Detemining the importability of educational practices, programs and products.

Abstract

One of the ways that educators have found to meet their educational needs and problems is to utilize programs, practices, or products, here after referred to as practices in this paper, that other educators have developed. There is a saving in both time and costs of needlessly reinventing solutions to common educational problems if practices that other educators have found to be effective can be adopted or adapted to your educational needs. In theory this is an excellent idea and one which should be used very frequently. However, there are a number of operational problems such as: (1) How does one determine if a practice meets one's desires or need?, (2) How does one determine which practices are effective?, (3) How does one determine if the practice will be effective in your situation?, and ( 4) What is needed to implement the practice into your situation? Thus there is need for some guidelines for using educational practices that other educators have developed. For example, in the Arab Gulf States as well as the Arab world in general, there is currently a need for educational programs in the·areas of reading, mathematics, and sciences, as well as testing. Possibly educational programs that have been proven to be effective in other countries might be effective in the Arab world. The purpose of this paper is to present some guidelines and to discuss the factors that should be considered when considering practices that other educators have developed. The aspects of any practice that would be considered fall into four areas: (1) Determining whether or not the program will meet your needs or desires, (2) determining the effectiveness/success of the practice, (3) determining the efficiency of the practice, and (4) determining the start-up and. on-going costs involved.