Examines the development of undergraduate library and information science education at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in the context of educational change in the United Kingdom from 1967 through 1997. Discusses the joint honors program, the merger of the College of Librarianship Wales and the University College of Wales, and distance…

Describes the National Science Foundation (NSF) report on undergraduate science education that emphasizes goals for undergraduate education. Discusses barriers to improving science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education and highlights recommendations based on the report. Concludes that the report contains a useful look back at the…

Finds through surveys in 1995 and 2000 that, despite some indications of increased emphasis and interest in teaching over this period, the teaching methods in economics courses have changed very little over the past five years and are still dominated by chalk and talk classroom presentations. (RLH)

Explores the most frequently listed undergraduate psychology courses for four institutional types by analyzing 400 college catalogs. Reports that some segmentation continues in the research methodology and developmental areas, the balance of natural and social science courses appear stable, and there are no signs of a change toward vocationalism.…

Argues that, to revitalize undergraduate education in astronomy, courses must be restructured, particularly at the introductory level. Suggests that the culture of higher education does not often support change. (DDR)

Recounts the history of general education requirements as developed at the University of Chicago by President Robert Hutchins, and the subsequent, much protested, relaxation of those stringent requirements in the 1990s. Suggests that each generation of educators must find the proper balance between traditional requirements and external forces and…

In recent years, many colleges and universities have set out to reform or revisit their general education curricula. These efforts often have failed to achieve the comprehensive change that reformers originally had envisioned. Using the example of one case, this paper explores how institutionalized organizational elements and politics can shape…

The Quality in Undergraduate Education project (QUE) is an equity project, founded on a belief that a high-quality public baccalaureate education should be accessible to all students. QUE is a collaboration among twenty-one colleges and universities in four states (California, Georgia, Maryland, and Nevada). It groups regional two- and four-year…

This report on the SCALE Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) Case Studies line of work provides preliminary findings about SCALE activities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). This study focuses on the structural and behavioral dynamics influencing the implementation of the four core SCALE strategies for effecting change in…

In this report, the Commission on General Education in the 21st Century--a panel of University of California faculty and administrators--issues a call for renewed attention to general education in research universities, highlighting specific reforms for University of California campuses. In addition to analyzing the historical, institutional, and…

Calls for institutional accountability and curricular coherence suggest that faculty must collaborate more than they have in the recent past to achieve significant and ongoing curricular improvements. In the study reported here, the author and her colleagues asked members of academic departments with a reputation for ongoing curricular renewal to…

The purpose of the National Science Foundation's Course and Curriculum Development (CCD) program is to improve the quality of undergraduate courses and curricula in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SME&T). The program also seeks to encourage a greater number of talented faculty to devote creative energy to improving undergraduate…

This brief report summarizes a longer document with the same title. It reviews the reshaping of the college undergraduate curriculum in order to meet the new and compelling issues of the future such as accommodating diverse races and ethnic groups, incorporating global perspectives on the environment, and dealing more effectively with the human…

The author describes a teaching innovation in which undergraduates were used to lead weekly discussion sections of lower division sociology courses. The selection process of teaching assistants, student reactions, and possible solutions to potential problems are presented. (Author/DE)