In corequisite models of instruction, marginally prepared students are placed directly into college-level coursework, taught with a paired support course. Initial research suggests that such models yield significant improvements in the number of students passing credit-level mathematics when compared to previous models of prerequisite remediation.…

Approximately a quarter of community college students are entering college-level courses underprepared for the literacy and critical thinking skills required to be successful in discipline courses (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2013). Discipline faculty are considered experts in their content area and are often not trained in…

Community colleges, including those in Virginia, continue to increase online course offerings in an effort to provide access and cost effective education to a growing student population. With increased student demand for online learning, community colleges should explore further the possibility of offering more science courses online. This…

Community college classes are increasingly diverse, both culturally and ethnically, but how can teachers best educate students concerning cross-cultural issues? This author proposes a cross-cultural teaching model that focuses on a personalized approach.

On the first day of class, what should an instructor do? What do the students expect? What might ruin the first day of class? The author asked 270 students these questions, and their answers apply to any class's first day.

This brief work stands against a four-year stretch of writing classes at Northern Virginia Community College, with the author teaching English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students how to write academic essays. The courses taught have included high intermediate and advanced writers, many of whom plan to earn a degree at the college or any number of…

Any effort to assess the motivational techniques employed by community college faculty is complicated by the inter-connectedness of motivational techniques and teaching techniques, as improved teaching results in improved motivation. Nonetheless, this research poses a motivation-related question: Does the use of daily question-and-answer reviews…

Today education is in crisis. Citizens and institutions alike are demanding that classroom instruction dramatically increase learning effectiveness. Especially in higher education, instructors must expand their repertoires to include active learning approaches that challenge students to function as adult learners who take responsibility for their…

This author delineates an alternative to traditional textbook teaching of economics: using contemporary films to bring concepts and practices to life. (Contains 5 notes.)

The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is increasingly offering more Web-based, online orientation courses to students. Since the fall semester of 1999, the community college campuses throughout the VCCS have offered over 100 sections of online orientation courses. However, no assessment data or research for these courses or students exists.…

The author asserts that through chaos theory, she began to view the failures and successes of one particular semester in a different light. Describes chaos theory in layman's terms and provides recommendations for teaching in this new paradigm. Asserts that understanding chaos theory will allow instructors to celebrate diversity, disorder, and…

The author, a teacher of developmental English, details her methods for increasing student ability to process and analyze information. Advocates taking developmental classes on regularly planned alternative class site experiences in order to instill a wonder about learning and a willingness to engage in sophisticated information processing and…

Through awareness of the needs of non-traditional students and careful tutor training, the staff of Virginia's New River Community College's (NRCC's) writing center assist students with both writing-related tasks and integration into academic life. Describes how NRCC's writing center aids its students and suggests techniques that should be used to…

Suggests some effective means of identifying and preventing plagiarism in the era of high technology such as: discussing the issue in the classroom, limiting the number of choices and/or the scope of term papers, giving ample time for students to write the paper, allowing students to rewrite papers, and establishing campus honor codes. (Contains…

Describes the method of using prompts to allow students to have more "voice" in a large class. The prompt assignment requires students to respond anonymously to a statement that concerns the chapter being discussed in the class. Discusses how the Internet has allowed more freedom with the prompts. Puts forth some student responses to the…