Describes the partnerships developed by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis with public schools and community organizations to improve urban student performance through teacher education and full-service schools (schools that offer a wrap-around of services to eliminate or minimize socioeconomic or health-related barriers to…

The American system of higher education is under attack, with critics charging that universities and faculty have disengaged from teaching and abandoned basic relationships with communities. Urban universities can demonstrate the characteristics claimed to be missing from higher education, by acting in partnership with the community and…

When metropolitan universities refer to serving the entire metropolitan area, they often refer to rural fringes as well as concentrated urban populations. Working with rural communities requires somewhat different approaches to planning programs and understanding needs. Survey research helps the campus understand the perceptions and realities of…

Electronic focus groups with professors that explored their attitudes toward instructional technology provided data for a theoretical framework. Findings indicated that they have concerns about the ability of such technology to enhance student learning, and many view it simply as a tool for information dissemination and not as a networking medium.…

The honors program at the University of Texas at San Antonio serves an ethnically diverse, often underprepared, and commuter student population with special courses and support. The program's success to date illustrates the importance of strong support and effective leadership at all levels within the institution. (Author/MSE)

Offers guidance to presidents and boards as they support efforts at college-community collaborations. Recommendations include formal mission statements, formally assessing partnerships, providing adequate resources, helping develop partnerships and alliances with businesses and other groups that want to help revive the city, developing a…

Explores how Columbia College Chicago, an "Implementing Urban Missions" grantee, approached the implementation of its urban mission, and how other universities might also play the role of facilitators while being inclusive, trustworthy, and respectful to community partners. (EV)

Explores the assessment and improvement of educational programs and administrative services at metropolitan colleges and universities through the primary academic unit the department. Discusses the development of intended student outcomes and administrative objectives; also identifies issues related to implementing assessment at the department…

Many college and university teacher education units in the USA (94% or 47 states) now offer generic special education teacher preservice programs. However, training in disability categories, specifically emotional and behavioral disorders, is not intensive or extensive. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify the effects of the…

As higher education accreditation agencies emphasize achievement of general education learning goals for undergraduate students, departments are increasingly required to identify and assess the contributions of their disciplines to achievement of these goals. This exploratory study conducted at a large urban university and its satellite campus…

With the unprecedented expansion of access to higher education internationally, today's students enter university with a broader range of expectations, motivations and support networks than their predecessors. One of the primary determinants of student success is their ability to assimilate into the academic culture, which includes aligning their…

This study discusses benchmarking the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in teaching and learning between two universities with different missions: one an Australian campus-based metropolitan university and the other a British distance-education provider. It argues that the differences notwithstanding, it is possible to…

This article presents a control group study of the influence of a partnership-centered, community-based learning program on students' academic writing. The improved writing of first-year students in the Chicago Civic Leadership Certificate Program (CCLCP), we argue, results from the deeply situated learning that took place in the context of…

Purpose: To identify some of the barriers to mobilizing students of higher education in sustainable initiatives, in order to enhance project success on campuses. Design/methodology/approach: Uses a case study of a model green building retrofit on the College of Charleston campus in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Several constraints already…

Genuine artistic activity in any medium provides a lens through which to examine the world as well as to express a reaction to it. Opening a wide variety of subjects to artistic explorations also opens the door of learning, specially to students with varied levels of ability. It was with these thoughts in mind that the two authors met to revise a…