Topics In Courses Research Articles

Toward a Collaborative Model for Interdisciplinary Teaching: Business and Literature

Abstract As team teachers of a self-designed interdisciplinary course, we often use literature to illustrate business principles. Because one of us teaches English and the other teaches business management, it was a challenge to overcome the biases of our own disciplines. Discussed here is what we have learned from planning the course, from developing curriculum and pedagogy, and, most important, from our experience in the classroom. The objectives are to provide guidance for interdisciplinary teaching, to present a model for bridging business and literature, and to outline features of a collaborative interdisciplinary model that can be extended to other disciplines. This model is the outgrowth of a course we have designed to bridge business management and literature. Offered as a sophomore-level special topics course, it is cross listed in the Departments of English and Business Management Technology.

CLIO and the Curriculum: History and the True Professional

For many years the history of education had a prominent place as a subject in courses for the education and training of teachers. At least three major aspects are discernible in the history programmes in question: the ideas of the ideologues of the subject, the history of institutions nourishing them, and a narrative study of education systems with the focus on Acts and "Great Men". One of the foci in each case was the curriculum. By the late 1960s the subject was so firmly entrenched in courses that Simon (1969: 91) could argue as follows: "There is no need to make a case for the study of the history of education as an essential aspect of the course offered to intending teachers. It has long been accepted as such in most colleges and universities and is almost universally taught in itsIt own right as part of the education course." Within a few years, however, such an argument was no longer acceptable. Increasingly, it was being argued that just because something has been studied and taught for a long time does not mean that it should continue to be taught. The development of psychology and philosophy and their application to educational issues seemed to approximate more to the everyday concerns of teachers while sociology and comparative education seemed to offer more valid perspectives than history on the workings of educational institutions and systems.

Why Were There No Poor Laws in Australia?

There were no paupers aboard the First Fleet, nor any poor laws. There were paid officials of the central state under the direction of the Home Office; there was a military force of Marines, some with their families; and there were convicts, state dependents who legally were no longer the responsibility of a parish but were under the control of the Home Office. The labor of the convicts, but not their persons, was assigned to Governor Phillip, who in turn would assign that labor as he thought fit in the colony, subject of course to instructions from his superiors. Who needed a poor law in a jail?

Review of psychology on a disk from CMS academic software: Interactive activities for psychology

Psychology on a Disk contains a variety of simulations that show a strong potential to motivate and educate introductory psychology students with a wide range of ability and initial interest. The exercises appear to be well within the grasp of first-year students and provide suitable starting points for discussion of terms, definitions, and areas of research activity. The quality of the simulations is high and provides some indication that there are additional areas of undergraduate psychology, for example, courses in abnormal, clinical, and developmental topics, in which specialized simulations might also constitute an important adjunct to classroom and laboratory activities. The 10 simulations span much of the content of introductory courses, although they are most pertinent to syllabi that emphasize learning principles and social psychology as important foundations. As an instructional device, the simulations also will serve to introduce some students to use of computers as a source of information and feedback with potential benefits in other and later academic endeavors in which time-savings will be important. Promotional materials describe POAD as easy to add (to existing texts), easy to use, easy to grade, easy to afford, and easy to order (through your college bookstore): truth in advertising.

An Artist-in-Residence Program in the Pennsylvania State University College of Engineering

The College of Engineering of the Pennsylvania State University established, in August 1988, an Artist-in-Residence Program. This program is intended to educate and challenge engineering students and faculty to bridge the cultural gap between engineering and the arts. Student and faculty interaction with the artist/professor occurs not only by the traditional means of formal courses and seminars but also by means of art exhibits, individually tailored special topics courses and studio sessions. The article presents an in-depth review of the origins and first full year of the program. The authors evaluate the successes and failures of the program to date, discuss funding and guidance of the program and look towards the future artists-in-residence.

