Improving professional learning for educators is a crucial step in transforming schools and improving academic achievement. To meet federal requirements and public expectations for school and student performance, the nation needs to bolster teacher skills and knowledge to ensure that every teacher is able to teach increasingly diverse learners,…

The field of academic development emerged in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of student concern and unrest about poor teaching. This led to the creation of the first development units and a focus on course ratings which contributed to a thirty-plus year history of research emerging from a psychological perspective. In this article, the author…

To attain highly efficient instructional conditions, it is important to adapt instruction to the individual trainee. This so-called personalization of training by dynamic/automatic task selection is the focus of this paper. Recently, cognitive load measures have been proposed as a useful addition to conventional performance measures like speed and…

A new division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), the Division of Instructional Development (DID), invited papers by five leaders in the field to provide a starting place for defining and exploring instructional development (ID). The first paper argues that definitions are restrictive and should be used only…

A practitioner discusses the problems associated with instructional development (ID) and makes practical recommendations for improving faculty morale and interest, for organizing ID staff, and for improving ID administrative management. (DC)

Profiles the career and contributions of educator and historian Lucy Maynard Salmon. Salmon's work on uniform standards for college admission became the basis of the College Entrance Examination. She developed a curriculum for elementary school history instruction that incorporated classical literature, folk tales, and biographies. (MJP)

Highlights the differences between American and Australian undergraduate economics instruction and indicates those aspects of the American teaching model likely to be adapted. Specifically, Australian teachers favored deemphasizing the traditional lecture/tutorial model in favor of a more student-oriented approach. (MJP)

This presentation addresses three topics: (1) the assessment of professional learning communities in schools; (2) the design and development of professional learning communities in schools; and (3) the effects of professional learning communities in schools. The purpose of this brief document is to share descriptions, processes, and materials…

This paper explores the challenges instructional technology presents to faculty and administration. For example: students will not accept lectures that fail to draw upon Internet resources; integrating technology sparks the faculty debate that the use of technology will "dehumanize teaching and learning"; community college professors…