City University London committed in 2009 to make Moodle the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) at the core of a new Strategic Learning Environment (SLE) comprised of VLE, externally facing website and related systems such as video streaming and virtual classrooms. Previously, the WebCT VLE had been separate from most of the other systems at the…

This case study provides an illustration of the heuristic practices of a high-performing research department, which in turn, will help build much needed models applicable in the context of large urban districts. This case study examines the accountability, planning, evaluation, testing, and research functions of a research department in a large…

The process by which the sociology department at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, has changed character and resolved situations of conflict and polarization is examined. The sociology department experienced rapid growth and the university as a whole shifted from teaching as a single function to teaching and research. It is suggested…

This case study explored the perspectives regarding graduate dissertation supervision held by professors and graduate students in a university science department. Expectations and personal relationships within the graduate dissertation supervision process are discussed in order to establish better supervision practice in a climate of expanding…

The use of adjunct faculty members is largely dictated and controlled by institutional needs and policies that exist outside academic departments. Within those institutional frameworks, however, there exist substantial opportunities for departments to improve the working conditions of adjunct faculty members. Through the judicious use of…

The National Communication Association's Assessment Packet identified divisions between and among sub-fields of communication as threatening the viability of departments on many campuses and possibly even the integrity of the discipline. In 2000 James Applegate advocated in "Spectra" the importance of unity for developing a strong…

Noting that assessment continues to be at the forefront of the speech communication discipline and the academy in general, this paper reflects on one speech communication department's struggle to make assessment meaningful and doable. The Speech Communications Department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock uses such "low tech"…

A case study is presented that used the methods of Generic Design Science to conduct strategic planning for the Department of Communication at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. Applied in the context of an academic environment, the methods yielded a comprehensive management and planning design for focusing administration and faculty…

General fund resource allocation and utilization in 27 academic departments at the University of California, Santa Barbara, during 1977-1984 were examined. A two-step research methodology was employed to provide a comprehensive analysis of possible budgetary determinants. The first step entailed a pooled multivariate regression analysis with eight…

An expanded program review process that includes qualitative, ethnographic, retrospective, and subjective data is described. At the University of Kansas, qualitative indicators were developed and methods were designed to implement them. Reviews were moved from a process of reacting to quantitative self-studies to a procedure that involved:…

During 1974-75, a nine-month field study of the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) was performed. Researchers observed MDE members at work, attended meetings, conducted interviews, and read documentary material. Attention was focused on the MDE at a system level and on the top 30-40 persons whose actions both caused and reflected…

At Glendale Community College in Arizona, speech and theater formed one department before it was merged, for eacanizational and budgetary reasons, with the music department. In 1989, this combined department was again merged with another, this time the foreign language and sign language department. To many faculty the decision seemed arbitrary and…

This paper discusses the emergence and the establishment of new educational programs in universities by describing a theoretical approach and reporting an empirical study of the development of one interdisciplinary department (the Institute for Media and Communication) at the University of Oslo (Norway). It is argued that the emergence of new…

Departments of mass communication employ about l5 different types of assessment to measure either their students' individual achievement or the curriculum and teaching. Of these, exit examinations for seniors have raised the most apprehension. This paper reports the results of a national survey of 276 four-year colleges and universities teaching…

This paper presents findings of case studies that applied social exchange theory to examine the instructional leadership roles of four exemplary high school department chairs. Data were gathered at four suburban high schools in a large metropolitan area of the midwestern United States using the methods of observation and interviews with the…