Defending the Community College Equity Agenda, edited by Dr. Thomas Bailey and Dr. Vanessa Smith Morest, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, is the newest resource to come from Columbia University’s Community College Research Center.

As this example illustrates, scholarship doesn't always have to take the form of articles in refereed journals and sometimes when the scholarship is pedagogical, other formats make very good sense.

Here’s an idea of that could benefit every discipline. A couple of psychology faculty members surveyed job ads posted by their professional association to identify which courses new faculty were most often asked to teach. They identified four courses, listed in 45 percent of the ads. Their point: graduate schools ought to be sure that their students are prepared to teach these courses.

Faculty need to consider learning objectives, learning styles, accessibility, cost, and available technical support when designing distance learning courses, says Laurie Hillstock, manager of distance learning at Clemson University.

The September 4 blog offers criteria for assessing the contributions of individual students when they work on group projects.

Faculty need to be very careful about how they commit their time and energy, so any potential partnership with student affairs need to be compelling and clearly articulated.

Learning communities, an approach to curriculum design that links two or more courses, can improve student success and retention and help students develop effective learning habits. Learning communities also can improve the instructors' teaching by exposing them to new teaching techniques and exploring connections between disciplines they might not have considered. However, to be successful, they require more planning and coordination than traditional courses, which requires a systematic approach to faculty development and support.

Nova Southeastern University's Master's in Health Law program is designed to encourage the creation of learning communities in which students view each other as partners rather than isolated individuals who happened to be working toward similar goals.

Susan Baim, assistant professor of business technology at Miami University-Middletown, uses weblogs to supplement her face-to-face courses to