Educating for the 21st Century.

Four of the most important issues currently facing higher education are the need to make students the central focus, to restore public trust and demonstrate accountability, to manage limited resources more efficiently and effectively, and to utilize the power of technology. The driving forces behind these directions are public disaffection, financial constraints, the power and promise of new technology, and a growing enthusiasm for change, especially among faculty of community colleges. One example of this enthusiasm for improving the profession of teaching is a 1990 Carnegie Foundation report calling for the recognition of the distinct scholarships of discovery, integration, application, and teaching. In addition, the concept and practices of Classroom Assessment and Classroom Research developed at the University of California, Berkeley attempt to involve college teachers in these multiple scholarships. The project has put together 50 Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) to give teachers immediate feedback on how well students are learning. One simple assessment technique is the "Minute Paper," where before the end of the class period students write about the most important thing they learned and their main unanswered question. Faculty involvement in Classroom Assessment helps complement and strengthen the renewed emphasis on excellence in teaching, helps faculty understand the relevance of institutional assessment to their own work, and can help prepare faculty for a leadership role in the restructuring of teaching and learning. (Contains 12 references.) (KP)