While community colleges do an excellent job of fulfilling their open door mission, research shows that the completion rate for community college students is dismal. One retention strategy often employed by community colleges is providing support through orientation programs. A great deal of research has focused on orientation at the four-year…

This author organized and taught the new ENG 09/111 classes at her college, as well as authoring the course text and workbook. English 09/111 offers a unique opportunity for students who are not quite ready for freshmen composition, but more than likely do not need an entire semester of developmental English. In this article, she details the…

Enrolling in an introductory course in psychology is a staple of many community college students' core curriculum. For those students who plan to pursue social science and humanities-related majors in particular, introductory psychology helps provide a solid base upon which future coursework at all academic levels will be built. The goal of any…

Although local community boards are not part of the governing structure of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), local boards help presidents respond to the unique needs of their communities. Describes the structure of VCCS, why college boards are important to VCCS, and the contributions of college board members. (VWC)

Proposes creating an entrepreneurial college within the community college that will offer non-credit courses to the community and workforce. States that the courses would focus on the training needs of community industry, with the employer as the customer, rather than the student. Adds that the proposed college would also focus on community…

Uses the five stages of creativity designed by psychologist Jacob Getzel--first insight, saturation, incubation, illumination, and verification--to describe a mural project in a rural community college. Reports that the project successfully paired students with community members to paint two local murals. (NB)

Provides an overview of service learning: definitions, reasons for including service learning as an instructional strategy, ways to maintain academic vigor, grading principles, risks and rewards, and adaptability. Includes students' written comments, details on Northern Virginia Community College's widespread use of service learning in 18…

Highlights the rationale for and outcomes of integrating service learning into two public speaking courses. States that service learning enlarged the classrooms and created a wealth of communication examples and opportunities. Judges the success of this pilot experience on five criteria: community voice, orientation and training, meaningful…

Describes the process by which a history instructor incorporated into his U.S. survey sections three different exercises--internal criticism, research techniques, and oral history--that approximate closely what a professional historian actually does. Incorporation of these techniques adds interest to the class and gives students a chance to…

Discusses a course in children's literature offered through distance education in a community college. Describes topics to be addressed, including a brief history of children's literature, didactic stories and romantic stories, child development and folklore, illustration, and the political questions of our time; and sex roles, multicultural…

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…