Implementing remote and blended higher education courses motivated the design for new support services for autonomous learning. Thus, combining a competence-based approach and self-regulation, the COMPER project offers a service to be used in addition to the courses. It consists of a graphical presentation of the learners' competency profile…

A communications professor decided to teach an undergraduate "theories of communication" seminar course that had been listed but not taught for 12 years or more. The professor asked for advice on how to teach the course by sending an electronic mail message over an information network. The sometimes contradictory advice concerning the…

An undergraduate student offers reflections and observations on college course syllabi. Since the syllabus is the student's guide through the course, it should be clearly organized allowing students to find information quickly. It should outline the expectations that students and instructor will have during the course. In addition a syllabus must…

An exploratory study examined the effectiveness of a Public Relations Management course offered over a 6-month period in a 3-weekend accelerated curriculum format. The theoretical framework from which the study was designed is derived from Malcolm Knowles' andragogy theory of adult learning. The study investigated how students in the class…

This study investigated the effects of course structure variables on the computer anxiety, confidence, and attitudes of college students. Course structure variables include the number of weeks the course met (course length) and the number of meetings per week (course frequency). The effects of differences in instructors' use of anxiety reducing…

This research sought to determine if male and female preservice teachers differ in their preference for college level course learning activities and teaching methods. A cross sectional method of data collection was used with a total sample of 549 students, 113 males and 436 females. Females expressed a significantly higher preference than males…

Four sections of introductory psychology were involved in a study of aptitude-treatment interactions. Two sections were taught with a high-structure curriculum, and two with a low-structure curriculum. Students' preference for structure was measured with the Inventory of Beliefs (IOB). During eight weeks of instruction, observers recorded…

Many college students, unaware of how their writing strikes others and unaccustomed to an audience of college teachers, try to write with sophistication or profundity with little success. These students need the experience of writing for an audience that talks back; one that is diverse, has a strong reason to be frank in its criticism and praise,…

The Communication Department at the University of Texas at Arlington offered an innovative news editing course taught collaboratively by a journalism professor and an editor of the "Fort Worth Star-Telegram." A syllabus was designed so that the lecture would coordinate with the laboratory as closely as possible. Students had the…

Increasing emphasis is being given to the construct of course structure in educational research. The Course Structure Inventory (CSI) was designed to measure this construct as a unitary dimension made up of student attitudes toward varying degrees and kinds of structure (ACS). In addition to measuring ACS, the CSI has the added advantage of…

Research designed to compare student satisfaction between a traditional-lecture psychology course and a personalized system of instruction (PSI) course is described. Students compared two identical courses in personality taught by the same instructor. Students were generally more satisfied with the PSI course. The results are that they found the…

A course for fifth-year baccalaureate students provides a structured introduction to many of the devices with which pharmacists are involved (contraceptives, convalescent aids, surgical appliances, etc.), and includes assigned readings, lectures, and hands-on experience with industry representatives. Lists of the lecture material, devices, reading…

When the composition program at Kansas State University (Manhattan) was radically reoriented from one that emphasized the writing product to one that stressed the writing process, a number of problems surfaced. Teachers, for example, had difficulty in adjusting from being purveyors of rules and forms to being facilitators whose job was to help…

This study was conducted to determine theoretical models, learning styles, and activities adult learners prefer. From a total of 154 survey forms administered to undergraduate and graduate students in adult studies and in the adult learner course at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 119 questionnaires were analyzed, using a chi square model on…

This paper shows features the development of new models for integration of internal and external students into the same type of courses and the making of a dual mode learning environment with common courses for on-campus and external students. Based on feedback from students, experiences about how these models work are presented. The work focuses…