Discusses pedagogical principles for performance-based instruction and demonstrates how these principles can be applied to foreign-language classroom instruction, curriculum design, materials development, and proficiency testing. (Author/VWL)

Presents the concept of three-level teaching material and describes a computer-based system SHOW (Sandwich Hierarchy for Omnifarious Ware) that can be used to produce the different forms from a single source, and to show the presentation version in a lecturing situation. Describes an empirical experiment on text discrimination techniques; suggests…

Describes a CD-ROM containing a resource library for students in an information science/technology course at the Open University (United Kingdom). Development gave rise to several issues: adaptation of print-based content to the electronic medium; development of quality-control methods; and adaptation of staff roles. Feedback from students shows…

Describes two World-Wide-Web-based products designed to make the Web more interactive and accessible to less technically inclined language professionals for course development. The eWeb is a set of functions that support large-group and individual synchronous/asynchronous communication and material development. HomePage Maker allows interlinking…

Examines the status, issues, and trends of multimedia instructional support. Presents examples associated with the development of CD-ROMs and interactive Web sites to illustrate important considerations for such development. Some issues considered include: degree of interactivity, performance, accessibility, dependability, and development dynamic.…

Describes a project commissioned by the Australian government to help university teachers improve student assessment. Eight modules incorporated the following abilities: critical thinking, problem solving, performing procedures and demonstrating techniques, self-directed learning, accessing and managing information, demonstrating knowledge,…

Illustrates the advantages and difficulties of using multimedia in the second language French classroom from the point of view of both the teacher and the learners. (Author/VWL)

Discusses written instructional materials created by librarians for end users searching database systems. Highlights include novice user studies; the importance of print instruction in digital information environments; a paradigm shift from system-centered to user-centered focuses in technical writing and user documentation for software; and…

This paper reports on two critical incidents in the progress towards implementing a vernacular language programme in the village school at Aulua, Malakula, in Vanuatu. In stage one of the fieldwork, (2000-1) an orthography was created by a committee. An element of the second stage of the project (2004-5) was a workshop to create the primers and…

Government commitment to the care and education of children from birth to three years in England led to the commissioning in 2001 of "a framework of best practice" (DfEE, 2001:24) to support children in their earliest years. The resulting framework of "effective" practice, together with supporting materials, was developed by a…

With the gloomy prospect of massive language extinction over the next 100 years, efforts by applied linguists, educational anthropologists, and multilingual educators to reverse the trends in language loss are increasing. Education in minority languages seems to be a key to maintaining endangered languages and cultures. One often cited challenge…

This handbook, which is one in a series of handbooks designed to help tech prep practitioners replicate successful materials, projects, or programs that have been developed by Partnership for Academic and Career Education (PACE) consortium members, explains how to develop career awareness programs for tech prep students. The introduction contains…

This book is designed to help people who want to know whether distance education is useful for them. It suggests what questions to ask in considering whether distance education makes sense in a particular context and examines the different ways in which it can be organized. Chapter 1 considers who it can teach, what it can be used for, and how…

This report describes TORUS, a computer-based program for elementary school students with learning disabilities which analyzes student work samples in addition and subtraction and provides individual profiles of student misconceptions and weaknesses. Initially, work samples from 236 middle school students with learning disabilities were analyzed…

A 1987 project to develop materials for computer-assisted instruction in Thai and Indonesian and to train teachers in their use is described. Three different sets of Thai materials based on authentic materials were developed and field tested. One concerned the layout and function of a Thai monastery compound, another was an advanced exercise in…