The Nuffield Foundation's Practical Work for Learning project takes the position that practical work is not a pedagogic approach in its own right, but that its affordances for learning depend on how successfully other pedagogies are applied to practical lessons. The design process used in the project is made explicit, illustrating…

Efficient lesson planning with universal design for learning (UDL) enables teachers to more effectively meet students' individual needs. In this study, a comparison of lesson plans by teacher candidates in a teacher preparation program before and after UDL training is presented. After training, teachers (n = 45) incorporated more differentiated…

It is ironic that the population of students on which educators have the most surveillance, either through ubiquitous video cameras or through the vigilant presence of probation officers, have been the most invisible in many educational practices. English learners who are incarcerated youth and attend county court schools throughout California are…

Even evidence-based instructional methods may not be sufficient for closing achievement gaps. If teachers are not maximizing instructional time, achievement gaps are likely to widen over time; therefore, instruction need not only be effective but efficient as well. The purposes of this article are to (a) provide practitioners with a broad…

Every day students from across the United States enter their math classrooms, take their seats, sit passively as their teachers teach the content, and then go home only marginally prepared to solve the problems their teachers assigned. Although the challenges of teaching are universal and as old as Methuselah, the advantage today is that educators…

Dynamic concepts are difficult to explain in traditional media such as still slides. Animations seem to offer the advantage of delivering better representations of these concepts. Compared with static images and text, animations can present procedural information (e.g. biochemical reaction steps, physiological activities) more explicitly as they…

Two approaches to professional learning communities, the inquiry-oriented and the results-oriented approaches, both have weaknesses. Neither adequately addresses the overall coherence of a school's efforts to improve teaching and learning. A third model, the Common Priorities approach, combines the strengths of the other two approaches and…

Experienced e-learning faculty members share strategies for implementing a comprehensive postsecondary faculty development program essential to continuous improvement of instructional skills. The high-impact META Model (centered around Mentoring, Engagement, Technology, and Assessment) promotes information sharing and content creation, and fosters…

Literature pertaining to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is growing but there are few studies dealing with disciplinary differences. The SoTL relating to History is a recently emerging development. But what use is SoTL for History if it can not be translated into improving teaching practice? This paper examines the process of…

As members of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Task Force on Principal Preparation, the authors recently completed a study of the changing role of the secondary principal. One striking finding was that multiple roles and responsibilities leave today's principal feeling chronically harried and overworked. For…

Developing a clear and confident plan for every class is much easier when you use this book's model for success. Jane E. Pollock explains the four critical areas of teaching and describes how you can use an approach that increases student success and your own personal satisfaction. To execute your plan, the book offers step-by-step instructions…

Improving professional learning for educators is a crucial step in transforming schools and improving academic achievement. To meet federal requirements and public expectations for school and student performance, the nation needs to bolster teacher skills and knowledge to ensure that every teacher is able to teach increasingly diverse learners,…

A survey of continuing educators (n=96) on the use of instructional development in continuing education for professionals is reported. Major factors associated with the use or lack of use of instructional development are discussed. Three models of the use of instructional development developed through selected cases are provided. (Author/DB)

A new division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), the Division of Instructional Development (DID), invited papers by five leaders in the field to provide a starting place for defining and exploring instructional development (ID). The first paper argues that definitions are restrictive and should be used only…

This report is the second of a series on cultivating excellence in education for the purpose of training and retraining school leaders of the 1990s. The common role of educational leaders in curriculum and instructional programs is discussed in response to the following question: How can an educational leader make sense out of the many diverse…