Page 165 - Making Instruction Work

chap 13 3/11/97 5:06 PM Page 151

content derivation 151

Relevant Practice Description: Students will be provided
with:

• practice objectives,

• checklists, and

• paper to write on.

They’ll be asked to write a relevant practice description.

For feedback, they’ll be provided with:

• a model of a correct description,

• completed checklists for each practice objective, and

• a description of common errors.

Content derivation: Assume that the target population con-
sists of people who have learned the skills described in the ear-
lier chapters of this book. Now they are entering a module that
intends to teach them how to derive descriptions of relevant
practice from any objective. What should that module include?
Without batting an eye, you should answer, “Practice.” Right.
No matter what else it includes, it will include practice in the
objective and feedback (information) about the quality of the
practice performances.
What else? Why can’t these people practice the minute they
walk into the module? Let’s see . . . they already know how to
use the relevant practice checklist. But they may not under-
stand the importance of the procedure. Second, they may not
know when to do it.
Anything else? No-o-o-o . . . wait. Common errors. Without
some help they are likely to decide that they will need an
instructor to provide feedback, when a less-expensive medium