Reform-minded educators should examine business and medical models to construct a viable, research-based framework to validate proposed curricular programs before implementing them. Pursuing a reliable research base for math reform, several superintendents convinced the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement to let…

Suggests evaluation criteria for selecting CD-ROMs and describes some typical titles along with examples of learning activities. Highlights include reference titles, including encyclopedias, magazine indexes, newspaper databases, subject-specific indexes, timetables and almanacs, and atlases; and curriculum-specific titles. (LRW)

This article considers mathematics textbooks, materials, and manipulatives, which are commonly a part of mathematics instruction. Strengths and weaknesses of these instructional tools when teaching students with learning disabilities in mathematics are reviewed. Evaluation scales are presented for selection of textbooks, materials, and…

Offers suggestions for selecting appropriate classroom materials and designing an early-childhood classroom in which children learn through play. Focuses on the decisions a beginning teacher needs to make, such as selecting the curriculum, identifying appropriate learning areas, finding intriguing learning materials, selecting comfortable…

Media selection and acquisition is highly dependent on a number of variables, perhaps the most important of which is changing technologies. New technology is a wonderful and frightening thing, with a high level of impact on media collection development. New technologies can improve sound and visual quality, but can also play havoc with established…

Self-access centres (SACs) are playing an increasingly pivotal role in supporting the (self-) study of languages. Selecting suitable resources thus becomes more and more important. At the selection stage, identifying problems with available resources is not an easy task, and is made more difficult by a lack of published guidelines. Linked with…

New members in the field of instructional systems design and technology (ISD&T), including new students in this field, can find lists of publications and organizations available for them to read and to join. However, they may also wish to know which of these publications and organizations are recommended by established professionals. The field of…

It is proposed that genre/discourse community interaction is a critical element in the teaching of English for Special Purposes (ESP). All text is intended to promote interaction between writer and audience. Authentic texts generally have a central purpose: to change opinion, introduce a new idea, or encourage a specific action. The principle…

Three questions were addressed in a Navy experiment in which subjects followed instructions to complete tasks involving several pieces of electronic equipment. First, two instructional formats were compared; a hierarchical menu format containing natural chunks of instruction was not superior overall to a simple step-by-step instructional format.…

Children's emotional responses to films are the focus of the four articles in this issue designed for media specialists and educators. Following an editorial discussing the responsibilities of media as put forth by Bruno Bettleheim, the first article presents a methodology and rationale for using story films to encourage children's exploration of…

Focusing on the use of microcomputers as "smart terminals" for accessing time-sharing systems for libraries, this document discusses the communications software needed to allow the microcomputer to appear as a terminal to the remote host. The functions which communications software programs are designed to perform are defined and…

This report describes the telecommunications systems currently available in Virginia to deliver educational materials and conduct administrative meetings and training in a cost effective manner. Examples are provided of how state agencies and institutions in Virginia are using each of the technologies and the future potential of each system is…

This paper discusses the results of an experimental, non-traditional university class in sociology in which students produced an interactive multimedia module in a social science subject area using a computer system that allowed instant access to film, sound, television, images, and text. There were no constraints on the selection of media, or the…

Designed for publishers and producers, this document initiates the annual subject area(s) adoption of basic instructional materials for California schools, kindergarten through eighth grade. The document presents an overview of the total instructional materials adoption-distribution process, specific instructions relating to initial submissions…

In much current language teaching using the communicative approach, the use of texts in the classroom is overly restricted. This is true of both the types of texts used and the activities based on them. Three conventional "communicative" uses of texts illustrate this: using texts to practice processes of language use, to serve as models,…