Dangerous liaisons: Reflections on a pilot project for state-mandated outcomes assessment of written communication

This study details the development and results of a campus-based writing assessment plan that was mandated by a state-wide university system in order to explore the “value-added” from a writing program curriculum to undergraduate students’ competence with written expression. Four writing samples (two timed essays and two conventional essays) that are produced before, during and at the close of enrollment in the writing program are scored for critical thinking, genre knowledge, rhetorical skills, and mechanics. The results indicate that local campus student achievement related to writing is comparable with performance captured by nationally normed technologies and larger assessment projects at similar state universities. The data also suggest significant performance difference related to the institutional position of students’ instructors as well as students’ own enrollment status. The article concludes that while the data produced by this research project are compelling, the policy and political implications of the undertaking suggest greater sensitivity to the institution's culture and program direction as well as its impact on instructor morale, student learning environment and the place of composition studies in the university.     

Speech and drama training for lectures as a means of improving university teaching

Although considerable resources have been invested in programs for the improvement of college and university teaching, there is little data available on the effectiveness of these programs. The present study assessed the value of speech and drama training as a method of improving lecturing skills in university teachers. It was found that teachers who received speech and drama training showed significant improvement in student ratings of classroom teaching relative to control teachers. Rival hypotheses involving greater motivation to improve in experimental teachers and generalized placebo and self-help effects were ruled out on the basis of student rating data from previous courses and differential findings for target and nontarget rating scales. It is concluded that speech and drama training can make a small but significant contribution to the improvement of university teaching.     

Deaf college students' comprehension of relational language in arithmetic compare problems

In this study of deaf college students' performance solving compare word problems, relational statements were either consistent or inconsistent with the arithmetic operation required for the solutions. The results support the consistency hypothesis Lewis and Mayer (1987) proposed based on research with hearing students. That is, deaf students were more likely to miscomprehend a relational statement and commit a reversal error when the required arithmetic operation was inconsistent with the statement's relational term (e.g., having to add when the relational term was less than). Also, the reversal error effect with inconsistent word problems was magnified when the relational statement was a marked term (e.g., a negative adjective such as less than) rather than an unmarked term (e.g., a positive adjective such as more than). Reading ability levels of deaf students influenced their performance in a number of ways. As predicted, there was a decrease in goal-monitoring errors, multiple errors, and the number of problems left blank as the reading levels of students increased. Contrary to expectations, higher reading skills did not affect the frequency of reversal errors.     

Tutoring deaf students in higher education: a comparison of baccalaureate and sub-baccalaureate student perceptions

Seventy-three deaf college students completed a survey examining perceptions about tutoring outcomes and emphases, characteristics of tutors, and responsibilities associated with learning through tutoring. The comparisons revealed that while baccalaureate and sub-baccalaureate students have many similar perceptions about tutoring, there are also some striking differences. In particular, as compared to the sub-baccalaureate students, baccalaureate students have a stronger preference for focusing on course content and for working with tutors who actively involve them during the tutoring sessions. In addition, baccalaureate students prefer to decide the focus of the tutoring themselves while sub-baccalaureate students tend to leave the decision to the tutor. The results of the analyses with three scales measuring perceptions of tutoring dimensions are summarized and recommendations for the selection and preparation of tutors, as well as for future research, are provided.     

Parents' and teachers' evaluations of the communicative abilities of deaf children

The authors compared evaluations by parents and teachers of the communicative abilities of deaf children. Such comparisons between parents' and professionals' assessments of the language development of children who are deaf can provide useful information on which to base ecologically valid intervention approaches. A secondary interest of the authors was to investigate the possible influences on language development of gender, the presence or absence of cochlear implantation, and communication modality (i.e., auditory-verbal or bilingual). The study included the mothers and teachers of 14 deaf children educated in auditory-verbal or bilingual programs. Two scales from a survey instrument, Profiles of the Hearing Impaired (Webster & Webster, 1995), were used. No significant differences between the teachers' and parents' evaluations were found. Gender, cochlear implantation, and communication modality were found to have no significant effect on the evaluations.     

School Chemistry vs. Chemistry in Research: An Exploratory Experiment

This report describes a study which explores, from the out-of-school student viewpoint, why students are not studying chemistry anymore. In a 2-day stay at a research institution three groups of graduating high school students from different schools, together with their chemistry teacher, were confronted hands-on with molecular modeling in industry and in university. Each of these volunteer students had agreed to write an essay on School Chemistry Vs. Chemistry in Research. These essays were evaluated together by the students, the teacher, and the researcher in a meeting at their school. The opinion of the students show that school chemistry does not convey today's chemistry in research and in industry. At the computer screen the students demonstrated their skill in performing molecular modeling experiments. Moreover, at the computer screen, chemistry was fun and easier to understand. Now we begin to see the solution: our students are also our teachers.