Adapting an established curriculum to the self-instructional format: Rationale and process

Abstract

The Getting Started Together project has developed a validated model of interdisciplinary training to enhance professionals' abilities to work with handicapped or at-risk infants and toddlers and their families. Many health care and educational professionals need additional information in order to comfortably provide the services described in P.L. 99-457 (Education of the Handicapped Amendments of 1986). A variety of methods of delivery were developed and implemented during the three years of this federally-funded project to meet these in-service needs. Based on needs assessment and goals, a 48-hour curriculum was developed and presented as a series of day-long workshops at multiple sites during the first two years of the project. To provide the most flexible learning opportunities possible to these professionals, the third year of the project focused on packaging the curriculum into 10 self-instructional modules, each consisting of a manual and videocassette. The process, rationale, advantages, and disadvantages of developing and producing self-instructional learning modules are discussed. Experiences with this project indicate that a variety of delivery formats can be used to meet the in-service needs of professionals with various educational and clinical backgrounds from both urban and rural regions. The flexibility, efficiency, and accessibility of the self-instructional format is most valuable in delivering essential information to professionals who must develop and deliver services as outlined in PL. 99-457.