Adult education instructors are as diverse as the students they teach. Their professional backgrounds, training, licenses, and modalities of teaching (online, in person, open vs. closed enrollment, etc.) vary widely, which can make the planning of meaningful, effective professional development challenging. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a…

Seven district improvement initiatives were implemented in 2011-12 in the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS). All were well designed and coordinated, with common goal setting processes and use of common monitoring tools. All initiatives either met or partially met 2011-12 goals. Some were more successful in showing student outcomes, with the…

The learner-centered paradigm of instruction differs in such fundamental ways from the teacher-centered paradigm that it requires technology to serve very different functions. In 2006, a research team at Indiana University began to work on identifying those functions and published their results in 2008. Subsequently, the team elaborated and…

The integration of work and learning is becoming the dominant means of workforce training in many organizations today. Though structured classroom learning will likely but never entirely recede, a preponderance of current research indicates that the future of most job-related learning will lie in non-traditional methods such as short e-training…

A study was done on the effects of individualized instruction on mathematics achievement at the elementary and secondary school levels. A meta-analysis revealed the importance of using self-paced modular instruction in mathematics. (JN)

An empirical study was conducted using Navy trainees to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional modules designed to train Interior Communications electricians in the maintenance and repair of alarm and warning systems installed in ships to signal unsafe conditions. These modules, each containing six lessons, were developed to augment or…

This study, to determine whether complexity of detail, scale, and background help subjects to learn technical information, demonstrated no significant difference between groups. One group used the existing self-contained learning package with many complex visuals; the other group used lessons identical in the audio portion but containing…

Experiences with the COMIT system of computer assisted instruction are reviewed in relation to five evaluative criteria: effects on student learning, effects on student attitudes, effects on teachers, institutional effects, and extra-institutional effects. Conclusions are drawn concerning the possible future pedagogical role of the computer…

Trends and changes in educational philosophy and policy over approximately the last 50 years are reviewed. The point is made that teacher education faculty members have neglected to consider the overall, "designer" role that they occupy, and instead have focused undue attention on the delineation of specific teacher competencies and educational…

Due to the different rates of learning expressed by greatly differing students, a recent educational trend has developed that responds to different learner needs through the introduction of programed or individualized instruction. The consequence of the use of instructional packets is that the learners must frequently teach themselves while…

Four rural communities in northern Maine were the setting for a pilot program in Indian adult education that featured a new kind of instructional model. Developed by the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), it featured peer instruction, strict performance orientation, and insistance on mastery of certain skills. A HumRRO representative…

This document presents 12 seminar papers describing research and development efforts in self-instructional programs being undertaken in six countries: the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Jamaica, Liberia, and Canada. The following are topics covered in the individual papers: research and development activities in primary schools; the technology…

One college French course introduces third-semester students to commercial French while simultaneously teaching contemporary French theater to the same group. The 3-week course segment is taught with two 3-week modules, and is part of a course using the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI). The commercial language module helps to build an…

The Schneider Skills Enhancement Program is a workplace literacy partnership between the medical manufacturing firm Schneider, Inc., and the Adult Academic Program of the Robbinsdale Area Schools in Minnesota. A literacy audit of 39 Schneider employees established a need for instruction in literacy, numeracy, and English as a Second Language (ESL)…