New Faculty Roles in Learning Outcomes Education: The Experiences of Four Models and Institutions

Innovative models that focus on learning outcomes engage faculty in new ways of facilitating and assessing learning, while their institutions seek to support and reward their participation. Innovators from four different institutions provide an overview of their approaches to implementing principles of outcomes-based education, compare their models, and explore the changes that are precipitated in the roles, rewards, resources, structures, and models. While the four institutions and models differ on several significant variables, the innovators identify common key elements and issues that the academy must address in order to transform the educational experience and culture to a more learning-centered enterprise.     

Racial Inequality in Critical Thinking Skills: The Role of Academic and Diversity Experiences

While racial inequalities in college entry and completion are well documented, much less is known about racial disparities in the development of general collegiate skills, such as critical thinking. Using data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, we find substantial inequality in the development of critical thinking skills over four years of college between African American and White students. The results indicate that these inequities are not related to students’ academic experiences in college but are substantially related to their experiences with diversity. These findings have important implications for understanding racial inequality in higher education and considering strategies for addressing observed disparities.     

Twenty years of research on college students: Lessons for future research

Based on a comprehensive review of the last twenty years of research on the influences of college on students, this article discusses conceptual and methodological recommendations for enhancing future assessment and college impact studies. The recommendations deal with isolating net college effects, studying the timing of change, estimating college effect sizes, examining indirect and conditional effects, and the potential benefits of qualitative approaches. Areas for future inquiry are also identified.Presented at the Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Louisville, KY, May 13–16, 1990.     

Factor analysis of the metropolitan readiness test on first-grade children

The factor composition of the Metropolitan Readiness Test was investigated, using 1st-grade subjects in a suburban school district. In this analysis, a total battery score was supported, as well as a second factor believed to represent a language dimension of the test. None of the MRT's other content areas (auditory, visual, or quantitative abilities) or a distinct prereading measure were identified for this sample.     

Birthdates of medical school applicants

We determined if the “relative age” effect, wherein older students in an age cohort in early grades do better academically, extends to birthdates of applicants to medical schools, and if birthdates are related to the success of their applications. We examined birthdays of applicants from Michigan to Wayne State University’s School of Medicine, relative to December 1, the cut‐off date for eligibility to enter kindergarten in Michigan. Significantly fewer applicants ≤22 years of age were born in the three‐month period (September, October, November) immediately preceding the December 1 cut‐off date, but there was no statistically significant difference in the probability of their acceptance. We conclude that delayed entry to kindergarten influences applications for medical school acceptance, but does not affect the success of their applications.     

Safetyrama: Teaching children about traffic safety and drunk driving

If every child in every car would speak up when he or she sees an adult commit a driving violation, there would be fewer traffic accidents.Ernest J. Cipullo is Commissioner of Police, Garden City Police Department, Garden City, New York.     

Where Next in Computer Aided Learning?

The paper is concerned with the use of the computer as a medium for teaching, a tool for learning and a manager of learning. Its special characteristic is seen to be its ability to take a non-trivial role in an interactive situation. The dramatic reduction in the cost of computer hardware is put forward as the major reason for the increasing importance of computer aided learning. The use of computers in support of both unstructured and structured learning situations is discussed. It is argued that the design methods used for the development of computer aided learning facilities need to be adaptive. It is further argued that appropriate hardware and software development tools need to be provided in order to enable adaptive design methods to be used. The particular importance of paying attention to the man-computer interface in designing computer aided learning systems is discussed. The need to be able to modify the interface after the system has been used by students is emphasized.     

Active learning for postsecondary educators: A study of two learning designs

Research and theory related to experiential learning hold important implications for designers and teachers in postsecondary educational organizations. Three current approaches to the investigation of active learning are discussed. A research study of two designs of a field-based graduate course is reported. Participants in both versions of the course responded to two questionnaires measuring their perceptions of their learning experiences. Twenty-three participants (55%) from the earlier version and twenty (95%) from the redesigned course responded. The findings, while not always consistent with conceptual expectations, revealed provocative relationships between theories of active learning. Effort to apply concepts of experiential learning to course design resulted in measurable differences in perceived quality of learning. Key questions for further investigation are highlighted.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the American Educational Research Association National Conference, Los Angeles, April, 1981.The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Millicent Nuver in the collection, processing, and analysis of the data reported in this study.     

Manipulatives and number sentences in computer aided arithmetic word problem solving

In this study we investigated the relative contribution of two main components often used in the instruction of arithmetic word problem solving to first-grade children and children with learning problems, external representation with manipulatives and formal mathematical representation with number sentences. Four computer aided treatments were developed along these dimensions. Furthermore, an assessment control group was formed.It was shown that performance improved significantly after treatment in comparison to the performance of the assessment control group. Comparison of the different training conditions showed that a number sentence treatment was the most effective training component. However, this effect was only present with the relatively high competent children and not with the relatively low performing children.