One of the hottest areas in technology is invisible. Wireless communications allow people to transmit voice messages, data, and other signals through the air without physically connecting senders to receivers with cables or wires. And the technology is spreading at lightning speed. Cellular phones, personal digital assistants, and wireless…

This article argues for the need to differentiate between "professional" and "support" careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). Using data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY), the article identifies important differences in the nature of the work and responsibility that…

This set of "Professional Competency Areas" is intended to define the broad professional knowledge, skills, and for some competencies, attitudes expected of student affairs professionals working in the U.S., regardless of their area of specialization or positional role within the field. All student affairs professionals should be able to…

Explains output-based job descriptions, which describe the work rather than the worker. Topics include identifying job outputs; job analyses; identifying skills and competencies as support elements; and benefits over traditional job descriptions, including help in achieving business goals, use in strategic planning, clarifying role relationships,…

The DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) process has helped Daytona Beach Community College (DBCC) resolve several important issues in competency-based instruction. DACUM involves expert workers in defining and describing their jobs. A panel of workers and supervisors identify general areas of competence required in their jobs; specify skills within…

The Labor Exchange Skills Project, which was conducted under the sponsorship and direction of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, was designed to develop a labor exchange skills database (ETA) that would improve the usability of many Department of Labor applications and products developed by other public and…

Describes how the job characteristics model (J. R. Hackman), used by industrial-organizational psychologists to enhance the motivating potential of jobs in industry, can be applied to increase student motivation. The job characteristics model describes the relationship between the core characteristics of skill variety, task identity, task…

The conceptual tools used in the communication/language objectives-based system (C/LOBS), which supports the front-end analysis efforts of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, are examined. The C/LOBS project, which is described in 13 volumes and an executive summary, functions as a subsystem of the instructional systems…

This final report presents five products of a health occupations project conducted (1) to update health occupations data, (2) to field test a performance-based curriculum in secondary programs, and (3) to develop materials (domain-referenced tests) to predetermine student and/or job incumbent competencies prior to entrance into a developed…

This report of recommendations describes in detail the system for determining communication/language objectives (C/LOBS) within an instructional systems development (ISD) framework. C/LOBS was developed to support the front-end analysis efforts of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center and functions as a subsystem of the ISD…

This executive summary describes the communication/language objectives-based system (C/LOBS) developed to support the front-end analysis efforts of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. The C/LOBS functions as a subsystem of the instructional systems development (ISD) approach currently in use in the TRADOC school system. The…

The Generic Skills studies were designed to provide training specifications that will enable graduates of trades training programs to compete for job placement in a range of occupations rather than in a single occupation. The studies identified a number of trade families, classified on the basis of skills used in work performance, and also…

The methodologies employed in the communication/language objectives-based system (C/LOBS), which supports the front-end analysis efforts of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, are examined. The C/LOBS project, which is described in 13 volumes and an executive summary, functions as a subsystem of the instructional systems…

This pamphlet provides a hierarchy of skills, from those most often used in the craft trades to those less frequently used, indicating the extent to which these skills are used by workers in 24 different occupational groups. The pamphlet also provides a secondary school vocational model for craft trades along with lists of the identified skills.…

The generic skills studies in Canada have as their objectives the formulation of generic skills, the identification of their uses for certain occupational groups, and the preparation of specifications for instructional modules in an attempt to provide greater flexibility to workers, employers, and vocational training programs. Another objective of…