Students need far more than traditional academic skills to succeed in school, work and civic life. Decades of discussion about the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors that facilitate success in the information age have produced consensus that students should learn 21st century competencies. However, many schools struggle to meaningfully…

This book, written by authors representing 12 countries and five continents, is a collection of international perspectives on distance learning and distance learning implementations in higher education. The perspectives are presented in the form of practical case studies of distance learning implementations, research studies on teaching and…

This chapter outlines the theory of cost-benefit analysis and discusses its application to determining the cost-benefit of instructional development projects. Three types of applications are discussed: (1) descriptive applications of single projects; (2) predictive studies of proposed projects; and (3) comparative analysis of alternative projects…

Reviewed is the development and evaluation of the instructional quality inventory (IQI), a systematic methodology for reviewing the three major products of the Instructional Systems Design process--objectives, test items, and instruction--before conducting student tryouts. The empirically based instructional design support system aids developers…

Defines self-formative evaluation as the formative evaluation of instructional materials conducted during the development of the product by its users or developers. Topics discussed include the results of a study that examined users' attitudes toward such evaluation, their ability to execute it, and the effects of training on that ability. (CLB)

Differences between curriculum-based assessment and curriculum-based measurement (CBM) are outlined, and a rationale for CBM's standardized, long-term goal approach to measurement is presented. CBM can be used to develop instructional programs in four ways, including judging the appropriateness of goals and contrasting the efficacy of different…

The founding policies of precision teaching are discussed: monitor frequency daily, use self-recording, use standard charts to display major changes, and accept that the child knows best how he or she learns. Contributions of teachers that have furthered the development of precision teaching are documented. (JDD)

Teachers are provided with a model and general recommendations for efficient and effective instructional planning. The model, a map, begins with an identification of the major concepts, skills, and attitudes to be taught. A graphic route is then charted for logical planning towards achieving these instructional objectives. Nine…

This booklet begins by examining the role played by evaluation in course and curriculum development, and then shows how the basic "error elimination" approach advocated by the philosopher Karl Popper can be used as a basis for the on-going evaluation of instructional systems. Next, two contrasting paradigms of evaluation are described,…

This article describes a set of Preactive Decision Exercises (PreDEx) that can be used to evaluate teachers' planning abilities. The exercises present, through simulations, typical situations in which teachers must make planning decisions. The exercises were given to students entering a preservice teacher education program. (Author/PP)

Presents a systems model for developing instruction in the affective domain and offers a checklist for instructional design. Topics discussed include conducting a needs assessment; behavioral objectives; sequencing affective objectives; the relationship between affective and cognitive behaviors; selecting instructional procedures; and designing…

This article first discusses purposes for assessing mathematics performance, including comparison with peer performance, identifying mastered skills, and targeting mathematics strategies. It then explains a variety of assessment strategies, including teacher-made tests, checklists/rating scales, graphs of student performance, interviews, miscue…

This notebook is designed to help educators who are currently learning to design and present inservice programs, educators who are already inservice providers but who might benefit from an overview of inservice theory, and educators who are hiring, supervising, or evaluating inservice providers. It is divided into three parts: (1) Introduction and…

This booklet explores how a synergy between assessment and instruction can be forged to enhance student outcomes, especially for students with disabilities. The booklet defines and discusses assessment that enhances instruction, provides an overview of important criteria for judging the utility of this type of assessment, describes previous…

The Individualized Critical Skills Model (ICSM) is an individualized, systematic instructional process that emphasizes teaching severely handicapped learners relevant skills in the environment in which they would naturally occur. The manual is divided into three sections. The first section discusses the historical perspective of the ICSM and gives…