Do you find it challenging to have discussions with instructors about designing online courses and best practices in teaching? This article will highlight key components to conducting effective Learning Design meetings. It outlines techniques used by this institution that inspires faculty to design coherent courses that lead to meaningful learning…

"On a clear day, you can learn forever"-- that's the adapted lyric you'll be happily humming once you've covered this playbook, because you will have mastered using learning intentions and success criteria, the twin engines of "Teacher Clarity." This template-filled guide shows you how to own it, do it, and live it--and your…

This guide is a revised and updated edition of "Making It Count." This version contains much of the information from the earlier publication but also includes strategies for using project-based learning and Web-based instructional programs to support the development of mathematics proficiency for youth in short-term juvenile correctional…

In this case study, we are able to take a close look at a situation not often encountered in the literature on ICTs in emerging economies: a private company from an emerging economy provided much-needed funding for a US NASA higher learning consortium through a contract for training and research and development in 3D visualization. This study…

This guide is designed to support the development of mathematics proficiency for youth in short-term juvenile correctional facilities. Mathematics proficiency includes mastery and fluency in foundational numeracy; an understanding of complex, grade-appropriate concepts and procedures; and application of those competencies to solve relevant,…

A teacher shares the memories of and the lessons learned from a group of students he taught for 3 years more than 25 years ago. From transcripts of the students' comments at the reunion, five factors emerged as critical to teaching and learning: enthusiasm, engagement, equality, expectations, and encouragement. (Author/MLF)

Synthesizes the conclusions drawn from a literature review on principles for motivating students to learn. Outlines numerous pointers for creating essential learning preconditions and for motivating, including maintaining high expectations, supplying extrinsic incentives, and capitalizing on students' intrinsic motivation. Provides strategies for…

The article summarizes assumptions and components of the Direct Instruction Follow Through Model (K-Three) including curriculum, increased teaching time, efficient teaching techniques, thorough implementation, and increased teacher expectations. Research findings are summarized including achievement and affective data, performance of students with…

Teachers of extended day kindergarten classes and regular kindergarten classes are encouraged to help the poor risk child, who demonstrates the potential for having difficulty with the academics of first grade, by identifying the child's levels in reading readiness, developing the hows and whys of learning (teaching the child how to learn),…

This packet contains 27 transparency masters and a script for instructor presentation of a 1-hour workshop on the Pygmalion effect in training. It is aimed at trainers as well as classroom teachers. The focus of the guide is on how trainers'/teachers' behavior toward students influences the outcome of training, with high expectations leading to…

Intended for teacher educators, beginning teachers, classroom leaders, and administrators, this essay collection offers practical advice on topics such as evaluating student writing and creating support systems for beginning teachers. The essays discuss how the "real world" of teaching matches--or fails to match--novice teachers'…

Forty learning-disabled fourth graders learned to use a spelling study strategy, studied words under varying conditions, and predicted their scores on a subsequent test. Results indicated that, even without inclusion of specific metacognitive training components, strategy training produced important metacognitive improvement and that metacognitive…

Research studies rarely describe teaching methods in enough detail for instructors to discern how these methods may be implemented in their classrooms. The essential elements of the mastery learning teaching method are considered in terms of how they can be adapted in the social work classroom. They can be implemented in whole or part and…

This New Jersey survey found that 67 teachers of preschool handicapped children were more stringent in their perceptions of the skills necessary for mainstreaming in kindergarten than were 63 kindergarten teachers. The survey also found that different instructional strategies were used by the two teacher groups. (Author/JDD)

This issue contains several articles synthesizing research on effective schools conducted by the Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL). Six "folios," or handouts, intended for dissemination to teachers, review the research and make specific suggestions for teachers on: (1) beginning the school year; (2) time management; (3)…