The course in classical rhetoric: Definition, development, direction

Chapman/Tate descriptive survey of 38 doctoral programs in rhetoric and composition has given us valuable information about these programs, which, for the most part, have sprung up only within the last ten years. survey, published in the Spring 1987 Review (124-86), revealed our programs' deep structure; it also has raised some questions about the definition, development and direction of our doctoral programs in rhetoric and composition. Few of the 38 programs that sent written materials for the survey listed classical rhetoric as core requirement, and almost half listed no history of rhetoric courses. However, 35 of the 38 programs listed theories of composition course. Because the availability of, as well as the teaching approach to, classical rhetoric can show the foundations on which our programs are built and the theoretical directions they may be taking, I prepared questionnaire on the classical rhetoric course offered in English departments, mailed it to 41 doctoral programs in rhetoric and composition, and eventually received 37 completed questionnaires. survey results not only reveal some foundations and direction of our programs in rhetoric and composition but also point out areas for further study. Does the program offer course in classical rhetoric and, if so, is the course part of the core requirement were two of the primary survey questions. Twenty-eight out of the 37 programs (76%) that sent written materials reported they offer course either in classical rhetoric or wherein substantial part is devoted to classical Eight (23%) do not offer the course, but in six of these eight the course is offered in Speech Communication. Two programs reported that the course is listed but not taught. And two programs reported the course is not offered at all. Four programs reported that the course offered in the English Department is also offered in Speech Communication. 76 percent of programs offering the course differ from the Chapman/Tate percentages because some of the 28 programs defined theirs as course in classical rhetoric where only one-third, about five weeks, or less, is devoted to classical These courses are, in the words of one respondent, a rush through rhetoric. Some courses, titled Rhetoric and (or Composition and Rhetoric), are actually topic courses that can take any focus. In one program it depends on who teaches the course whether it is history of rhetoric or the teaching of composition. Course names are quite varied. Only six are called History of Rhetoric, and two are named History and Theories. (The naming of one course title, survey respondent told me, has long and hilarious story. In 1976 the course had been The of Rhetoric, but that's the title of Richards' book, so the title was changed to Philosophy of Composition, which became the title of Hirsch's book, so the program changed it to its present title, The Rhetorical Tradition and the Teaching of Composition, at which point Knoblauch and Brannon appeared.) Other course titles are Theory and Practice of Rhetoric, Classical and Modern Discourse, Major Rhetorical Texts, Historical Studies, Rhetoric of Written Discourse. I was somewhat surprised that more of the course names didn't have the word written in the title to distinguish the course from the one offered in Speech for the last 75 years. Perhaps crossing departmental lines in the teaching of rhetoric is not the problem it was in the 70's. This subject itself would make an interesting study. classical rhetoric course is core requirement in 50 percent of the programs in contrast to the 91 percent of programs requiring composition theory. (In one program classical rhetoric is required, but it's offered only in Speech Communication.) These percentages suggest that we cannot assume the study of classical rhetoric as foundational for composition studies in our doctoral programs. In fact, it is possible for student to have Ph.D. specialty in rhetoric and composition without having had course in classical question here for further study is, then, how are we to define the rhetoric/composition speialist? next series of survey questions I asked focused on the frequency of the course offering, length of time it has been offered in the program, qualifications of the faculty who teach it, average enrollment and area of stuident specialty. In the majority of programs, the course is offered every other year and has been offered only within the last ten years. Usually, only one person teaches the course, faculty

Recombinant DNA technology: A topics course for undergraduates

This article describes the development of a topics course offered jointly through chemistry and biology departments called 'Recombinant DNA, A Short Course' that uses primary literature and explores economic, political, and ethical issues of genetic engineering.

The Academy's annual meeting

Since its beginning, the primary goal of the Academy has been to provide the highest-quality continuing medical education in dermatology and its related disciplines. The annual meeting, which has occurred in 47 of the Academy's 50 years, has been the preeminent vehicle for achieving this goal. For many American Academy of Dermatology members, the annual meeting is synonymous with the Academy. This perception is reflected in speech patterns. One member may ask, Are you going to the Academy next year?, while another reminisces about attending his first Academy as a resident. This perception may have been more accurate in the earlier years when the Academy's primary function seems to have been to produce the annual meeting. In more recent years, programs and services provided by the Academy have been expanded greatly. Continuing medical education offerings now include the Blue Journal, regional postgraduate courses, Dialogues in Dermatology, an annual Summer Session, and committee-sponsored courses in special topics. However, the annual meeting continues to be the most all-encompassing educational program in dermatology. Each year it brings together the greatest number of dermatologists to participate in the widest range of subjectcentered sessions, presented by the largest faculty in the world of dermatology. The annual meeting serves many purposes for its members. For the majority, the educational sessions are of primary importance. As evidence of this, hundreds of members rush to complete and return their advance registration forms as quickly as possible, competing for seats in the limited attendance courses, forums, and focus sessions. At the close of advance registration for the 1987 annual meeting, 31,303 tickets were issued to 4623 advance-registered physicians. Some choose to Cheryl K. Nordstedt, Director, Meetings and Conventions, American Academy of Dermatology.

