Advancing Critical Thinking and Information Literacy Skills in First Year College Students

ABSTRACT

This article provides a case study of recent curriculum development in a freshman skills program which integrates critical thinking and English composition as linked courses at Gonzaga University. Known as “thought and expression” courses, this block of courses, which also includes speech communication, can be taken by students separately or in a linked cohort with the same twenty students in each class. In linked courses, faculty are generally aware of each others' course topics and assignments, and they meet to discuss student progress and look for opportunities for curriculum integration. In this case study, library faculty were included in the instructional team, and information literacy skills that relate to critical thinking were integrated into the goals of the critical thinking and English composition courses. Faculty involved in the courses believe that integrating library skills into course goals adds coherence to the curriculum; it also helps students to achieve the developmental goals of the learning community created by this course model.     

Approaches to Multicultural Education in Preservice Teacher Education: Philosophical Frameworks and Models for Teaching

The authors in this article connect teacher education to multiple theoretical frameworks around the ongoing debate and issues of multicultural education. Connecting conservative, liberal, and radical theories of multicultural education particularly to preservice teachers, the authors argue that a more eclectic theoretical avenue must be striven and struggled for if there exists any hope in transforming schools, particularly, as they note, in urban environments. Practical avenues are discussed that promote such a multilayered interpretive/analytical approach to social change.     

Perceptions of the Trend of Collaborative Publications: Results from a Survey of Criminal Justice and Criminology Department Chairs

Department heads are unique academic positions which can bridge the worlds of faculty and administration. As such, they are sometimes in the unique position where their perceptions and experiences can have real-world impact in the realm of assessing a colleague’s work, tweaking departmental policies of promotion and advancement, and mentoring. While faculty members of all levels have opinions of collaboration, department heads are the leaders who can actually act upon those perceptions, yet these perceptions have not been examined. This study addresses this gap in a survey of Criminal Justice and Criminology department heads (n?=?73). The survey varied authorship order, journal prestige, medium of journal, and also examined co-author prestige. In addition, 12 years of 20 criminal justice journals were coded for solo-authored publications. Results demonstrated differential publication trends between top tier and lower tiered journals, and that department heads attributed these trends as a combination of increasing social research networks and more pragmatic concerns. Of particular interest, is the differential value respondents placed on solo-authored work and collaborative work even when taking into consideration prestige of the journal.     

Media Regulation/Responsibility

Bernard Rubin, ed. Questioning Media Ethics (New York: Praeger Special Studies, 1978---$19.95/6:95)

The Media Law Dictionary, by John Murray (1978, 140 pp, $7.35, paper)

Social Responsibilities of the Mass Media, edited by Allan Casebier and Janet Jenks Casebier (1978, 260 pp., $9.75, paper)

Everette E. Dennis, Donald M. Gillmor, and David L. Grey, eds. Justice Hugo Black and the First Amendment (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1978---$11.50)

Barry Cole and Mal Oettinger's Reluctant Regulators The FCC and the Broadcast Audience (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1978---$10.95)

Steven J. Simmons' The Fairness Doctrine and the Media (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978---$14.95)

Thomas E. Will's Telecommunications Structure and Management in the Executive Branch of Government, 1900-1970 (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1978---$20.00)