Special Projects

Overview

As program efficiency becomes an ever-increasing issue, so does the need for diverse yet innovative training programs. Maintaining trained staff of various skills and ability levels is an ever-increasing challenge for the adult education program director. Telecommunication systems such as the Texas Education Telecommunication Network TETN) has enabled the ESC-20 Adult Education Curriculum and Professional Development Special Project to provide training on a given topic statewide to any number of participants or sites. Training topics which are essential to the basic adult education curriculum or program can be offered and updated more frequently utilizing this system. This article outlines some of the issues and concepts obtained as the result of a TETN telecommunications broadcast conducted on April 2, 1997 which was broadcast to seven adult education programs statewide.

Designing Instruction to Increase Interaction

Interaction is the key to designing effective instruction so as to impact the participants' cognitive processing. It encourages the participant to become active in the learning process. This is effectively conducted by the integration of instructional strategies. Various strategies such as questioning, reviewing, elaborating and synthesizing were integrated throughout the presentation. Participants, for example, were asked to review a lesson plan and to discuss how it could be expanded. Presentation systems such as PowerPoint can also increase participant interaction and processing of concepts by providing him/her a visual cueing system.

Interaction can be hampered by the participants' insecurity with the resources or technological medium. However, having the instructional materials ahead of time can help to ease some of the anxieties and increase responsiveness. The type of medium should not limit the instructional task required or the obtainment of objectives by the participants.

Possibilities for Future Training

Designing additional training programs for Adult Basic Educators using this medium will continue to be a goal of the ESC-20 Adult Education Curriculum and Professional Development Special Project. Telecommunication systems enable adult education programs to participate in a more varied selection of training topics that would not necessarily be scheduled at a given site. Determining the type of programs to offer will depend on the needs expressed by the directors and on the topics to be addressed. Not all topics are suitable for this medium. We will initially try to present topics that address declarative concepts (facts, generalizations, basic concepts or theories). If programs require additional training then we can expand upon the basic concepts presented at the teleconference by providing on-site training.

However, this medium provides us with the opportunity to present topics to a varied number of participants at any given site. It can be designed to encourage interaction and allow for the implementation of more frequent training programs offered.