We conducted interviews with 16 postsecondary students at a large public university on pollination systems knowledge. A semi-structured interview protocol was developed with open-ended prompts to elicit student explanations of pollination systems. Congruent themes were developed through coding of the interview transcripts into low, medium, and…

The Sustainable Development Goals highlight the critical importance of pre-primary education and set the broad ambition that by 2030 all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education. Today, the world is facing a learning crisis: While millions of…

Family engagement is essential to high quality services for all children in early childhood care and education. From the beginning of life, families nurture their children and the capacities they will need to be ready for school. The Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework for Early Childhood Systems is a guide to understanding…

Literature indicates that there is limited research on the national and organizational level decision processes to develop and deliver e-learning programs. In this paper, existing e-learning literature is analyzed in terms of national level factors (national culture, readiness for new technology, and infrastructure), organizational level factors…

In an effort to be comprehensive, schools often outline sweeping plans for improvement in multiple goal areas. Although well-intended, the efforts may be either too diffuse to have much impact, or so overwhelming that staff become immobilized. A school that chooses to proceed in too limited a manner, on the other hand, may run the risk of…

In a case study of a large Australian university the metaphor of panarchy is used as a means of describing and understanding the complex interrelationships of multi-scale institutional projects and the influences of a variety factors on the potential success of e-learning initiatives. The concept of para-analysis is introduced as a management…

The Michigan-Ohio Regional Educational Laboratory uses one of its own research projects as a model to outline recommended procedures in the planning of research efforts. The model used is an inservice teacher education program where three distinct phases operate in an overlapping manner as the program progresses. In the first phase, the problem is…

A continuation of a two-part article about performance appraisal programs, this part examines program design and implementation. Topics covered include a systems approach, designing forms and establishing procedure, and maintaining the program. (TA)

Findings are presented from an experimental study of consultants, a three-year project funded by the Human Services Development Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the purpose of which was to provide a technology for use by consultants within youth-serving organizations in the diffusion and utilization of innovative programs.…

The primary purpose of this project was to develop a procedural model for improving vocational guidance programs in senior high schools. Using a systems approach, the model: (1) emphasizes student behavioral objectives, (2) gives alternative methods for accomplishing these objectives, (3) provides program evaluation strategies, (4) incorporates…

This manual provides a set of guidelines for organizing and conducting workshops or other in-service training programs to develop the planning skills of corrections personnel. The guidelines are intended to be flexible rather than fixed, to permit agencies as much latitude as possible in adapting the needs. The materials presented address the…

Provides guidelines for systemic change in education. Presents an overview of the change process. Discusses preparing for change; building a core team to lead the design effort; transforming vision into system design; shifting focus from planning to implementation; and implementation, summative evaluation, and closure. (AEF)

Based on the assumption that the steps involved in the total Peace Corps program-training process as well as the interrelationship of programing and training are essential to a trainer's ability to design, implement, and evaluate good training, the 11 steps of the program-training-evaluation process are described here with illustrative diagrams…

This manual presents a self-instructional program designed to acquaint educators with general systems theory as it applies to instructional development practices and the diffusion of instructional innovations. It is also intended to provide an intellectual and emotional frame of reference for individuals undertaking instructional development…

Presents general systems models (ballistic system, guided system, and adaptive system) and an evaluation matrix to help in examining training evaluation alternatives and in deciding what evaluation is appropriate. Includes some guidelines for conducting evaluation studies using four designs (control group, reversal, multiple baseline, and…