Dr, Steven Ungerleider, Dr. Jack Dresser
Integrated Research Services, Inc.
Suite 370
The North Bank
66 Club Road
Eugene, OR 97401
suinteg@CERF.NET
Dr. Douglas Egan
Department of Business and Administrative Studies
Lewis and Clark College
Portland, OR 97219
Substance abuse remains among our most serious health and social problems. There is a pressing need for intervention processes which are cost-effective. Both Lewis & Clark College and Integrated Research Services, Inc. have agreed to work together to develop strategies to aid in this fight based on the CORE TEAM concept. We are currently developing software which will add Computer-Aided-Instruction (CAI) to our program. Using Hypercard (for the Apple Macintosh family) and later PC based systems (Windows), we can enrich and supplement our program. One problem is being able to train teachers and other school staff in the appropriate methods of dealing with these issues.. Educators need to be aware of :
* Factors which place children at risk
* Resiliency Factors
* Social Challenges for American Schools
* Co-dependency Risks for Educators.
Programs exist that provide the necessary information to educators. However, consultants, seminars and other providers of education are expensive and may be unavailable to rural schools and/or inner city schools with limited means.
With a grant from the U.S. Dept. of Education (S207A10028-92), we are engaged in a training program in substance abuse prevention and intervention strategies for education personnel in outlying counties in Oregon (Linn-Benton). The focus of the grant is the development of "core teams" whose task within each school is to oversee prevention and intervention strategies for children identified as "at risk". This training concentrates on risk factors facing today's youth; resiliency factors which enable children to withstand those risks which impede their personal, social and academic success; and the relationship of the school environment of risk and resiliency to the school's educational goals. Further training is provided in the development of organizational structures (Core teams) as vehicles for creating broad based student assistance programs. This latter training requires exercises in organizational development. In addition to establishing concepts for the development of appropriate organizational structures, further instruction is provided on social challenges for schools in contemporary society and co-dependency risks for educators. The scope of the training is limited by the distance between schools, the lack of integrated programs between school districts, and the limited resources in small school districts to provide release time to bring education personnel to a central source for training. Turnover in school personnel also reduces the effectiveness of training programs from year to year.
To overcome these difficulties and make the training more effective and more readily available, we have undertaken the development of Computer Assisted Instructional materials. This will give greater outreach to the training and permit leaving a permanent base of educational materials in each school. These materials can be accessed by individuals as needed and when convenient. An examination of the existing computer based materials has convinced us they are lacking in the appropriate use of graphical interfaces by failing to take advantage of the most current software for generating CAI materials. Presently we have concentrated our efforts on the development of materials using Apple and Macintosh platforms. Preliminary work has been done developing a Macintosh Hypercard training package (see attached examples).
The package is self paced and menu driven. It is divided into two sections. One concerns the training of the Core team and the other deals with Organizational Development Training. In the Core team section, risk factors and resiliency factors are identified and team training procedures are presented. The Organizational Training components are being developed now. The following illustrations are from the current version and present our strategy for the graphic interface and information presentation.
Below you will find some sample menus from the program. Please contact us for more information