A topics course in mathematics

A topics course in mathematics

A course project to design and implement the kernel of a real-time operating system

There is a desperate lack of training in real-time programming in the computer science curriculum. At best, students may write an interrupt driven program in an assembly language course. As a result, a majority of real-time programming in industry is done by enginers who understand hardware but have little training in program development for complex software systems. This paper describes a course project that can be used in an operating systems course or a course in real-time software design. The project development proceeds from the core of a real-time kernel outward to user calls to the kernel. The major components of this project are: the underlying data structures, the scheduler, input and output device drivers, programmer's interfaces to the system, and a series of user programs exercising the system. The original course was developed for an industrial environment where it proved to be quite successful. The project has been adapted for for use both in an operating systems course and a special topics course in real-time programming.

A Course Module The Politics of Abortion

Three years ago I proposed at SUNY Cortland (a liberal arts college emphasizing undergraduate education with a student population of about 5500) the creation of onecredit introductory level module topics courses in our Political Science Department. The purposes of these modules were several: 1) to provide faculty with a testing ground for new courses located at the upper level. One-credit topics modules would allow faculty to experiment with a new course or new subject on a smaller scale, avoiding the necessity of an intellectual and time investment in a full semester offering; 2)to provide some alternate introductory-level course offerings for non-political-science majors in addition to our two core offerings, Introduction to American Government, and Introduction to Comparative World Systems.

Contemporary trends in computing

Many computer science curricula use Special Topics courses as a vehicle to introduce students to new concepts and technologies. Although the same policy is practiced at our institution, one course required of our Associate Degree students provides a forum for surveying contemporary trends in computing. Such a course is essential for providing “a foundation of knowledge and skills sufficient to serve as a base for continued learning.” [1] The purpose and content of this course is the topic that follows.

The teaching and practice of software design concepts early in a CIS curriculum

The wealth of literature on software design issues has not yet been synthesized or organized for use beginning at the elementary levels of computing science curricula. Despite exposure to the literature and advanced level courses in software engineering topics, computer science education has failed to provide adequate tools and environments for repetitive practice of well known design and implementation techniques. Some reasons for this problem are outlined in this paper, and the necessity for urgent change is argued. A possible remedy for this situation is also described. A methodology for software design and implementation is outlined, and some simple tools that can provide a framework in which to practice this methodology are illustrated. The suggested technique is based upon the Jackson structured design process. It is shown that this technique can be applied equally as well to simple as well as moderately complex systems: to business systems as well as compilers, assemblers, and simulation systems. It is further suggested that the systems implemented using this technique naturally exhibit a number of properties now generally associated with good quality software. The described process is also shown to mirror abstraction-based approaches even down to the implementation level using a simple encapsulation unit in a Pascal-like pseudo code.

The Development of a Self-Guided, Library-Based Materials and Methods Manual for Social Work Research

This paper addresses the development and testing of a self-guided, library-based materials and methods manual that complements a course in social work research at the undergraduate level and graduate level. The paper outlines the content of the manual and discusses its interface with the content in social work research design coursework. The manual guides the student though the process of selecting a topic for research, identifying library reference resources to support the topic area selected and developing a bibliography of reference material relevant to the topic. A special selection of the manual addresses computer-based references. The manual is also designed to complement other courses in the social work curriculum such as policy analysis and other special topic courses.

Review of Doing Psychology Experiments. 2nd ed.

Originally published in Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 1985, Vol 30(11), 916-917. Reviews the book, Doing Psychology Experiments, 2nd ed by David W. Martin (1985). This is the second edition of author's introduction to research methodology. In revising his book he has maintained the style of the first edition, and with good reason. The book is easy and enjoyable reading and does an adequate, although superficial, job of covering a lot of ground. The style of this text is one of its greatest strengths. It is friendly and retains the cute cartoons from the first edition. If the book were intended to be an advanced text, this approach would obviously be out of place. It is clear, however, that this was never intended to be an in-depth study of research methodology. It is intended as the main text for a beginning experimental psychology course or as a companion text for other, specialty topic courses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

A topics course on chemical application of lasers

Lasers have become incredibly important tools in the past decades. For this reason, the author and his colleagues felt a course on chemical application of lasers would be timely.

