Community Colleges in America
In 1983 and 1984, a dozen major reports on the United States' schools were published. All stressed the need for "excellence" in education. These reports are the subject of: Excellence in Education: Perspectives on Policy and Practice. The reports pertaining to higher education were published by The BusinessHigher Education Forum, and saw higher education as "unable to train skilled managers and technicians that they believed industry needed." (Altbach 32) These reports essentially claim that student achievement has declined at technical schools because schools "do not demand enough of their students, do not apply stiff criteria for promotion, do not test students enough, and particularly in high school, provide students with too many choices about what subjects they study." (Altbach 32) These reports are somewhat dated in that they compare American students with Japanese students and focus on technical proficiency vs. The intuitive grasp of problems and methodologies for solving these problems, since cited as a forte of American workers. The reports hold that graduates are mediocre at best -- and that this mediocrity (which is directly produced by the schools) is responsible for high unemployment rates and America's decline in defense and in world trade. The Paideia Proposal and the College Board Reports claim that colleges have slackened their admissions requirements, letting in a larger proportion of unqualified applicants. These reports claim that schools can rectify this matter by teaching students more English and Foreign languages, focusing on the sciences at the high school level, and then using aptitude tests to measure performance in these subjects at the college level. These reports fault schools for not encouraging students to enroll in math-related or biology programs.
In "A Handbook on the Community College in America," Baker, Dudziak and Tyler provide a comprehensive study of the history and development of the 2-year college, current teaching methodologies, and how these colleges function in an urban setting. In "Part 3: Curriculum and Instructional Development in The Community College," the third chapter of the Handbook, Albert Smith details the teaching practices utilized in American Community Colleges. The chapter includes "a brief history of instructional innovation and change in U.S. community colleges, describe the increasingly diverse student body that now attends U.S. two-year colleges, and consider the future, including a discussion of some learning principles, a learning theory, and research on community college faculty that should be useful to community college faculty in future years."
(Baker, Dudziak and Tyler 206) The book not only talks about teaching methodologies at 2-year schools but also dedicates sections to the history of community colleges and how they interact with the urban learning environment.
In "Students' Learning Styles in Two Classes Online Distance Learning and Equivalent On-Campus," a journal article by Ryan B. Cartnal and David P. Diaz of Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, California, the authors discuss the comparative merits of online and classroom instruction, and conclude that 'telecourse' learning is best suited for those who have gained some experience through work, such as adult learners who wish to acquire or finish a degree online. "Successful telecourse students [prefer] to look for abstract concepts to help explain the concrete experiences associated with their learning. That is, they wanted to know "why" certain things happened in conceptual or theoretical terms. This more abstract approach clearly favored success in the telecourse." (Cartnal and Diaz 130) The study also found that students in a distance learning class who possess a more independent and conceptual learning style scored higher in all of the student achievement areas than people who had a more social and conceptual learning style. A regression was used, in which it was found that "Correlational analysis within the online group showed a negative relationship between the independent learning style and the collaborative and dependent styles. In other words, people who were more independent in their learning styles also tended to be less collaborative and dependent." (Cartnal and Diaz 130)
Richard Miller, Charles Finley and Candace Shedd Vancko's work, "Evaluating, Improving, and Judging Faculty Performance in Two-Year Colleges" focuses mostly on improving the performance of teachers, although it isn't as heavily dependent on new methodologies than many of the other works are. He looks to the institutional culture of these colleges as to provide an example for teachers. His perspective is the opposite of those found in 4-year schools: the professors in such institutions professors are revered and many believe the administration to be poorly organized.
Jonathan L. Ross, a doctoral candidate in educational technology, and Robert A. Schulz, a professor...
Students level of skills How students are relating to vocabulary usage Time segments in minutes Notes need help (more than 20% are unable to process) Students are spending more time working independently. Fewer students need assistance from teacher. A somewhat skilled (10-20% need some assistance from teacher) working independently (fewer than 10% need assistance from teacher Learning Styles used Time segments in minutes Notes Verbal/Linguistic Visual/Spatial Body/Kinesthetic Interpersonal Intrapersonal Musical Naturalistic Student Engagement Indicators - Make notes of overall impression of the lesson: Students Given Choices Give
Learning Styles Special Ed Standard Reflective paper on student differences and learning style approaches This paper provides a brief overview of different learning styles and the types of accommodations teachers can make in the classroom Learning styles: An overview "Students learn in many ways -- by seeing and hearing; reflecting and acting; reasoning logically and intuitively; memorizing and visualizing and drawing analogies and building mathematical models; steadily and in fits and starts. Teaching methods
Naturally, visual learners do not enjoy reading books as auditory learners would, as written information is mostly processed in the mind's ears rather than by visualizing the text. Finally, a Kinesthetic or Tactile learner will predominantly learn information through touch and movement. In other words, kinesthetic learners would enjoy hands on laboratory session more than a routine class lecture. They also like to simulate events to understand them better.
15-17). For teachers of language and literacy, fine arts, and physical education this process is almost more important, as students probably come to these classes with pre-determined notions based on their learning styles. For instance, a student who is not a kinesthetic learner my frown on physical education. For this reason, teachers instructing in physical education should be sure to use a variety of visual, auditory, and other methods
growing recognition of the changing educational needs of college students, particularly those attending community colleges. In response to this awareness, reform efforts have been implemented in order to meet the needs of students. As reform efforts have been considered, increasing attention has been directed toward assessing the influence of learning styles on academic performance. The term 'learning styles' has been used to refer to the ways in which individuals
University Students Engaged in Paid Employment APA- 6th Edition For various reasons, there has been an increase in employment in university students. One reason for this shift is a change in the demographics of university students. No longer are university students primarily composed of young adults who transition immediately from primary education to the university setting. Instead, many university students are non-traditional students. Many of them are older, have families, and have
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