The purpose of this project is to design and validate several computerized instructional programs, called """"""""Virtual Workshops,"""""""" that will be used to provide professional development experiences to secondary content-area teachers who deliver instruction to academically diverse inclusive classes in which students with learning disabilities (LD) are enrolled. The Virtual Workshops are to serve as comparable alternatives to traditional teacher- development programs when these traditional programs cannot be accessed or as supplementary materials for teacher-training courses. The focus of each Virtual Workshop will be on a teaching routine that has been designed for delivering complex information in required subject-area courses. The effects of each Virtual Workshop will be compared to those of a high-quality, live, teacher-development workshop, relative to: (a) teachers' knowledge of the routine, (b)teachers' satisfaction with the training received, (c) teachers' skill in applying the routine in diverse classes of students, and (d) the impact of teachers' use of the inclusive practice on students' learning. Four experimental designs will be used in the Phase I feasibility study. First, a pretest-posttest control-group design will be used to compare the knowledge scores of teachers who participate in the Virtual Workshop and the Live Workshop. Second, a posttest-only control-group design will be used to compare the satisfaction scores of teachers participating in the virtual workshop and the live workshop. Third, to determine the effects of the workshops on teachers' implementation of the Concept Mastery Routine, a multiple-baseline across-teachers design will be employed. Fourth, a pretest-posttest control-group design will be used to compare the test scores of students in the classes of the two groups of teachers. In Phase II of this project, Virtual Workshops will be designed and validated for additional routines based on the prototype developed and validated in Phase I.
This Phase l project will result in a prototype for inexpensive, effective, interactive professional development programs on CD ROMs for teachers. The Virtual Workshop will: (a) allow new teachers immediate access to training; (b) provide teachers timely access to state-of-the-art innovations available through the mail or on-line; (c) afford isolated teachers in poor or rural districts access to comprehensive professional-development experiences; (d) allow teachers to complete professional development activities at convenient times; (e) permit teachers to review the information whenever needed; and (f) furnish teachers access to the best professional developers in the nation. Cost of the package, including the CD ROM, instructor's manual (already published), and a guide for the multimedia program will be approximately $40.
