Nancy L. Cooke

Tutor Huddle: Key Element in a Classwide Peer Tutoring System

Providing sufficient individualized instruction to every student in the class is a constant challenge to an elementary school teacher. Computer-assisted instruction (Magidson 1978), programmed texts (Kneller & Hackbarth 1977), and selfpaced instruction (Keller 1968) are all effective methods of individualizing instruction. Two factors that have limited the implementation of these approaches in the early grades are the cost of purchasing the hardware and the fact that students must possess prerequisite skills in order to use these learning systems. In addition, none of these approaches can give the student the many levels of prompting, personalized feedback, and praise that are so important during the beginning stages of

Effects of Picture Prompts Delivered by a Video iPod on Pedestrian Navigation

Transportation access is a major contributor to independence, productivity, and societal inclusion for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). This study examined the effects of pedestrian navigation training using picture prompts displayed through a video iPod on travel route completion with 4 adults with IDD. Results indicated a functional relation between picture prompts on the video iPod and pedestrian navigation skills to and from various locations. Maintenance data indicated all participants continued navigating trained routes for up to 232 days using the video iPod. Generalization measures to untrained routes were positive. Social validity data suggested iPod training was useful and practical for teaching independent pedestrian navigation skills. Last, limitations, suggestions for future research, and implications for practice were provided.

Student Performance Data in the Classroom Measurement and Evatuation of Student Progress

We conducted a survey to determine the use of measurement and evaluation procedures by special education teachers. A 70-item questionnaire was completed by 510 teachers in two large metropolitan school districts. Results indicate that the majority of teachers believe data collection is important and that they collect, record, and use data on student performance to determine instructional effectiveness, when to move students to the next skill, and which IEP objectives have been met. Teachers primarily collect accuracy rather than frequency data. Only one third of the teachers completing the survey use graphs for displaying and interpreting student performance data.

Using Distance Education Technology To Train Teachers: A Case Study.

Faculty from three universities cooperatively prepared and delivered a special education course for general educators. Interactive television was used for the presentation of instructional modules to four of the six remote sites. The remaining two sites viewed videotapes of the presentations one week following delivery. All other course activities, assignments, and evaluation requirements were identical at all six sites. Course evaluation data suggest that participants not only preferred interactive presentations, but also judged content and teaching as less effective when it was not interactive, Recommendations for increasing student involvement are offered.

A Home-School Communication System for Special Education.

Abstract David W. Test is an assistant professor and Nancy L. Cooke an adjunct assistant professor, both in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. Adele B. Weiss is a lecturer in the Department of Human Services Education at Ohio State University in Columbus. William L. Heward is a professor and Timothy E. Heron an associate professor, both in the Department of Human Services Education at Ohio State.

Training Inservice Teachers to Use Technology: Experience with the Visual Response System.

Pre~aration of this manuscript was supported in part by grants from ~fre Ohio Youth Commission and the Office of Special Education, t~.S. Department of Educa tion. Recently, Voyager I sent data describing the rings of Saturn across 950 million miies of space, at the rate of 45,000 electronic impulses per second, The tec:,r,ology employed by the Voyager I rnissicn was as awesome as the dazziing, computer-enhanced &dquo;photographs&dquo; of the solar system’s sixth planet. Equipment the likes of radioisotopic power sources, plasma wave antennas, ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers, and a plutonium-based nuclear generator performed flawlessly after 38 months in space. Even though cosmic ray detectors are not yet standard fare in the classroom and granted that education is a distant last among this country’s institutions in the use of modern technology,