This chapter describes the history and philosophy of the professional preparation program for instructional developers at Michigan State University (MSU). The history of the program is traced from the establishment of the MSU Audiovisual Center in 1952 through the Joint Film Catalog and the NDEA (National Defense Education Act) Fellowships in the…

Designed to assist California community college personnel in implementing 1986 regulations concerning associate degree requirements, this paper analyzes the key terms in the new policy, "college level" and "critical thinking," and discusses practical implications for assessment, curriculum, and instruction. First, the paper…

Directed towards academics involved in preparation of distance learning materials, this guide emphasizes the functions of audiotapes within an integrated set of distance learning materials. Planning, production, and evaluation advice is offered, beginning with a discussion of a model approach that focuses on consideration of budget, subject…

An important advance in computer assisted instruction (CAI) is the development of authoring systems that allow teachers to write software without the need for direct use of a higher level language. The primary advantage of authoring systems is that they provide teachers with the means to write CAI in plain English rather than using a computer…

A review of the research literature on systematic instructional design indicates that few empirically supported guidelines exist for testing materials under development and for improving materials on the basis of feedback from potential learners. In an analysis of 17 textbooks on instructional design, eight specific aspects to be considered in…

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…

The Westinghouse Hanford Company Total Quality Program includes the development of Hanford General Employee Training (HGET), an interactive video course. The commitment to total quality is developed in both new and requalifying employees by requiring them to make positive choices when confronted with real life scenarios showing violations of…

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is investigated as a means to develop a consistent and efficient training program for student library assistants. Student workers are an important part of the academic library's workforce, but student turnover is frequent, the training in repetitive tasks is time consuming, and varying student schedules may make…

One common sense approach to college teaching might simply be to implement those practices that are proven reliable and frequently review the methods that seem to result in learning and those that do not. Guidelines based on some instructional approaches that have worked at Mohawk College in Ontario, Canada include the following: (1) assume that…

In conjunction with United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's 40th anniversary, 1986 was named the International Year of Peace. During 1986, UNESCO selected the theme "peace" as an education project to be undertaken in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico,…

A compilation of five documents defines and explores the role, scope, reforms, and current trends in history teaching in Hungary. Ivan Berend in "Educational Ideas and History," considers whether or not the traditional uses of historical knowledge have become obsolete and examines the value of this knowledge in today's society. Peter…

A brief review of the literature concerning the relationship between self-concept and academic achievement precedes a discussion of the perceptual and operational models of self-concept as they relate to classroom teaching. It is suggested that the differentiated "operational" model of definition and instrumentation of self-concept best meets the…

Intended for beginning teachers in Virginia, this handbook is designed to serve as a guide for negotiating the first few years of teaching. The concept of teacher as problem solver is promoted throughout the manual. The handbook is organized around the idea that the beginning teacher's main tasks are to: (1) discover how to learn from their own…

Although workshops and a study by the English Department of the University of Montevallo (Alabama) led to the conclusions that writing should be taught from a process model and that writing consciousness needed to be raised throughout the curriculum, these conclusions did not adequately address several issues: (1) process is a teaching philosophy,…

Designed to address the management and use of computer software in education and training, this paper explores both good and poor software design, calling for improvements in the quality of educational software by attending to design considerations that are based on general principles of learning rather than specific educational objectives. This…