Priorities for Evaluating Instructional Materials

By Licda. Guiselle Weelkly

graceb2you@hotmail.com 

The Florida Department of Education stated on an article written in the year 2008 the following  " learning  review includes examination of strategies in instructional materials that support motivation, including " big ideas," explicit instruction, guidance and support, active participation, and the  instructional and assessment strategies that make sense for the targeted learning objectives".

There are three basic steps to take in considerarion when evaluating instructional materials, and they are: 

1. Priorities in the Learning.
2. Priorities in the Presentation.
3. Priorities in the Content.

 Therefore, priorities for evaluation should carry meaningful explanations, connect ideas whether big or small and be sure to underly structures and content for critical thinking.

Learning strategies deserve special attention specifically on two bases which are:

• The Expertise Reversal Effect which simple means to attend the personal need of a student who possess high levels of expertise in a particular subject given direct information to them and permitting them to expand beyond their capabilities with originality by themselves.

• The Powerful Resistance to Learning indicates that these students require the opposite of what works for the students who have high expertise.  Instead of direct instruction, these students require intense constructivism so that their misconceptions can be clarify. Remember: "once learned, it is hard to unlearn".  Here,  students require intense practice with new concepts, proving for themselves that the  "new concepts" work to better the "old wrong concepts".

On the other hand, it is important that instructional materials include features to maintain the learners motivated(with positive expectations, feedback and appearance). set the right climate for learning, and be focus for students.

Children as well,  feel comfortable with explicit instructions where directions and explanations are clear enough abiding ambiguity or exclusion.  This of course, depends on the level and adaptability of the child.

Writers such as Bass & Glaser identified three major principles that "make assessments informative to students" of which I would like to adress here:

1. Models of competence  given clear standards for what the students are expected to be able to do and what they cannot achieve.
2. Graphical tools to track progress permitting students and parents to visualize learners' improvement over a period of time.
3. Structured opportunities for reflection and revision given them a model to examine and make corrections in their performances.

As Educators of the new globalization era, we must join all links together so that we can achieve the major goal we hope for in our students, which is to help and prepare them to meet these demands and become excellent professionals in the near future.