In this regular feature of "Educational Technology," Michael F. Shaughnessy and Juchao Yan present their interview with Robert Talbert, Associate Professor, Mathematics Department, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan. Their interview centered around thirteen questions that professor Talbert provided enlightening responds…

In this year-long qualitative study we explore the case of two eighth grade U.S. History teachers who use simulations on a regular basis to teach heterogeneously-grouped students in a high-stakes testing environment. We describe the purposes the teachers espoused for implementing simulations and provide detailed portraits of three types of…

As teachers, schools and school leaders work to better prepare California's culturally and linguistically diverse students, methods for doing so vary widely. One approach prioritizes safe spaces, welcoming environments, well-structured routines--school and classroom culture features essential for students' well-being. A second key priority, often…

Central to the future of rhetoric and composition (or writing studies or whatever label we use) is the service mission of composition: to teach students to write. But that term "service" has not and will not serve us well. This essay examines the limitations and dangers of a service mission and explores a different model, that of a franchise, a…

Methods of second language instruction that actively integrate common language usage are encouraged, as opposed to those that reduce language to phraseological inventories. The former approach is deemed essential to developing communicative competence. (MSE)

Surveys the literature regarding the use of behavioral objectives in education and in foreign language instruction and examines the roots of the behavioral objectives movement in behaviorist psychology and the scientific management movement of the 1920s. Discusses implications for foreign and second language learning and provides suggestions for…

Urges the use of Bloom's taxonomies in literature instruction because in transmuted form they lead to fairness and openness in instruction, particularly on examinations. (CRH)

Attempts to make teaching an exact science--and the move toward behavioral objectives has been the foremost of these attempts--is more than just a bother or an inconvenience. It is a genuinely negative force in teaching, a firm and depressing clamp on both teacher and student. (Author/SJL)

Discusses four major elements of computer assisted instruction (CAI) program (instructional objectives; presentation, interaction, feedback); describes attributional consistency, which involves developing CAI programs so each major element has a common topography (e.g., to discriminate, describe, demonstrate, depict graphically); and presents…

Focuses on methods for the development of a comprehensive library skills program, the identification of appropriate instructional strategies, and the continuing education of librarians. (Author/LLS)

Keyboarding differs from typewriting in the basic purpose it serves. Keyboarding is the act of entering alphanumeric data on a keyboard of information processing equipment for the purpose of obtaining or communicating information. The target populations for keyboarding are those whose typewriting skill will be primary to their vocations, those…

Several examples are provided of criterion checklists, which are defined as documents which include qualities of actions necessary in a desired performance or qualities of elements necessary in a desired product. How and when to use checklists in skill teaching and how to create them are discussed. (MBR)

Three basic evaluation styles are discussed: (1) Process approach--organization, comportment and presentation; (2) Presage--qualifications, personal qualities, physical appearance; (3) Product--learning outcomes. The pros and cons of these evaluation styles are presented, and suggestions are made to make evaluation more useful in determining…

Debate regarding the teaching of reading as skills versus reading as securing ideas has been in evidence for some time. The "measurably stated objectives" philosophy emphasizes that the act of reading should be divided into specific skills in which the inherent component parts are identified and a highly detailed list of precise objectives are…

Examines the implications of cognitive psychology for some of the fundamental components of instructional development. Behaviorism and information processing are compared in their relationships to instructional design, and potential changes for such ideas as objectives, evaluation, instructional taxonomies, content analysis, and instructional…