Considers why instructor evaluations typically do not significantly impact instruction and describes how Commonwealth Edison, a large nuclear utility, adopted core competencies that were incorporated into all phases of instructional development: initial training for trainers, continuing training, and as the basis for an instructional evaluation…

Investigated the impact of a self-regulatory tool, the Instructional Planning Self-Reflective Tool (IPSRT), on preservice teachers' performance, disposition, and self-efficacy beliefs regarding systematic instructional planning. Results showed the ISPRT leading to greater skill acquisition, more positive disposition, and higher perceived…

This study explored barriers and facilitating factors affecting the development and use of learning objects in developing instructional materials and their use in supporting individualized learning. Over a two-month period, students in a graduate-level instructional design course developed instructional materials incorporating learning objects or…

This article recommends the teaching journal as a method of instructional improvement. Drawing on teacher education literature, the article reviews the concept of reflective teaching and then describes uses of the teaching journal for college instructors in descriptive, comparative, and critical dimensions. Teaching journals can improve the…

Malaysian classrooms are progressively absorbing interactive multimedia as instructional strategies for teaching and learning. Though, till now, interactive multimedia in a Malaysian classroom is often limiting and is confined to the hybrid use of chalk-and-talk method with multimedia assisted materials, where learning is still largely…

An approach to improving classroom instruction is offered that advances a longitudinal, cyclical presentation of instruction, its evaluation, and revision over time. This approach is distinguished by student self-graphing of student performances, a teacher's log of changes made in instruction, and a class graph kept by the teacher or students. The…

Based on a review of instructional design models, previous papers identified first principles of instruction. These principles prescribe a cycle of instruction consisting of activation, demonstration, application, and integration. These instructional phases are best implemented in the context of real-world tasks. A Pebble-in-the-Pond approach to…

What happens in a school when, despite teachers' best efforts in the classroom, students do not learn? The administrators and faculty members at Papillion-La Vista South High School in Nebraska asked themselves this question when they realized that some of their students were struggling, were not turning in work, did not seem to care, and were…

Planning, opening, and bringing to life a new institution of higher education is a challenging undertaking. At UC Merced, it has been a daunting and exhilarating experience for its founding administration, faculty, staff, and students. Campus pioneers had no road map, no playbook to tell them how to plan and build in the twenty-first century a…

A video mock-up is a "design story", described by Patrick Parrish in a recent "TechTrends" article as "imagining the journey of a learner's experience in engaging with a finished design". A design story allows designers to show their design vision to others and to observe features and benefits of the program as a learner would experience it. The…

This research represents the perceptions of two hundred (N = 200) students enrolled in a doctoral-research university's basic instruction program (BIP) regarding their instructional experiences. The purpose of this interpretive case-study conducted in a doctoral-research university's BIP was two-fold: (a) to examine the characteristics of…

Over the last three decades many universities have offered various programmes related to Information Systems. However, the rapid changes in recent years demand constant evaluation and modification of education programmes. Recent challenges include, for instance, the move towards programmes that are more applied and professionally-orientated. The…

Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, Comparative and International Education (CIE) has almost disappeared from the curricula of teacher education colleges in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Yet, CIE is experiencing a revival at postgraduate level. This article will explore the reasons for this dichotomy and the decline of CIE…

Quality assurance in instructional development demands an exhaustive formative evaluation effort and applied testing. Unfortunately, this process is expensive and requires large numbers of user testers with characteristics similar to the intended audience. This article presents a procedure for increasing the efficiency of quality assurance efforts…

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,…