This study compared student learning outcomes and student perceptions of and satisfaction with the learning process between two sections of the same class--a web-based section and a traditional face-to-face (f2f) section. Using a quasi-experimental design, students were randomly assigned to the two course sections. Group equivalency was…

Most college students are not accustomed to writing about, reading, analyzing, or discussing 19th-century Black literature, especially slave narratives. As many educators try to include more Black literature in their curriculums, there is a growing need to develop successful methods to approach the texts so that students are prepared to write…

The act of reading is always interpretation through the lens of an individual's own culture and value system. In a World Literature class the encounter between American readers and a text from a different culture can produce 3 results: reading into it the individual's own world; translating the alien into the familiar; and appreciating its…

In an effort to deal with some of the problems of a "reserve book room" in a university library, a study was conducted by the Department of Librarianship at San Jose State University of the feasibility of providing students with their required course readings in microfiche format. One section of the students in the basic survey course,…

Prompted by a student comment that college lacked intellectual challenge, the author and colleagues sat in on an English class described as "a brain dump." The teacher had assigned students to write parodies of "The Road Not Taken," knowing that to do the assignment well, they would have to read and understand Frost's poem. The instructor was…

A four-year ethnographic study was conducted at St. Olaf College and examined six assumptions about student attitudes toward writing. The study, involving administration of the Writers Block instrument, writing samples, and several interviews with three students over their 4 years in college, evaluated the following assumptions: (1) that once…

Discussion of the theory-practice gap focuses on a course for education students that integrates instruction on conducting both theoretical and practical research. The dual approach illustrates the value of theoretical research to students' practice as teachers. Highlights include a literature review, course objectives and assignments, course…

Analyzes the evaluation of student feedback to a tutor in the Open University (Great Britain). Discusses tutor effectiveness in supporting individual students; group tutorials; self-help and mutual support by students; formative feedback on written assignments; participatory evaluation; and power relations, including "pseudoempowerment."…

Offers a range of classroom, writing, research, and small-group activities on racial issues for the social studies classroom. Deals with stereotypes, racial issues at school and beyond the classroom, and building alliances. (SR)

Explores how learning environment dimensions are related to on-task-orientation, and how these relations are mediated by students' perceptions of the meaningfulness of schoolwork. For school psychologists, results seem to imply an increased focus on the learning environment, and particularly on the importance of the social emotional dimensions for…

Describes a dual-writing assignment used in two introductory sociology classes in which students write a book review and explore their own career choices through an occupational profile. Discusses the integration of work and career related concepts into the lectures and students' evaluation of the assignment. (CMK)

Describes an assignment in which senior psychology majors write letters of advice to incoming psychology freshmen. Provides a course context and focuses on the representative results and student evaluations of the assignment. Discusses the different purposes the letters have served. (CMK)

The authors present a series of writing assignments that teaches students how to evaluate and critique the written economic work of others. The foundation text is McCloskey's (2000) Economical Writing. The students' dialogues with McCloskey, with each other, and with the authors of the pieces they evaluate sharpen their understanding of, and…

The authors explored the perceived effects of an environmental expressive writing exercise by using a modified phenomenological method. The authors asked preservice teachers enrolled in a required public university science and society education course to compose multigenre compositions describing personal environmental impacts, followed by written…

A pilot study provided insight into difficulties experienced by 143 Yr. 2 B.Ed. students in Scotland, writing in a science education context. In studying writing, an 'academic literacies' approach was adopted, focusing on social aspects in addition to identifying flaws. In over 20% of assignments, tutors' assessments identified a need to structure…