An interview with Wilbert McKeachie, a leading figure in college teaching and learning, focuses on advice for beginning faculty, including the importance of effective testing, mid-term student evaluations of teaching performance, discussion and questioning techniques, cooperative learning, and peer review strategies to improve college students'…

Discusses individual differences between users of information systems that can influence search performance, and describes two experiments that addressed user-centered design of information systems. Highlights include interaction between cognitive abilities and design features; compensation and capitalization perspectives; recall and precision;…

Presents two empirical case studies concerning the role of individual differences in searching through a spatial-semantic virtual environment. Discusses information visualization in information systems; cognitive factors, including associative memory, spatial ability, and visual memory; user satisfaction; and cognitive abilities and search…

Examines how many teacher education programs are using authentic assessments of teaching (cases, exhibitions, portfolios, and action research) to support teacher learning for today's diverse schools. Using specific teacher education programs as examples, the article discusses how and why these strategies support teacher learning and more valid…

A study compared continuous discourse tracking rates in eight children (ages 8-14) with hearing impairments and eight typical children using three competing noise conditions: classroom noise, videotaped classroom activity, and combined noise and visual activity. Statistical analyses showed no significant differences among tracking rates due to the…

Describes the Team Environmental Assessment Mapping System (TEAMS), a practical tool for inventorying the environmental demands that a student faces, while also mapping the social influences that drive or hinder a student's performance in those environments. A sample TEAMS map for an adolescent with Down syndrome is provided. (CR)

Describes how one geology teacher relies on written and oral assignments both as learning tools and as a means to motivate students and assess their work. Frequent written and oral assignments dramatically improve the levels of engagement and learning. Presents some advantages of written and oral assignments and includes examples. (PVD)

Asserts that assessment requires measuring of results, evaluation of the processes that lead to results, and a commitment to promote change for the better. Describes several formative tools that have been used in both laboratory and lecture geology classes, shows how they complement the fairly universal summative evaluation, and demonstrates how…

Considers key issues in implementing authentic assessment systems in middle schools, including its implications for content organization and classroom instruction, teacher and administrator involvement, and legitimizing teaching to the test. Presents concerns about authentic assessment related to outcomes and measurement, time constraints, labor…

Reviews current trends away from multiple-choice testing to alternative forms of student evaluation. Discusses elements contributing to these trends: emphases on critical-thinking skills and active learning, research supporting a constructivist view of learning, efforts to develop academic standards and companion performance-based assessments, and…

Previous research showed associations between students' perceptions of teacher interpersonal style and several variables. This study examined associations between the students' perceptions and judges' ratings of interpersonal aspects of videotaped teacher behavior. Survey data indicated that there were strong correlations between students'…

Personalized instruction focuses specifically on each learner's needs, talents, learning style, interests, and academic background and challenges each learner to progress from one stage to another. This article presents a four-phase continuum of personalized teaching strategies, ranging from behavioral approaches (reinforcement and feedback)…

Defines project-based learning as an instructional method that emphasizes learning activities that are student-centered, interdisciplinary, and integrated with real-world issues and practices. Discusses the use of technology; the need for a strong assessment system; considers rubric assessment and performance-based assessment; and includes an…

A study examined the development of language and literacy skills in 30 Australian young adults with Down syndrome. Results indicated all but one had learned to read and that there was a positive relationships between age, attendance at integrated schools, and achievement in reading and language skills. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Compared the processing of rapid auditory stimuli on two-tone auditory discrimination tasks by 7- to 11-year-olds with learning impairments (LI) and those without learning impairments (non-LI). Found that LI children committed more errors, but the effects of timing were comparable. Obtained same results with a sample of good and poor readers. Task…