Mass Media Production Guides

William Hawes' The Performer in Mass Media in Media Professions and in the Community (New York: Hastings House, 1978—$15.75/8.95)

Robert L. Hilliard, ed. Television Broadcasting: An Introduction (New York: Hastings House, 1978— $15.75/7.95)

Charles Bensinger's The Video Guide (Santa Barbara, Calif.: Video-Info Publications (P.O. Box 1507), 1977— $11.95, paper)

Mike Wolverton's And Now the News (Houston, Tex.: Gulf Publishing Co., 1977— $10.95)

The WAFL Book: A Guide to Film and Video in the Washington, D.C. Area (Washington Area Filmmakers League, P.O. Box 6475, Washington, D.C. 20009 —$5.45, including postage, paper)

David E. Fear's Technical Writing (New York: Random House, 1978—price not given, paper)     

Integrating Learning Communities and Distance Education: Possibility or Pipedream?

As demands for accountability continue and increase, higher education administrators require tools for evaluating campus programs. Learning communities, as a course design strategy, have proven successful in confronting challenges associated with attrition and retention. Because high attrition is associated with online distance education, learning community principles might be applicable to online courses. The authors surveyed attendees at a learning communities conference to determine the applicability of learning community principles to Internet learning and assessment. On the basis of their findings, they developed a rudimentary diagnostic tool for ascertaining whether online course design takes learning community principles into account.David DiRamio is Assistant Professor of Higher Education Leadership at Auburn University. He received both B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. David's research interests include studying technology's impact on postsecondary education from administrative, legal, and policy perspectives. Mimi Wolverton is Program Coordinator and Professor of Higher Education Leadership at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She received a B.S. from Northern Illinois University, an M.B.A. from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Arizona State University. Her research interests include academic deans, women and minorities in leadership, and elite M.B.A. programs. E-mail: diramio@auburn.edu.     

The OPAC is Dead: Managing the Virtual Library

Changing trends in library use and management of e-resources were discussed by Jane Burke from ProQuest/Serials Solutions. A paradigm shift in library collections has occurred in which e‐resources are now the major component of new library materials, requiring new ways to manage and display them. The use of e‐resource access and management services was discussed as a helpful tool, along with federated searching. Burke suggested that by spending less time processing print materials and ending bibliographic instruction, more time will be available for librarians to market and manage e-resources, which will be of greater benefit to today's library users.     

Treading the Tenure-Track Tightrope: Finding Balance Between Research Excellence and Quality Teaching

Clearly, a rift exists between what faculty at public colleges and universities do and what the general populace and external funding agencies increasingly expect them to accomplish (Fairweather, 1996). Throughout the 1990s, the continual allegation has been that the emphasis on research has escalated at the expense of undergraduate teaching quality (Cole, 1994; Winston, 1994). This article examines the circumstances that have contributed to this state of affairs and then looks at two attempts to address the increased demands for better undergraduate teaching without weakening the research reputaton of their organizations. This first approach—the development of ethical principles of teaching—encourages compliance. The second, a revamping of faculty development and reward structures, promotes a kind of teaching-research synergy.     

A comparison of department chair tasks in Australia and the United States

Virtually every managerial book written lists and expounds upon the tasks, duties, roles and responsibilities of administrators. This paper reports a portion of the findings of the third phase of a study of Australian and U.S. academic department chairs in colleges and universities. In it, we seek to clarify how chairs in the two countries define the tasks that exemplify their role as chair. The driving question behind this inquiry is: Do academic department chairs, independent of country, define their tasks in the same way? And, if so, how might universities in both countries benefit from this knowledge?     

Denying Traditional Senses: lessons about programme change

Abstract

Today, faculty are being challenged to rethink their course and programme offerings, and to bring them in line with the diverse needs of a new student population. In doing so, they are continually asked to confront their ‘traditional senses’ about teaching. This paper reports the struggles of faculty to build new notions about teachings, and learning styles and strategies as they recreated the real estate programme at Arizona State University. It then draws from their experience, certain lessons about programme change.     

The Department as Double Agent: The Call for Department Change and Renewal

The well-known and respected Pew Foundation recently suggested four prerequisites for departmental change and renewal—a dedication to teamwork, collective dialogue and inquiry about effective teaching, a commitment to quality control and rewarding collective goals, and the leadership of a purposeful chair (Pew Foundation, 1996, pp. 7-9). Many realities that surround academic programs work against these critical conditions for renewal: conflicting faculty interests, turbulent environments, unclear institutional goals, to name a few. This paper examines teamwork, teaching, quality, and leadership as means to mitigate the contradictions and enhance department renewal.     

THE ACADEMIC DEAN: An Imperiled Species Searching for Balance

The academic deanship is the least studied andmost misunderstood position in the academy. The work ofadministration and the pursuit of scholarly endeavors donot make good bedfellows since deans' academic interests turn them firmly toward theirdepartments, but their leadership of the colleges andschools depends largely on directions from the provostand university. The resulting paradoxical situationcauses many academic leaders to burn out from thestrain of trying to be effective administrators, on theone hand, and attempting to protect the academicautonomy and independence of faculty on the other(Gmelch and Miskin, 1993, 1995). Many academic leaders,such as deans, end their administrative careers fatiguedand suffering from excessive levels of stress (Gmelchand Burns, 1994). The first phase of this study explores the sources of stress experienced bydeans in both Australia and the United States.