Curriculum developers must work hard to avoid the "what errors" of curriculum development. They must avoid failing to teach what should be taught and teaching what is no longer relevant and needed. Curriculum "what errors" are likely to occur when teachers design courses so as to teach what they know best, what they were…

This overview of an introductory, graduate level course in instructional systems design taught at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville stresses the point that professors of instructional design need to utilize the concepts, principles, and procedures which they present in their courses. Special attention is given to the analysis, development,…

A word of caution is needed about the tendency of language teachers to seize on simplistic and unproven solutions to complex problems. For example, the concept of individualization, when it is limited to having students work in isolation to fulfill mechanically-prescribed objectives, should be questioned. The so-called "systems approach" to…

Communication as a discipline is studied in varied contexts: interpersonal, group, organizational, mediated, and public communication. To make clear to students the commonness and not the differences among the contexts, the hybrid basic course should not be taught in separate units as if group communication were a different species from…

The prototypal course in newspaper management described in this paper is based on systems analysis and the systems flow approach. The introductory section of the paper discusses the need for instruction in newspaper management, the concepts of the systems approach and systems flow and the way they relate to enterprise management, and specific…

This paper describes a theoretical perspective in which teacher performance and classroom procedures in technology-based settings can be observed and compared. The paper uses as an example the Systems Thinking and Curriculum Innovation Network (STACIN) Project, which implements a simulation-modeling software package as an analytic problem solving…

Research indicates that skills in listening to and motivating people need to be emphasized more in undergraduate business communication courses. Three theories of motivation--Maslow's hierarchy of needs, McClelland's achievement motive, and Hersberg's motivation-hygiene theory--can introduce students to the systems perspective, an approach…

The development of course materials at the Open Learning Institute, British Columbia, Canada, is examined from two perspectives: as an industrial process and as a social process. The public institute provides distance education through paced home-study courses. The course team model used at the Institute is a system approach. Course development…

In recent years, Australia's system of adult and community education (ACE) has broadened to include vocational learning as well as the hobby, enrichment, and personal development traditionally provided by ACE in the past. A study examined the views of ACE providers, ACE students, and industry organizations regarding ACE vocational education and…