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…

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…

One reason students give for attending a community college is that the mathematics requirements appear to be less rigorous. Many of the author's students have told her that they have chosen to seek an associate's degree first because they do not feel confident that they could successfully complete the mathematics requirement at a four-year…

An effective team-based, group-oriented personal development from a woman's perspective course explores the effects of several issues on the re-entry woman: the role that society and culture play in influencing women's vocational choices; women's roles; the economic necessity of work; stress; and relationships. A team-based approach provides a…

Gives suggestions for how to monitor student revision processes in computer-assisted writing assignments that leave no "paper trail." Demonstrates the process of self-critiquing in writing five assigned papers, where writers move beyond many of the simplistic or unformed critical concepts that appeared in the first critiques. (VWC)

Asserts that one way to find creative teaching solutions to age-old problems is to attend the Virginia Master Teachers Seminar. Describes the experiences, friendships formed, and techniques learned at the seminar that allow teachers to present the same information to students in different ways. Outlines other useful insights provided at the…

Presents 13 "best practice" motivators and innovations shared by teachers from across the country at the July 1998 Virginia Master Teacher Seminar. Teachers who attended the seminar not only wanted to master the teaching craft but also sought more knowledge as students on their way to mastery. Encourages readers to borrow ideas…

Discusses challenges and possible approaches to using compressed video in a course, based on the author's observations of students at a "distance" site during a history course that used this technology. Finds that both technological and pedagogical problems need to be addressed to make a course using this technology the equal of a…

The author details a Perkins Grant-funded project of the Medical Education Center at Northern Virginia Community College that is designed to increase student retention by teaching students to identify and to use their learning style preference(s). (Contains 1 chart.)