Should your department offer a course on how to be a scientist and a successful graduate student? We offer this course at George Mason University as a mandatory part of the graduate curriculum, but this is not common practice for graduate biomedical engineering programs. Graduate education in biomedical engineering is evolving rapidly, with an…

Purpose: This paper focuses on the factors related to faculty workload in the context of resource scarcity to examine whether there is a relationship between them and grade inflation. Design/methodology/approach: As for methodological novelty, the authors created an indicator of students' expectations about grades that is related to grade…

The National Security Agency (NSA) awards Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) designations to institutions that commit to producing cybersecurity professionals who will work in careers that reduce vulnerabilities in our national infrastructure. A review of the curricula in the 327 institutions and their degree programs reveal that only two…

To understand retention, evaluation of guided pathways implementation is an important tool. In an effort to help students succeed, colleges often give students a specified set of core courses and a specific or even prescribed pathway to complete their general education requirements. Retention efforts are always a topic with administrators at…

This study explored the implementation of a novel approach to dual credit referred to as the facilitator model that can be suited for STEM-focused coursework such as courses focused on engineering, design, technology, and innovation. Unlike other models, high school teachers facilitate the implementation of a college course for both high school…

The problem investigated in this study was the low completion rates of students in mandated developmental education courses at a local community college in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine factors that may contribute to the persistence of community college students who have completed mandated…

Libraries provide invaluable services and supports to members of their communities, including school communities. Those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can receive particular benefits from their libraries, including supports in the areas of academics, social skills, communication, technology, literacy, leisure skills, and even employment…

An increasing challenge for teaching methods courses in the social sciences is the 'critical turn', which has encouraged some students to adopt an anti-empirical orientation. We present a case study of a compulsory undergraduate methods course in a political science department strongly influenced by post-structuralist philosophies. The first…

This study investigated the attitudes and opinions of students towards the use and place of literature course in language teaching. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 3 groups of students: (a) the students who had not taken any literature courses before (n = 7), (b) the students who were taking a literature course at the time of the…

College algebra is a required course for most majors, but is viewed by many as a gatekeeper course for degree completion by students. With almost half a million students taking college algebra each year, faculty are experimenting with new course lengths of time that might result in higher success, completion, and retention rates for college…

This paper examines the required courses of ALA-accredited Library and Information Science programs as published on their websites. The study expands on previous research in this area. Findings show that the typical core curriculum has grown to include both research and information technology in addition to the more traditional subjects. The…

The authors of this study endeavor to explore the negative opinions and perceptions of graduate students in business and social science programs, regarding their required statistics and research methods courses. The general sense of instructors of such courses is that students dread and resent having to take courses dealing with statistics and…

Investigates the content and structure of the undergraduate curriculum in psychology by analyzing 500 college catalogs. Reveals that introductory, statistics, and a capstone are the common required courses, laboratory experiences are not integral to required courses, prerequisites are recommended, and the traditional model is the most popular…

The results of an assessment of the education departments in four-year colleges (n=76) are presented. Changes in staff and budget for science teacher education, budgets, semester hours required in both elementary and secondary teacher education programs, average number of science teacher graduates in elementary and secondary programs, and number…

Reviews a study of the reasons students enroll in individual community college courses. Classifying students as "requirement meeters,""knowledge seekers," or "specific information users," compares motivational orientations along three dimensions: major criterion of success; educational aspect emphasized (instrumental or expressive); and…