Consistency among the objectives, learning activities, and assessment exercises results in aligned courses, which give students direction and clarity and yield increased learning. However, instructors may not check for course alignment. This article describes a concrete way to determine course alignment by plotting the course components on a table…

The purpose of this study was to test the relative efficacy of two different symbolic role modelings on the desired learning. Statistical significance was obtained in the level of acquisition responses by the two modeling treatments over the two control treatments and the modeling treatment with attentional variables over the modeling-only…

This paper considers the possibility and desirability of competency-based education. It examines the present status of behavioral objectives and reviews a recent assessment of most empirical studies on behavioral objectives. It then presents a comparative consideration and assessment of the following teaching models: (1) the impression model, (2)…

In response to the decline in thinking, reading, and writing skills, as indicated by the latest report of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, this paper offers elementary school teachers one framework for a classroom writing program to cultivate a reading-writing-thinking connection. Based on six categories of B. Bloom's taxonomy…

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…

The third of four symposium papers argues that, if instructional methods are to improve learning, they must have two aspects: a direct trace to a specific learning process, and empirical support that demonstrates their significance. Focusing on the tracing process, the paper presents an information processing model of learning that can be used by…

Identifies hindsight bias as the tendency to exaggerate one's ability to have foreseen the outcome of an event after learning the outcome. Describes a class project where students predicted the verdict of the O. J. Simpson trial one week before the verdict and hypothesized a jury response a month later. (MJP)

This module on the learning process is the tenth of 11 modules in the set, Introduction to Teaching Adults. Designed to meet the learning needs of part-time continuing education instructors, these modules can be used as resource materials for local workshops or study-discussion groups, as self-instruction (each module takes approximately two…

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…

Designed to supplement already existing life skills instructional materials, this manual consists of 30 lessons to help students develop general, transferrrable skills in four areas--attending behaviors, cognition, self-management, and critical thinking. The following topics are among those covered in the lessons: eye contact, body posture,…

Six tasks designed to prepare teachers to develop behavioral objectives are detailed: (1) Define "behavioral objective," and list characteristics of behavioral objectives. (2) Distinguish between objectives which are behaviorally stated and those which are not. (3) Write behavioral objectives for learning activities appropriate to your…