This paper reports on implementing learning plans at an Australian university and their perceived use in supporting doctoral candidates' professional and academic development. The implementation of individualised learning plans for doctoral candidates was the outcome of university-wide discussions regarding coursework in the PhD. Based on a review…

The term "best practice" is widely used throughout education despite lack of evidence or consensus concerning which practices are "best." The pervasive use of this term creates three problems. First, it promotes a plug-and-play approach, in which teachers are encouraged to adopt new methods and use them as much as possible but…

The authors describe a vocational training course that was developed to give more than just an overview of how aircraft work, or a course on how to fly. This training course was a half-year course in aviation technology. Powered flight is an area of interest for many students, and the intent of creating a curriculum rich with science, technology,…

"Professional School Counseling" is a comprehensive, single source for information about the critical issues facing school counselors today. This third edition of the Handbook integrates and expands on the changes brought about by the ASCA National Model. Revisions to each chapter reflect the influence of the model. Several new chapters…

This research investigates the utility of advance organizers and behavioral objectives in a traditional introductory physics class at the college level. The advance organizer was designed to compare and contrast content to be learned with content previously studied or with assumed common knowledge. Behavioral objectives listed the expected…

In order to optimize learner performance in all the conditions of learning, Gagne proposed the application of a nine-step process called the events of instruction. Events 1, 2, and 3--gaining attention, informing learners of the learning objective, and reminding learners of prerequisite skills fall within the rubric of preinstructional activities.…

Issues relating to the design, selection, and evaluation of learning activities have been relatively neglected in educational research and scholarship. This paper identified some fundamental questions in need of scholarly attention, reviews recent research findings, and then offers a conceptual analysis and a tentative list of principles that…

A study to determine some conditions to be used to communicate desired instructional outcomes to students in order to produce learning was conducted. A commercial game called "Think-A-Dot" consisting of a series of flip-flops encased in plastic was employed as the learning task. Three independent variables were experimentally…

What's the hardest part of history? Heads of Year 9 at options time seem depressingly clear--"Don't do history, there's too much writing." David Hellier and Helen Richards show that at The Green School it is reading that used to be the problem. At every level students found it difficult to assimilate, transform and use information by…

Evaluation techniques were designed to improve learner performance through use of pre-specified popular instructional objectives. Current curriculum planning and evaluation practices are examined. Two common evaluation malpractices are: (1) the tendency to treat the content of the program as the most important criterion for evaluation, (2) the…

A project is described which developed a course outline, competencies, and learning modules for a course in classroom evaluation which will be offered as a part of the Wisconsin Vocational, Technical, and Adult Education (VTAE) Spiral Curriculum designed to meet VTAE teacher certification requirements. The procedures outlined involved an advisory…

This first in a series of six learning modules on instructional evaluation is designed to give secondary and postsecondary vocational teachers help in identifying and establishing the criteria for student performance and relating these criteria to other steps in the instructional process. The terminal objective for the module is to establish…

This fifth in a series of six learning modules on instructional evaluation is designed to give secondary and postsecondary vocational teachers help in developing a basis for assigning grades to students and devising efficient procedures for arriving at these grades. The terminal objective for the module is to determine student grades in an actual…

This second in a series of six learning modules on instructional evaluation is designed to give secondary and postsecondary vocational teachers help in assessing student performance as it relates to knowledge of the facts, data, related information, and procedures taught in their vocational courses. The terminal objective for the module is to…

This third in a series of six learning modules on instructional evaluation is designed to give secondary and postsecondary vocational teachers help in evaluating student affective performance and developing items and/or devices for assessing affective performance. The terminal objective for the module is to assess student affective (attitudes)…