Needs assessment identifies "real world" problems to result in priorities for action. It is used for educational planning, but is inconsistently practiced and poorly researched. This paper describes how 14 novices conducted needs assessments and explains the outcomes. The research context was a year-long fellowship in medical education in which…

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…

A participatory model of public relations proposed by Dean Kruckeberg and Kenneth Starck would seek not to serve a public but to build a sense of community. In this model the advocacy focus of the publicity model is dropped and there is a movement toward relationships rather than selling products and services. Leaving behind the journalistic…

This paper, which updates and expands on the first edition (1981), begins by presenting a definition of instructional development (ID) and a discussion of its origins. A taxonomy for classifying ID models is then suggested, and it is noted that most ID models have been subjected to only a limited degree of testing. The 12 ID models that are…

This digest issues a call to make good on the rhetoric of "integrated attention to the whole child" and provides some suggestions about how that might be done, beginning with combined interventions aimed at improving the nutritional status and the psychosocial development of the young child. After an introductory chapter that provides a…

The manual provides teaching approaches based on a model of least to highest modification of instruction, which may be used for a continuum of special education placements ranging from regular classroom through hospital settings. The first section on adaptive techniques (requiring the least modification) includes suggestions to adjust time for…

Fifteen papers address issues in therapeutic recreation for disabled persons from the perspectives of practitioners, educators, and students. The following papers are presented. "Therapeutic Recreation Service: The Past and Challenging Present" (H. Sessoms); "Therapeutic Recreatiion in an Era of Limits: A Crisis...A Challenge... An Opportunity"…

Outlines the use of computer programs in modeling and simulation to provide a link between science and mathematics education. (GS)

An outline of a unit used to teach the political science concept of model-building to both average and above-average high school students is provided. (DE)

In response to the need for research methods training in the public relations undergraduate curriculum, this paper identifies the range of possible formats for a public relations research methods course (analyzing strengths and weaknesses for each) and recommends a hybrid format. The paper then identifies and compares different goals for research…

The anchor of successful writing-across-the-curriculum programs is an organized nucleus of features called the four Ps: planning, proposing, preparing, and prototyping. Planning requires organization and connections among the mechanisms of designing and implementing both program activities and evaluation designs. It should begin at least two years…

The paper reviews findings and implications of curriculum based assessment (CBA), an approach focusing on collecting, interpreting, and using data to help lower achieving students have opportunities for success in mainstreamed settings. An instructional delivery model is presented to guage the probability of task success and provide a structure…

The curricula and history of the four war colleges are examined to try to determine the model or models of curriculum development utilized at each, and the way the curriculum of each is revised. Four models of curriculum design, the academic, experimental, technical and pragmatic models, are reviewed. After reviewing the history and curriculum of…

A multi-dimensional needs assessment model has been developed to provide a research tool for the review of statewide curriculum needs in vocational education. The model provides for an integrated review of selected demographic, educational, and decision-making data to target vocational education program areas and occupational titles for additional…

The "expressivists" in composition philosophy have seized upon reader-response criticism for its potential in the literature-based composition class. The literature-based course in composition falls into three main models: (1) a literary approach in which the focus is on literature with compositions to be written on the side; (2) a…