Volume 8, Number 1
Spring 2003

(See the Indexes Page
for Previous Issues)


Virginia Currency, 1777

Training Spotting: An American Observes Occupational Learning in England
By Thomas L. Long

English further education and American higher education and continuing education institutions have valuable lessons to teach each other. American community colleges can learn from English standards and assessment practices and innovative partnerships. English further education institutions can learn from Americans' emphasis on accessibility to education.
Drama in the Developmental Classroom: August Wilson’s A Piano Lesson as Text
By Carrie Dorsey
Dorsey shares her practice of using a written play to connect the knowledge students bring to the classroom with Howard Gardner’s concept of multiple intelligences.
Examining the Relationship between Student Scores on the National Council Licensing Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) and the Computer Adaptive Test (CAT)
By Barbara B. Laird
Laird studies the relationship between two computerized nursing tests and finds a relationship between the two sets of scores.
Characteristics of Successful Adult Distance Instructors for Adult Learners
By Nora N. Smith
Smith probes the relationship between the characteristics of older adult learners and the teaching success of distance educators.
Community Colleges in America: A Historical Perspective
By Richard L. Drury
Drury traces the development of community colleges in America from their earliest days through modern times.
A Survey of VCCS Colleges’ Local Boards
By Victoria D. Malick
Malick makes recommendations for local boards based on a recent VCCS survey which sought to determine how the State Governing Board could assist and support the members of the local boards in their role as advisors to their presidents and institutions.
A Study of Native Spanish Speakers’ Writing in English for Teachers
By Todd O. Williams
This essay will be helpful to those with little Spanish background who are teaching Spanish-speaking, particularly Mexican, students or writers who are writing in English as their second language.
Students’ Perspectives on Foreign Language Anxiety
By Renée von Wörde
Von Wörde identifies those factors which may contribute to anxiety and those which may reduce anxiety in learning a second language.

Viewpoints

This new column welcomes diverse opinions on topics of concern to VCCS faculty, staff, administrators, and students. In each issue of Inquiry, we will pose a question that invites a variety of responses and publish several of these in the following issue of the journal.

Are Dual Enrollment Classes in the Best Interest of Our Students?
By Alan M. Harris
Dual enrollment classes offer advantages to colleges and students alike.
Is Dual Enrollment in the Best Interest of Our Students?
By Earl Simpson
Simpson argues that in dual enrollment all the advantages appear to be on the side of the community college.