Notes that reforms in engineering education have caused a shift from the traditional stand-alone courses in technical communication for engineering students towards communication training integrated in courses and design projects that allows students to develop four levels of competence. Describes three formats for integrated communication…

Describes a performance at Purdue University of the ACT-OUT Ensemble of Indianapolis, which came four days after a drug-addicted student had murdered his counselor. Finds that the performance was a success because it entertained, educated, explained, and healed, fulfilling the mission of the acting ensemble. Discusses other functions of this (and…

This study examined the use of online argumentation scaffolds to engage and support coherent argumentation. Participants were students in an undergraduate economics course. Results showed that providing a constraint-based argumentation scaffold during group problem-solving activities increased the generation of coherent arguments and resulted in…

Describes an inquiry-based course that emphasizes integration of the sciences. Student teams pursue research projects of their own design using mathematics and physics to study biological phenomena. (Author/KHR)

Presents a variation of Deming's funnel experiment to illustrate how a stable process operates and how tampering with a stable process leads to increased variability and less desirable results. The goal of the activity is to minimize product variation around the target value. Includes student handout. (Author/MKR)

Describes an encounter group process using Van Servellen's (1984) systems' model and Yalom's (1985) therapeutic factors as a guide for analysis to resolve conflict among faculty. Presents use of structure, communication, and process components of the model that provided direction for group leaders to analyze small group interactions and select…

Notes that writing instructors want to resist authoritarian classroom arrangements because they want students to be active in their education and in their lives. Describes efforts to develop a "new model of authority, a new space," using peer group leaders, advanced standing students who facilitated writing groups in a first-year basic writing…

Investigates out-of-class academic collaboration among students at a polytechnic in Singapore as they worked on collaborative assignments. Data were collected via a questionnaire completed by 232 students, interviews were conducted with 10 lecturers, observations were made of eight student groups as they collaborated on teacher-required work…

Considers that one of the challenges of introductory and sophomore-level college business communication courses lies in coaxing students out of those comfortable academic spaces and showing them the need for differentiating one audience from another and viewing each writing context afresh. Presents findings from (and describes implementation of) a…

Discusses a variety of fun activities that college and universities can develop as alumni fund-raising events: a golf tournament; scholarship auctions (silent, on-the-spot, live televised, and live); charitable raffles; duck dashes; themed banquets; and a tuition raffle. (MSE)

Presents a study in which 152 5- to 6-year-old children worked alone or in groups, cooperatively and competitively, over four weeks. Identifies three traits: individualism/collectivism, sociability, and altruism. Examines these traits by gender and age. Discusses implications for primary school pedagogy and social psychological research. (CMK)

This training manual contains material from the book "Listen to Me, Listen to You--A Practical Guide to Improving Self-Esteem, Listening Skills and Assertiveness" set out in the form of exercises and handouts. The manual provides a series of 14 group exercises and 19 related handouts suitable for use in workshops or group training…

This paper suggests methods for incorporating cooperative learning into the college classroom, including both short-term and long-term activities. It stresses the importance of self-directed work teams in the work environment and the contribution of cooperative learning in the college classroom to building team work skills. Cooperative learning is…

An effective test and measurement course in psychology should expose students to a variety of available psychological tests, as well as to the mechanics of test construction and evaluation. In a test and measurement course at the State University of New York's College at Cortland, the course is divided into two components with an overlaying group…

James Berlin has idenitified three common ideological approaches in rhetoric in composition courses crucial to an understanding of how collaborative learning works in writing courses: the expressivist, cognitivist, and social-epistemic. One of the primary distinctions among these rhetorics is how the subject is perceived. In an expressionist or…