Educators must focus more on designing active learning and less on using the latest technology. As distance education technology develops, educational institutions face increasing costs and decreased budgets, greater diversity, increasing demands for continuing education, and competition from other institutions. Knowledge of instructional design…

Examined the behavior of 203 secondary school business education teachers with reference to selected social system factors, relative to their adoption of microcomputers for delivering instruction. Findings suggest that the individual's attitude, the characteristics of the innovation, and the critical threshold mark influence microcomputer adoption…

The second in three-part series on how the principals in 10 low-performing/high-poverty schools met the challenge of Florida's 1999 high-stakes testing and accountability initiative. Examines the challenges principals faced in trying to build organizational capacity from three perspectives: principals' beliefs and values, "it takes a whole…

This paper discusses methods used to differentiate the presentation of mathematics to gifted students in Ontario, Canada. Activities are described that help students to develop structured inquiry, reinforce categorization skills, develop efficient study habits, and encourage probing and divergent questions. (JDD)

Ideas are presented for using microcomputers as a tool for curriculum modification with mild to moderate special needs students in various instructional situations. The focus is on the use of microcomputers in modifying the way curriculum content is presented by the teacher, received by the student, practiced and studied, and demonstrated and…

Examined is the influence and developmental nature of science processes. Results indicated that a one-semester process skills course was effective in developing a basis for science content acquisition. Additional gains can be obtained in an extended curricular sequence. (Author/CW)

Recommends an approach to computer-assisted language learning and development activities that addresses the total instructional system, including non-technological components. Eight procedural steps, based on an input-process-output model, are described for developing, refining, and evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of CALL teaching…

Reviews the research that led to the movement toward literature based reading programs for children and describes the current status of the movement nationally. The discussion also addresses problems within the movement, including program evaluation; basalization of literature; cumbersome literature guides; acquisition difficulties; inadequate…

Points out the need for research concerning the effects of media and popular culture on behavior, the current approaches to media education, and the identification of media literacy skills. Lists concerns of teachers about copyrights, suitable resources, staff training, evaluation practices, and curriculum design when teaching media literacy. (KO)

Describes the Young Adult Learning Academy in New York (New York), a collaborative offering educational services to dropouts between 16 and 24 years old whose low reading levels make them ineligible for adult education programs. Emphasizes cooperation, staffing, and development of the instructional program. (FMW)

Identifies three assumptions underlying the emphasis on good instructional practice as a way to improve education and the curriculum. Discusses how to determine good practice and endorses a research approach to look at good teaching. Notes that the logic of basing curriculum on good instructional practice is not unproblematic. (KO)

Twenty special education and 20 general education teachers viewed a videotape of a reading comprehension lesson with a small group of third graders, 1 of whom had a learning disability. Analysis of teacher responses suggested that general and special teacher groups may possess different professional knowledge structures on which they interpret…

It is argued that scholarship is the primary teaching resource for college faculty: the content, structure, and process knowledge inherent in scholarship can contribute to effective teaching and learning when explicitly taught to students by the scholar-teacher. Instruction may be designed to approximate the ideal of apprenticeship. (MSE)

Addresses industrialization and distance education and how they relate to the modernist and postmodernist models of work, Fordism, neo-Fordism and post-Fordism. Concludes that not all distance education is industrialized; traditional education is not always a craft; and Fordism does not adequately explain the development of distance education.…

Discusses high school seniors' apathy and unruliness prior to graduation and suggests ways to combat these behaviors. Profiles an independent study program adopted by one school as a remedy and which expanded seniors' perceptions of how they learn while uniting the senior class in the latter months of school. (RJM)