The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) documents dimensions of quality in undergraduate education and provides information and assistance to colleges, universities, and other organizations to improve student learning. Its primary activity is annually surveying college students to assess the extent to which they engage in educational…

Statistics is a critical tool for robustness analysis, measurement system error analysis, test data analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, and many other fields in the engineering world. Traditionally, however, statistics is not extensively used in undergraduate engineering technology (ET) programs, resulting in a major disconnect from industry…

Music theory faculty members in all four-year institutions of higher education in Texas that are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music and offer degrees in music education were invited to take an online survey. The content of the survey consisted of competencies taken directly from standards outlined by the National…

To adapt to major social, cultural, technological, and globalization forces, scholars frequently discuss the purpose, structure, and content of higher education in agriculture. Most agree that change in the curriculum is imperative. The questions are who will champion the change, who will implement it, and whether faculty are willing to be an…

Perhaps a decade ago, accreditation agencies might have been satisfied with a list of student learning outcomes and some evidence that students achieved them. More and more, accreditors request evidence of "improvement". It is not enough to merely demonstrate that what one is doing works reasonably well; one must also show that he or she…

The number of first-year writing and writing­-across-the-curriculum programs has been increasing at institutions across the United States, but a similar rise has not been seen in the growth of concentrations in rhetoric and writing as an undergraduate major or minor. In this program profile, the authors describe how the Discourse Studies faculty…

Although online course completion rates are commonly believed to be lower than in other delivery modes, some programs achieve equal or better course completion rates. This issue presents studies that suggest certain practices contribute to student success. Readers are invited to contribute to work-in-progress on key factors for a framework of…

The purpose of this study was to determine if placing two teachers at the same school had an influence on teaching efficacy. Bandura's Model of Triadic Reciprocality and self-efficacy theory guided the inquiry. The population of interest was all student teachers at Texas A&M University. This study was conducted using data collected from a…

With the study rise of the Hispanic population in the United States over the last 25-years there has been a languished progression of this populations' educational attainment. The purpose of this qualitative study was to tap into the "black-box" of ten academically successful Latino students from San Antonio by capturing the life history…

As in other educational programs, scholarship programs offer mentoring to the recipients. In order to cultivate the maximum benefit, each recipient needs to be guided and appropriately advised, first to achieve the goals of the program and secondly, to benefit themselves from the scholarship. The purpose of the article is to investigate this…

This report presents findings from the Year 3 evaluation of Texas' state-level Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, grant. GEAR UP grant requirements include an evaluation component designed to assess program effectiveness and to measure progress toward project goals. To this end, the evaluation considers…

In the U.S., only 38 of every 100 ninth graders enroll in college; of these 38, only 18 complete bachelors' degrees within six years. Asynchronous learning networks (ALN)--asynchronous, highly interactive, instructor-led, resource-rich, cohort-based learning--can yield high success rates. Growing demand for online education and the expectation…

Undergraduate programs in the United States range from locally funded, two-year community colleges, to state and federally funded universities, as well as private, tuition-based institutions. Assumingly most programs attempt to facilitate a relevant and balanced curriculum that prepares students for the general and perhaps specific obstacles that…

As campuses across the country explore ways to strengthen interdisciplinary studies and involve undergraduates in research, questions emerge about how best to integrate existing course offerings and majors, develop curricular rigor and agility, and strengthen administrative coordination. This article discusses two successful initiatives to…

A new two year program called Restructuring Undergraduate Learning Experience (RULE) is being developed at the University of Texas, San Antonio. The intent of the program is to give students who dropout of college a better chance of obtaining a job as a technician and to complete a degree at night. (RH)