Project Director:
Keywords:
Recent school reforms call for redesigning educational programs to include
both school- and work-based learning components, but precise details about the
nature of learning and teaching--what is to be learned or how it should be
taught--have not been worked out. In this study, we propose to develop a
normative model--or learning paradigm--that can aid in the design of both
school- and work-based education and training programs. The model will be
based on recent research in cognitive science that we have recently applied to
describe effective classroom teaching in vocational and academic classrooms.
In this study we will extend its application to work-based learning, by
conducting in-depth research in targeted programs using ethnographic and case
study methods. The unified model can provide a tool for designing and
evaluating a student's entire program, including school- and work-based
components, to ensure that the necessary content is covered and that the
instructional activities support effective learning and program goals. The
project includes development activities with local School-to-Work programs and
will produce practical guidelines for program designers.
Three publications will be developed. The primary product is a guide for
practitioners (e.g., teachers, trainers, curriculum developers, and
school-employer curriculum teams) that will focus on the instructional design
principles derived from the model and provide specific examples of teaching and
learning in classrooms and worksites, and outline an instructional design
process.
A second document, a technical report geared to the research community, would
describe the theory and research that underlies the normative model, as well as
the findings from the case study analyses.
Third, we will write a short policy brief that discusses implications of the
research for policy. These briefs will be widely disseminated to the policy
community.
The written documents discussed above will be disseminated through regular
RAND and NCRVE dissemination channels. In addition to NCRVE's mailing list of
over 16,000 entries, RAND's Institute on Education and Training (IET) maintains
an online database list of over 4,000 names; both lists are linked to
institutional type and specific areas of interest. Thus, we can target
dissemination to specific individuals (e.g., state directors of vocational
education and teacher/educators). Research findings from the project will be
disseminated through professional meetings such as AERA and AVA and at NCRVE's
proposed annual research conference. Practitioner-oriented materials will be
disseminated through meetings and workshops with NCRVE's Urban Network sites,
at AVA pre-sessions, at the NCRVE-proposed annual practitioner conference, and
through the Workforce LA consortium. Dissemination will also occur as part of
the development activities discussed earlier. Finally, we can disseminate
preliminary findings at the proposed Skills and Skill Standards
Conference/Workshop.
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