Minnesotans value education. Education is the largest financial investment in the state budget, and those investments place Minnesota students among the top performers in the nation. Still, substantial gaps in opportunity and performance persist. The three purposes of the needs assessment were to: (1) Describe infrastructure, capacity, and costs…

Career development at the elementary level is an important developmental function to ensure all students graduate college and career ready. However, the training and continuing education needs of elementary school counselors have been largely ignored in the professional literature and in training programs. This article explores the theoretical and…

My Environmental Education Evaluation Resource Assistant or "MEERA" is a web-site designed to support environmental educators' program evaluation activities. MEERA has several characteristics that set it apart from other self-directed learning evaluation resources. Readers are encouraged to explore the site and to reflect on the role that…

To conduct evaluations that can benefit individual programs as well as the field as a whole, environmental educators must have the necessary evaluation competencies. This exploratory study was conducted to determine to what extent a self-directed learning resource entitled "My Environmental Education Evaluation Resource Assistant" (MEERA) can…

From setting the stage to engaging the community in understanding the purpose of collaborative professional learning teams, this volume covers what leaders need to know to implement more effective professional learning. Chapters focus on changing school culture, scheduling time, planning, using data, designs for professional learning, facilitating…

The mission of the National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) is to ensure that all higher education students are exposed to cutting edge research in their classrooms, and that students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels are actively engaged in relevant and authentic research in their chosen discipline. To…

Continuing nursing education's scope is explored. The authors discuss the providers of this education; credentials and status of directors of continuing education; competition for nurses in continuing education programs; organizational resources; mandatory continuing education; and program evaluation. (CT)

Online learning is growing rapidly as states and districts are creating new online schools, and existing programs are adding new courses and students. The growth reflects the spreading understanding that online courses and programs can serve a wide variety of students and needs. These include: (1) Creating opportunities for small and rural school…

A management plan is outlined for the development of an inservice teacher education program. Suggested roles and responsibilities of key personnel are discussed. Critical decisions and events in the planning process are pointed out, and a management blueprint is included. This revision of an earlier guide also contains a monograph on the generic…

From 1995 to 2000, the SouthEast Initiatives Regional Technology in Education Consortium (SEIR-TEC) provided technical assistance and professional development to 12 schools, referred to as intensive sites. Typically, this effort entailed a member of the SEIR-TEC staff spending three or four days per month working with teachers and administrators…

This article presents a summary of the results from phase 1 of a two-phase research project. Drawing on the principles of problem-based learning (PBL), the aims of phase 1 were to design, develop and evaluate a set of flexible online teaching resources for use within a virtual learning environment. Participants in the project (n = 10) were…

Discusses the provision of continuing professional development (CPD) for health professionals by open and distance learning, focusing on the experience of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland). Describes the needs-analysis and pilot evaluation of a primarily text-based resource, reporting high satisfaction with content…

Over the past four legislative sessions, the Texas State Legislature enacted laws that have accelerated the integration of technology into public education. The significant effort to build technology infrastructure in Texas is evident through the thousands of public school awards provided by the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF) Board,…

Criteria suggesting standards and characteristics for inservice education programs are described. In an introductory table, the purposes of inservice education are illustrated. They include advanced degrees, school improvement, professional advancement, retraining for new assignments, and personal professional development. The process, setting,…

Based on the experiences of teachers of adult continuing education, this manual was developed to introduce adult educators to the field and the practice of adult education, especially in universities. The book is organized in seven chapters, each containing practical material along with observations of the adult educators. The introductory chapter…