Active learning: usually contrasted with a straight lecture method, active
learning involves students in course material through carefully constructed
activities which range from "buzz groups," in which pairs of students
discuss material during a calculated pause in a lecture, to role-playing, case
studies, group projects, and seminars.
Assessment: systematic gathering of information (and acting upon that information) for purposes of improving the learning and the teaching in educational settings.
Classroom research: popularized by Tom Angelo and Patricia Cross, a method for eliciting, analyzing and responding to student feedback on their progress in achieving course goals.
Cluster: a learning community model in which a cohort of students enrolls in two, three, or four discrete courses linked by common themes, historical periods, issues or problems.The faculty of the cluster courses may create some, or a great deal of connections between classes.
Collaborative learning: an umbrella term for a variety of educational approaches involving joint intellectual effort by students or students and teachers together; usually groups of two or more students mutually search for understanding, meaning or solutions or create a product.
Coordinated studies: a learning community model using a team-taught, multi-disciplinary program of study. A cohort of students and a team of faculty drawn from different disciplines use a block of time to examine a central theme. All faculty attend all parts of the program, and learning occurs in a variety of formats (lecture, lab, workshop, seminar).
Ethnic autobiography: a particular approach to autobiography that emphasizes the influence of group affiliation-the group may be gender, race, ethnicity, religion-on the writer's development.
FTE (full-time equivalency): can refer to either faculty or student load, used to calculate enrollment for purposes of funding. One FTE represents a full-time unit load.
Freshman Interest Groups: a learning community model in which a cohort of freshman students enrolls as a small group in two or more regular, large classes and meets weekly with a peer advisor.
Interdisciplinary course: a single course that brings the perspective of more than one discipline to investigate a theme, historical period, issue or problem.
Learning community: a purposeful restructuring of curriculum to link together courses or coursework so that students find greater coherence in what they are learning and greater interaction with faculty and peers.
Linked courses: a learning community model in which a cohort of students enrolls concurrently in two courses, frequently a skills course and a content course. Faculty coordinate the courses to varying degrees.
Measure of Intellectual Development (MID): A qualitative instrument used to assess students' perspectives on knowledge and learning, using the framework of the Perry Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development.
Persistence: refers to a student's continued enrollment in college beyond any particular term.
Portfolio: generally a collection of an individual student's work in a class, presented to the faculty member for evaluation at points along the way or at the end of the class. Some portfolios include a synthesis paper that summarizes and distills the work and offers a self-evaluation.
Retention: refers to a student's completion of a particular course in a particular term.
SGID, or Small Group Instructional Diagnosis: a formative, mid-course assessment whereby a whole class of students gives anonymous feedback about what is helping and hindering their achieving course goals and makes suggestions for improving their learning.
Stand-alone course: the conventional way of offering courses in higher education. A single instructor presents a discipline-specific approach to a field of knowledge.
Student self-evaluation: both process and product, a form of narrative writing in which students describe their learning in a particular course of study and make qualitative judgments about it.