Verbal Final Exam in Introductory Biology Yields Gains in Student Content Knowledge and Longitudinal Performance

We studied gains in student learning over eight semesters in which an introductory biology course curriculum was changed to include optional verbal final exams (VFs). Students could opt to demonstrate their mastery of course material via structured oral exams with the professor. In a quantitative assessment of cell biology content knowledge, students who passed the VF outscored their peers on the medical assessment test (MAT), an exam built with 40 Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) questions (66.4% [n = 160] and 62% [n = 285], respectively; p < 0.001);. The higher-achieving students performed better on MCAT questions in all topic categories tested; the greatest gain occurred on the topic of cellular respiration. Because the VF focused on a conceptually parallel topic, photosynthesis, there may have been authentic knowledge transfer. In longitudinal tracking studies, passing the VF also correlated with higher performance in a range of upper-level science courses, with greatest significance in physiology, biochemistry, and organic chemistry. Participation had a wide range but not equal representation in academic standing, gender, and ethnicity. Yet students nearly unanimously (92%) valued the option. Our findings suggest oral exams at the introductory level may allow instructors to assess and aid students striving to achieve higher-level learning.     

A Graduate Seminar on Teaching Procedures

Problem posing is a higher-order, active-learning task that is important for students to develop. This article describes a series of interdisciplinary learning activities designed to help students strengthen their problem-posing skills, which requires that students become more responsible for their learning and that faculty move to a facilitator role. Developing students’ problem-posing skills and allowing them to grapple with course content can lead to deeper levels of understanding and improved critical thinking. In turn, students are more likely to be able to move their newfound knowledge beyond the classroom.     

Trends in global communication policy‐making: Lessons from the Asian case∗

This paper surveys current trends in the restructuring of global communications since publication of the MacBride Commission Report on NWICO. Focusing on a specific region, Asia, the analysis addresses implications of the shift in communication policy from the dominant, twentieth century democratic conception of the ‘public’ as a community of free citizens, to a more archaic conception of the ‘public’ as individual consumers in a laissez‐faire’ market. The paper inquires into evidence of this policy shift in the Asian context as well as into the contemporary relevance of concerns expressed by NWICO advocates. Based on a substantive examination of recent literature, it is argued that since communication is a precondition to development, access to and control over the means and processes of communication are properly questions of great social importance. The paper further argues that current Asian trends converting communication into a commodity run counter to the possibilities for rational and autonomous public communication necessary to the practice of liberal democracy. A headlong rush to a global economic market as the definer of communication processes has forced governments to share power with national and multi‐national private commercial interests, thereby radically altering the very structure of institutions shaping communication policy and practice. Consequences of this restructuring have been to virtually eliminate any influential national or global setting where these issues may be debated and addressed.     

The scholar's anthology: A research agenda for communication education

These five papers summarize and provide a focus for concerns about research in communication education, and identify critical areas for additional research. The authors also specify areas where educators and scholars should he implementing existing research findings in speech communication instruction.     

A model of empathic communication

This study examines a path model of empathic communication. Several empathie structures are predicted to influence the process of empathie communication. Results show that humanistic orientation predicted perspective‐taking, which predicted communicative responsiveness, which predicted comforting. Empathie concern and emotional responsiveness were eliminated from the model The parameter estimates and predicted correlations among the remaining variables were all statistically significant (p < .05). In addition, self‐rated comforting and independent ratings correlated at only .51, with the former exhibiting higher correlations with other variable.     

Foreign and International Media

Ion Trewin's The Professions: Journalism (North Pomfret, Vt.: David & Charles, 1976—$9.95)

Charles Husband (ed.) White Media and Black Britain: A Critical Look at the Role of the Media in Race Relations Today (London: Arrow Books, Ltd., 1975—about $3.50, paper)

Peter Douglas' Television Today (London: Osprey Publishing, 1975—about $9.00)

Louis L. Snyder's Encyclopedia of the Third Reich (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976—$24.95)

Leo Bogart's Premises for Propaganda: The United States Information Agency's Operating Assumptions in the ColdWar (New York: Free Press, 1976—$12.95)

Marcellus S. Snow's International Commercial Satellite Communications: Economic and Political Issues of the First Decade of Intelsat (New York: Praeger Special Studies, 1976—$16.50)

Charles Sherman and Donald Browne (eds) Broadcast Monographs No. 2: Issues in International Broadcasting (BEA, 1771 N. St. NW, Washington D.C. 20036—$5.00, with a $4.00 price to BEA members, paper)

Access: Technology and Access to Communications Media by B.R. Webster (54 pp., $2.65, paper)

Towards Realistic Communication Policies: Recent Trends and Ideas Compiled and Analysed by John A.R. Lee (59 pp., $2.65, paper)

Mehra Masani, Broadcasting and the People (179 pp., Rs 10.25, paper)

Narayana Menon, The Communications Revolution (89 pp., Rs 5.75, paper)     

General Media,Minorities, and Research

Ronald G. Hick A Survey of Mass Communication (Gretna, La.: Pelican Publishing Co., 1977—$7.95, paper)

Everette E. Dennis The Media Society: Evidence About Mass Communication in America (Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown, 1978—$6.95, paper)

Leslie J. Friedman Sex Role Stereotyping in the Mass Media: An Annotated Bibliography (New York: Garland Publishing, 1977—$25.00)

Maurine Beasley and Sheila Silver Women in Media: A Documentary Source Book (Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press, 3306 Ross Place, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008—$5.95, paper)

Preben Sepstrup Consumption of Mass Communication: Construction of a Model on Information Consumption Behavior (Handelsvidenskabelig Boghandel, Fuglesangsalle 4, DK-8210 Aarhus V, Denmark—D. kr . 12, paper)

J. Michael Crabtree and Kenneth E. Moyer Bibliography of Aggresive Behavior: A Reader's Guide to the Research Literature (Alan R. Liss, Inc., 150 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10011—$35.00).

Marcia Guttentag and Shalom Saar, Evaluation Studies Review Annual, Volume 2: 1977 (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1977—$29.95)

Paul C. Cozby Methods in Behavioral Research (Palo Alto, Calif.: Mayfield Publishing, 1977—$6.95, paper)     

Film Criticism

VISIBLE FICTIONS: CINEMA, TELEVISION, AND VIDEO by John Ellis (Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983---$10.50 paper)

SELECTED FILM CRITICISM by Anthony Slide, ed. (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press)

FILM CRITICISM: A COUNTER THEORY by William Cadbury and Leland Poague (Ames, Iowa: The Iowa State University Press, 1983---$23.50)

HARMLESS ENTERTAINMENT: HOLLYWOOD AND THE IDEOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS by Richarc. Maltby (Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, 1983---$26.50)     

Film History

Colin Shindler, Hollywood Goes to Wars Films and American Society, 1939-1952 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979 – $20.00)

Barbara Zheutlin and David Talbot, Creative Differences: Profile of Hollywood Dissidents (Boston: South End Press, 1978– $5.40 paper)

The Adventures of Robin Hood, edited and an introduction by Rudy Behlmer, 235 pages

The Green Pastures, edited and an introduction by Thomas Cripps, 206 pages.

High Sierra, edited and an introduction by Douglas Gomery, 189 pages.

Our Lady Cinema by Harry Furniss (originally London: Bristol, 1914—reprint $16.00)

Jew Suss by Arthur Rawlinson and Dorothy Farnam (originally London: Methuen, 1935–reprint $18.00)

Marcia Blitz, Donald Duck (New York: Harmony Books/Crown, 1979— $12.95)