Substance abuse prevention efforts have advanced significantly during the past two decades. There is growing evidence of the effectiveness of approaches that incorporate social resistance skills training, normative education, and broader personal and social skills training. To achieve the broad-based delivery of effective prevention services, efficient and effective technologies for training teachers are needed. The goal of this project is to develop an Internet-based distance learning course that will train teachers in the concepts and methods that methods that underlie effective prevention programs. This course will assess and use teachers' current level of understanding to tailor instruction that will allow them to increase mastery of prevention concepts. Students will be led through multiple levels of complexity beginning with basic vocabulary, and continuing on to include theoretical concepts, teaching methods, and ultimately more complex issues such as how to infuse concepts throughout the curriculum. The course will include instructional modules as well as demonstrations, quizzes and tests. During Phase I, the content of one session (norm setting) from an existing course that is presented in live format will be transformed into content appropriate for a web application. During Phase II, a complete course that addresses a variety of prevention concepts will be created.
