Australian implementation of competency-based training fails to recognize that mere competency statements are inadequate as a basis for teaching. Many vocational teachers lack sufficient background in psychology for successful implementation. Good curriculum documents can help by incorporating key research on skill learning, transfer, expertise,…

An undergraduate pharmacy class in drug therapy was taught using a problem-solving approach and standardized case studies, with teacher feedback provided on case presentations using specific performance criteria. It was found that the teaching approach was successful in develop students' ability to apply pharmacotherapeutics in creation of patient…

Describes the Wisconsin Instructional Design System (WIDS), a partnership between colleges and industry that developed an instructional design model, software, video course for professional development, and training and consulting to enhance instructional effectiveness. Describes uses in secondary schools for performance-based instruction to…

Describes the development of Building Family Foundations, 10 competency-based interactive multimedia modules for preparing social workers for child welfare issues they may encounter in professional practice. Discusses results of pre- and post-tests that evaluated the program in terms of students' content knowledge, self-efficacy, and attitudes…

The authors present a rationale for developing core competencies for training and organizational development in extension. Core competencies are defined as "the basic knowledge, attitudes, skills, and observable behaviors that lead to excellence in the workplace." Competency-based models can be used to create an infrastructure that…

In this article, we explore a series of issues and tensions raised by the papers in this Special Issue of "Environmental Education Research." This papers focus on developments in environmental education and ESD research in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In order to provide an alternative framework for contextualising and understanding…

Several studies have analysed the impact of competency-based methodologies on human resource management, with special emphasis on their applications to management education and development. As concerns management education, however, these studies have usually focused on one or few separate aspects, never proposing a consistent application of…

This article describes a gerontological enrichment model for institutionalizing and sustaining curricular change utilizing Rogers' (1995, 2003) diffusion of innovations approach to organizational change. The goal of the project, funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation, is to transform the social work curriculum at a major state university so…

The research adopts a case study approach (in higher education) to investigate how strategic capabilities might be developed in an organisation through strategic management development (SMD). SMD is defined as "Management development interventions which are intended to enhance the strategic capability and corporate performance of an…

Objective: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education have mandated the transition from written global evaluation methods to competency-based assessments in resident and medical student training. Assessment of competency requires analysis of performance data from numerous sources. This…

The German dual apprenticeship system has traditionally been viewed as an effective system for generating a highly skilled workforce in the trades, crafts and service sectors. In addition, countries and systems looking to improve their own approaches to vocational education and training (VET) have considered as exemplary the main features of the…

For more than 60 years, the health education profession has worked to develop, implement, and refine guidelines for preparing and training health educators. Among the seminal works documenting this dedication to, and quest for, quality assurance in professional preparation and practice are guidelines for professional education of health educators…

Schools of tomorrow will be completely different physically and operationally. The author of this article states that we cannot tolerate the current high failure rates in terms of graduation and possession of the competencies needed to function successfully as citizens in a democracy, productively as workers and heuristically as learners. He lists…

Teachers can promote long-lasting learning, build higher-order thinking skills, develop individual student accountability, and increase student achievement by incorporating performance learning tasks into the curriculum. In this second edition of "Performance-Based Learning," Sally Berman demonstrates how this model can be modified for learners at…

This manual is intended to guide Kentucky vocational educators in designing and implementing a program of occupational and English language instruction that will efficiently and sensitively meet the special needs of students with limited English proficiency (LEP). The step-by-step guide aims to identify teachers' existing capabilities that may be…