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Dissertation Information for Julie A. Caplow

NAME:
- Julie A. Caplow
- (Alias) Julie Allison Hughes

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Education

SCHOOL:
- University of Iowa (USA) (1987)

ADVISORS:
- None

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: DEPARTMENTAL CHOICES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A UNIVERSITY GENERAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM

Abstract: "One of the major instructional goals of comprehensive research universities is general education. Although the curriculum is usually defined on an institution-wide basis, the responsibility for defining goals in operational form and for initiating and implementing courses typically rests with academic departments.

Grounded theory was used to develop and test propositions about the factors that influence the choices made by academic departments at research universities as they implement their segment of a distribution requirement based general education curriculum. Data were collected through interviews and analysis of documents.

Three conclusions were derived from the data. First, a primary goal of academic departments is the attainment of prestige, which is gained by the research accomplishments of the faculty and by the strength of their graduate programs. Second, participation in general education provides a means for departments to acquire some of the resources needed for prestige-seeking activities and creates a demand for instruction that requires human resources (faculty and graduate assistants). The acquisition of general education and graduate assistant resources occurs in the context of two interrelated markets: a market for general education enrollments and a market for graduate students qualified for teaching assistantships. Third, departments attempt to implement general education courses efficiently by allocating and utilizing human resources (faculty and graduate assistants) in terms of their goal for prestige. Departmental efficiency is reflected in the allocation of graduate teaching assistants to general education instruction. Faculty efficiency is reflected in the standardization of course materials and/or the direct management of teaching assistants. The nature of the field (high versus low paradigm) determines the feasible level of standardization which in turn determines the level of direct faculty management needed to coordinate courses.

Using a traditional model of choice, an explanation of general education at comprehensive research universities was framed on two levels: a macro level that explains the role of general education in terms of department-college/university relationships, and a micro level that describes the implementation of general education within departments."

MPACT Scores for Julie A. Caplow

A = 0
C = 6
A+C = 6
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2010-03-28 20:17:48

Advisors and Advisees Graph