This essay grows out of a Short Course the author helped to teach called "Back to the Future: An Exploration of Public Communication Pedagogy, Past and Present, With Inventive Applications for the Future" presented at the 2004 annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Chicago. The author presents an activity that focuses on mimesis…

Describes a brief creative writing course in which students can teach themselves how to write and includes sample instructional materials and exercises. (RB)

Outlines a mini-course in problem solving that is being given to teaching assistants in the language department at West Virginia University. (RL)

This course plan consists of six topical mini-courses dealing with the American character, people, political tradition, and economy; America as a world power; and war and peace in America. A sample curriculum and reading list is provided for one of the modules, including behavioral objectives, learning strategies, and a summary of results. (NHM)

This article outlines a graduate-level, one-time-only family therapy course that prepares counseling trainees to be competent at entry-level family therapy in the United States. The approach outlined addresses the training concerns of programs that significantly emphasize individual-focused paradigms and that have limited time to train counseling…

This study investigated alternative instructional delivery modes in two different short courses for professional engineers and scientists. Two math-oriented courses were taught to 130 participants. Each course was taught twice, once using the blackboard exclusively and once using extensive view graph projections (20 to 40 transparencies per…

This is a comparative study of a school utilizing a mini-course science elective curriculum and one using a conventional textbook program in order to investigate the effectiveness of mini-course programs with respect to students' achievement and attitudes toward science. Two suburban junior high schools were selected, and different instructional…

The primary purpose of the Symposium was to assist the veterinary medical educator in becoming a more effective and efficient teacher. The main focus was placed on the educational process and on newer ideas in education, with the expectation that application could be made to the totality of veterinary medical education. The Fifth Symposium was…

Independent study is at least as effective as traditional teaching methods, according to this report of a three-year project to evaluate self-study modules, called "minicourses," in a new nursing curriculum. (MF)

A miniworkshop model consists of an experiential learning exercise that explores the characteristic features of various personality disorders. The workshop emphasizes a problem-solving approach to learning that is appropriate to the level of the student's personal experience. (MLW)

The development of minicourses in the junior high schools at Crystal Lake in the spring of 1973 is considered. (BP)

The teaching of reading as a decoding process was an educational strategy used by the Minicourse 18 model of teacher education. This report analyzes the field data taken from four school test sites and assesses the effectiveness of the strategy. Multivariate Statistical analysis shows the program has a significant effect in course-approved…

An introductory psychology course which used undergraduate-taught minicourses and the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) approach is described. (DE)

Reports on a sample mini-course in the humanities entitled A Several-Circled Search for Self'' which employs the circus as a theme while stressing the importance of student involvement and the development of self-concept. (RB)

Advocates the use of minicourses in teaching secondary school science. Topics are suggested and methods for structuring minicourses are discussed. (JR)