To date, the constructive motivation hypothesis has generally been limited to educational achievement as an outcome variable, and few studies have been specifically designed to investigate student satisfaction outcomes. To measure student preferences for course structure and difficulty level and student perceptions of instructors' orientation…

To determine the status of the teaching of technical writing in two-year colleges, a survey was conducted of 1,202 two-year institutions in the 50 states. Questions concerned enrollment patterns, number of technical communication courses and teachers, number of years technical communication courses have been offered, prerequisites for courses…

In this paper, a college economics professor shares his ideas and experiences related to teaching a regional economics course for seniors at Bucknell University. In an attempt to depart from the traditional content and the passive teaching procedures prevalent in such courses, the professor implemented a course in a regional, political, economic…

This investigation is concerned with evaluating an instructional method based on Ausubel's description of expository teaching using advance organizers (AO) lessons. AO lessons are a method used to increase retention and transfer by identifying the general ideas that form the structure of a subject matter area. This study distinguishes between AO…

Specific areas in foreign language teacher training programs are defined as problem areas: the teaching of culture, activities to promote the study of foreign languages, and language testing. It is stated that foreign language teachers should have competence in (1) content area, (2) the learning-teaching process, and (3) the relationship of…

An approach to structuring and teaching health communication to health practitioners is presented in this paper. Following an introduction to the need for instruction in health communication, a general course description is provided, the course's purposes are discussed, and course goals are listed. The remainder of the paper contains descriptions…

Results of a survey are presented concerning the status of social studies methods courses at undergraduate institutions in Arkansas. There are 16 colleges which provide teaching certificates at the secondary level in Arkansas; all include the social studies as one of their certification areas. All 16 responded to the author's questionnaire. It was…

The family communication course at Arapahoe Community College attempts to acquaint students with the central role of communication in the maintenance and enhancement of family relationships and to equip them with knowledge that can produce a greater flexibility in their communication within their own family units. The course is built around two…

When curriculum developers and project directors plan in-service training courses for the purpose of improvement of instruction in special programs, they often fail to include support staff members such as learning disability teacher consultants, guidance counselors, social workers, school librarians, and other support personnel in the target…

This document examines contextual variables and how they affect instructional processes and educational outcomes. One contextual variable which has not received enough attention is the curriculum-material package. Curriculum packages represent potential experimental treatments. Possible research questions are whether these materials and…

A curriculum project to help dental students identify, reason about, and resolve ethical problems applied moral development theory to professional education, an approach not previously used. The project involved testing student attitudes and abilities and developing learning activities to promote the desired abilities. (Author/MSE)

Most information systems classes focus on the study of hardware, software, data, communication, procedure, and employees. Employees usually are divided into end-user, IT people, and management. There is a need to teach classes in information systems directly related to the progress of the human as the most important component in any information…

This paper examines different approaches to global studies through a selective analysis of the theory in the field. Key questions are posed as criteria for deciding which issues are most adequately suited for study in an issues-based curriculum. Results of a limited survey of high school students who completed a course in global education are…

Two developments in language teaching have heightened the need for college-level English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teachers to be aware of ethical issues in selecting course content. First, prevalence of the communicative approach to language teaching broadens the scope of possible classroom topics. Second, the student-centered approach allows…

This paper contends that there seem to be two basic types of films about HIV/AIDS: those produced by mass media (television, movies, news, soap operas) and those produced outside the commercial sphere (independent or "activist" videos and films). According to the paper, "Longtime Companion,""Philadelphia,""It's…