Publication Type: Roundtable
Abstract: Discussion of the training, support and implementation of a standards-based, formative assessment tool during the student-teaching semester. Initial data analysis revealed a shift from group concerns to a focus on individual students.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper will explore solutions and methods to teaching a one-semester course about European integration, encompassing both supra national as well as inter-governmental aspects. Most introductory courses on the European Union focus on the study of its institutions, polcies and the possible theories of its integration. This paper suggests that a fuller understanding of the EU can occur if professors integrate the study of EU institutions and policies with learning about politics in the individual member states from the start of the semester course. Since many students no longer take basic courses on European politics, courses on the European Union often need to be comprehensive in order to fill the gap left by the changing focus of the study of European politics. In this paper, we propose a course which combines a basic study of the EU with learning about politcs in the individual member states, and the roles that the member states play in implementing EU policies. We will also review the literature on teaching the EU and on active learning, such as using simulations so that we can demonstrate some effective techniques to facilitate the integration of EU politics with a better understanding of the needs of the member states. The paper also seeks to use the comparative study of several European states to better understand an international organization such as the European Union.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This three semester project was an outgrowth of a service learning grant awarded by the Louisiana Board of Regents in which faculty recipients spent one semester in the Fall of 2006 involved in service learning training as well as the planning and development of a service learning component to be introduced into a traditional classroom course. In the Spring of 2007, one section of a two section Juvenile Delinquency course incorporated a service learning component requirement for students to complete. Students were required to volunteer 20 hours minimum of volunteer service to one of more than 40 public and non-profit community organizations providing services to at-risk youth. Students choosing not to participate in service learning were permitted to transfer into the non-service learning course. Because of the success of this initial course, service learning was incorporated the following Fall 2007 semester into a Criminology course. This paper focuses on the outcomes of those two courses in which generally students reported ambivalence initially about performing mandatory voluntary service over the course of the semester, but at the completion of their service learning projects they expressed personal satisfaction in having received some "real world experience" from their coursework.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Twenty-two years after completion of a travel-study voyage around the world, a random sample of participants were asked to explore possible long-term effects. Answers to open-ended questions showed that they maintained a global perspective. Scores on Crumbaugh's Purpose in Life Test, based on Frankl's concepts, remained high. Life events such as career, marriage and parenthood showed further discovery of meaniing. The effect of Semester at Sea is discussed within the context of a lifespan developmental model.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Many college and university professors use simulations in their political science courses in order to engage the students, teach course content more effectively, and help students develop their abilities to negotiate and collaboratively solve problems. This paper is about a simulation in an American Politics course that is designed to act as an integrating tool to help the students see how many different parts of the American political system are connected to each other. The focus of the simulation is on Congress, but political issues, public opinion, interest groups, and elections are included. Students complete assignments they would complete anyway, with or without a simulation, but the context of the simulation enables them to see how the assignments – and the real politics – are tied together.