Disciplinary Differences in Course Planning

A nationally representative sample of faculty teaching introductory college courses revealed ten factors influencing course planning. Discipline-related content and perceptions of student characteristics were important influences while facilities, resources, and campus support services were far less influential. The strength of these influences differed substantially by discipline but only modestly by institutional type. The authors constructed ten reliable scales from the derived factors that can be used to assess the relative strength of influences on campuses.