The purposes of this study are to discuss the visionary instructional planning through the social process as school wide faculty collaboration and prepare teachers through their identity connections of graduate reading application. The discussion exemplifies four collaborative instructional teams from Honduras Elementary School, Houma, Louisiana,…

For several years a number of instructors at the University of Cincinnati have experimented with the concept of problem-based learning (PBL) in their composition courses. The concept, rooted as it is in Socratic method and the hands-on problem-solving advocated by John Dewey, is not new, and though some of its applications may call for adjustments…

The teaching of highly valued scientific writing skills in the first year of university is challenging. This report describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a novel written assignment, "The Personal Response" and accompanying Peer Review, in the course, Human Biology (BIOL1015) at The University of Queensland. These assignments were…

This paper discusses the critical relation between professor, student and technology in the process of encouraging graduate students to read required textbook sections. It discusses how using online management software, graduate students are required to submit weekly chapter summaries to the professor by 5:00 pm on Fridays. In addition to the…

This article presents a written assignment designed to achieve several goals. First, it offers students the chance to identify and examine the "pre-understandings" with which they enter the class, and to consider how these were formed. Once they have been elaborated, these "pre-understandings" inform the instructor and the student about biases and…

This paper describes an assignment that gives students the ability to improve written and verbal communication abilities, which they will be using throughout their lives, by enhancing communication skills and competencies in a class setting. It is a two-part assignment that begins with a discussion on how to produce a successful cover letter and…

This article reports on a study of 23 tenth-grade students who created fiction in digital game and written formats. The researchers observed them at work, analysed their stories in both formats, and interviewed selected students to learn what affordances and constraints they demonstrate and/or articulate in such authoring. The students used…

In this article Vicki Lind reports the findings of a case study investigation of the use of electronic portfolios in a music education program. The project focused specifically on the use of electronic portfolios as a tool to document the work of preservice teachers as they prepared for the teaching profession. Two research questions framed this…

The media role model was recently developed to frame how science faculty members can teach their students to write more effectively to lay audiences (14). An Opinion Editorial (Op-Ed) was introduced as a novel assignment for final-year physiology and pharmacology undergraduates. This second phase of this study, reported here, demonstrated the…

Imaginative writing is a great vehicle for creative thinking and risk taking as children structure a reality in a story. However, the author believes that American children are untrained for this sort of work and progress. They need connected experiences. This insight intensifies the author's resolution to seek collaboration with artists in other…

In this Voices Inside Schools essay, a veteran teacher shares her reflections on a classroom unit entitled "How Language Reveals Character." The goal of the unit is to help adolescents read and write critically through an exploration of literary characters' language. Beginning by drawing on adolescents' fascination with one another,…

English 317 is a second writing course designed for business majors primarily but available to all students who need to fulfill the second writing course requirement. The purpose of the philanthropic research recommendation report is to familiarize students with the ways that corporations envision and enact social responsibility as depicted on…

This article addresses the concern many instructors have about students who do not complete assigned work, particularly the reading. The author explains briefly why extensive reading is so important in developmental writing classes and discusses a multi-step approach she has been using successfully for years. A list of short novels and stories…

This chapter describes an innovative writing program at Simon Fraser University that has implications for fostering transformative learning.

A study analyzing survey results of more than 850 students enrolled in college computer courses was conducted. The survey included, among other things, questions about students' preferences for a programming assignment. The three choices given were examples of common types of programming assignments found in CS1 textbooks: an application to…