Computers and the law (An experimental undergraduate course)

At the challenge of some good students, the Information Sciences Department at Taylor University decided to offer an overview course on computers and their legal implications for computer science majors and others interested in such a perspective. A two hour selected topic course was offered in the spring of 1980 to computer science majors, but open to any students who have taken at least one computer science course and had performed well in it. This paper reviews the content, successes and failures of this experimental course, with a view to assisting others who may wish to consider such an offering in the future.

Applying Reader-Response Analysis in Literature and Film Classes

As skills courses such as Business German grow in enrollment, many of us find it increasingly difficult to attract today's practically-oriented undergraduates to study of literature and film. Despite our arguments that literature and film classes provide a language experience and insights into cultures of German-speaking countries, many students today tend to see study of literature (and even of film) as an essentially purposeless activity reserved for an aesthetically-inclined elite. Recent theories of response aesthetics and critical practice founded upon them fortunately offer us a teaching method that can restore a sense of purpose to literature and film classes. This method engages students in analysis of texts and develops their skills as readers-not only of of literary text and verbal and nonverbal signiflers of film text, but of ideas, points of view, realities and levels of meaning expressed through them. The advantage this approach offers lies in critical shift from an emphasis on text read (and more or less passively consumed) to an emphasis on in act of reading, actively producing meaning of a text. By focusing on reading as a reciprocal transaction between and text (rather than a one-way transaction in which information flows from text to reader), reader-response theory allows us to focus on student's active role in reading significance into a text. In a very real sense, then, student's role as reader is as much the subject of course as texts that are studied, and this role is analyzed along with texts. The aims, generally, are to make students aware of their own roles in producing meanings of a literary or film text; to get them to recognize how certain texts guide, control, or even manipulate and how others release and induce a variety of responses; and to make them cognizant of extent to which their interpretive responses are dependent on their own emotional/intellectual disposition and their experiences as readers. More often than not, this approach leads students to a new appreciation not only of literature and film but of critical process itself. For in recognizing openness of text to a variety of possible meanings, they are actually able-usually for first time-to grasp workings of critical interpretation and, in comparing their interpretive responses with authoritative interpretations, to recognize

Special Topics Courses — A Happy Medium Between Mini-Courses and Full-Coverage Courses

A series of semester-long courses on individual earth/environmental science topics has been instituted into the non-major service-course sequence of the Department of Geology, University of South Carolina. These courses are in some instances outgrowths of a successful mini-course program; they allow students some choice in content to be studied. Further, these topics are covered in greater detail than in conventional full-coverage courses or mini-courses. Evaluations of the courses already instituted are consistently high and are encouraging us to expand the program.

On Diffusion, Diffusionism, and Cultural Materialism

or more times. These findings suggest that although three places are regarded as meccas of method and theory, considerable expertise is recognized elsewhere. The implications of the present findings are many, particularly for curriculum development and the organization of information flow in archaeological publications. The heavy emphasis on quantitative methods should lead to the inclusion of appropriate courses in archaeological curricula as early as possible in a student's training. In addition, the expansion and differentiation of topics should by itself lead to the demise of casual and one-semester exposures to method and theory. Archaeological curricula need to include separate courses in many topics, particularly those dealing with the central concerns of explanation, inference, analysis, and recovery. And finally, with the emergence of fullblown specialization in method and theory, it is necessary that information begin to flow consistently from the few people working on any topic to the rest of the profession who apply that knowledge. This will require development of specialty journals (in topics like ethnoarchaeology, lithic technology, and quantitative research) and of new publication outlets in which review articles are featured. In view of these considerations, Academic Press has established at my urging a new annual publication, Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, where syntheses of advances within specialized topics will be published. Volume 1 is scheduled to appear in mid-1978. The responses to the questionnaire have provided an interesting glimpse into the way that archaeological theoreticians and methodologists view current directions. Analyses of these data have documented the differentiation of method and theory and the development of considerable individual specialization. These findings portend good news for the fledgling science of archaeology. It is clear, however, that in order to reap the benefits of specialization and advances in knowledge within specialties, the discipline must adjust by restructuring curricula and by reorganizing the flow of topical information.