The aim system: A tool for designing and supporting teacher education and professional development in multiple areas of teaching, learning & assessment

We have been developing a web-based system that brings together and makes accessible knowledge about many of the advances in educational research, instructional practice, and information technologies. The system, dubbed AIM (Adaptable Instructional Materials) assists its users in applying its resources to the creation of lessons and courses for in-service teachers, pre-service teachers, and instructional leaders. The indexed and annotated database of electronic resources incorporates state-of-the-art examples that illustrate the core principles of How People Learn and Knowing What Students Know in action and activities for using these examples in an instructional setting. The AIM system is being used as the core element of projects targeted at supporting the development and deployment of courses, workshops, and resources for teacher education in institutions of higher education and professional development programs in K-12 school systems. The main focus of this presentation is to discuss the underlying theoretical foundations upon which AIM was developed, provide an examination of the system and its various functions, and share user feedback evaluating the system for both development and delivery of course content. In addition, the presentation concludes by discussing the challenges faced when developing and deploying a system like AIM on a larger scale and how we have begun to address these issues as we move forward in our development and dissemination efforts.