to one graduate program that incorporates action…

This paper describes the outcomes of a self-study that we undertook as instructors of a capstone undergraduate leadership course. Using the framework of action inquiry and a variety of pedagogical approaches, we sought to create a course and classroom environment that was student-centered, empowering, and transformative. Three questions are…

How can it be that 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, our institutions of higher education have still not found ways of reducing the higher education gaps for racial and ethnic groups? That is the question that informs and animates the Equity Scorecard model of organizational change. It shifts institutions' focus from what…

Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges (SPECC) was organized by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in partnership with The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to increase student learning in developmental--or basic skills--classes. However, their concern was not just the success of students in classes…