Characteristics of a Good Instructional System

Use the following guidelines for evaluating your instructional system.

• The curriculum and the instructional program are based on competencies required for a specific job.
• It lets the trainee know what to expect. It describes both the system’s and the trainee’s responsibilities.
• It provides the trainee with the occupational context, including a general description of the occupational area, a description of the job, the conditions under which it is generally performed, and the generally accepted standards for it performance.
• It is made up of carefully engineered learning experiences designed to develop the specified competencies in the target trainees.
• The trainee controls the pace, sequence, and strategy of the learning.
• It demonstrates or describes the skill or knowledge to be learned in a way that the trainee understands.
• It is interactive (i.e. it actively involves the trainee throughout the training.)
• It provides opportunity for the trainee to practice the skill or internalize the knowledge.
• It provides opportunity for the trainee to perform the skill or use the knowledge under conditions closely resembling the job.
• It provides opportunity for trainees to test themselves on the skills and knowledge taught.
• It provides alternative learning strategies to meet the range of individual learning characteristics found in the trainee group(s). This normally requires a variety of media to satisfy the range of such characteristics.
• It measures performance and provides results to the trainee and to the instructor based upon the specific job competencies.
• Competency achievement data are used to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the system. For example, when trainees fail to achieve a competency within a reasonable time, the training system is examined to see what wen wrong and then adjusted accordingly.

Keys to Effective Teacher Training Programs

• Incentives and Support for Teacher Training
• Teacher-directed Training
• Adequate Access to Technology
• Community Partnerships
• On-going Informal Support and Training Opportunities

In this Module:

In the Toolkit: