Shaping the College Curriculum focuses on curriculumdevelopment as an important decision-making process in colleges anduniversities. The authors define curriculum as an academic plandeveloped in a historical, social, and political context. Theyidentify eight curricular elements that are addressed,intentionally or unintentionally, in developing all college coursesand programs. By exploring the interaction of these elements incontext they use the academic plan model to clarify the processesof course and program planning, enabling instructors andadministrators to ask crucial questions about improving teachingand optimizing student learning. This revised edition continues to stress research-basededucational practices. The new edition consolidates and focusesdiscussion of institutional and sociocultural factors thatinfluence curricular decisions. All chapters have been updated withrecent research findings relevant to curriculum leadership,accreditation, assessment, and the influence of academic fields,while two new chapters focus directly on learning research and itsimplications for instructional practice. A new chapter drawn fromresearch on organizational change provides practical guidance toassist faculty members and administrators who are engaged inextensive program improvements. Streamlined yet still comprehensiveand detailed, this revised volume will continue to serve as aninvaluable resource for individuals and groups whose work includesplanning, designing, delivering, evaluating, and studying curriculain higher education. "This is an extraordinary book that offers not a particularcurriculum or structure, but a comprehensive approach for thinkingabout the curriculum, ensuring that important considerations arenot overlooked in its revision or development, and increasing thelikelihood that students will learn and develop in waysinstitutions hope they will. The book brings coherence andintention to what is typically an unstructured, haphazard, and onlypartially rational process guided more by beliefs than byempirically grounded, substantive information. Lattuca and Starkpresent their material in ways that are accessible and applicableacross planning levels (course, program, department, andinstitution), local settings, and academic disciplines. It's anadmirable and informative marriage of scholarship and practice, andan insightful guide to both. Anyone who cares seriously about howwe can make our colleges and universities more educationallyeffective should read this book." ?Patrick T. Terenzini, distinguished professor andsenior scientist, Center for the Study of Higher Education, ThePennsylvania State University