This article describes a jointly planned and jointly evaluated course offered through Washington State University General Extension. The purpose of the course was to improve instruction in elementary classrooms through use of competency-based training materials (Minicourses) from the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development. The Minicourse used, entitled "Minicourse I, Effective Questioning: Elementary Level," was designed to improve the questioning and discussion skills of primary and intermediate grade teachers. Each instructional lesson consisted of the following: (a) the teacher reading handbook material; (b) the teacher viewing instructional film and completing handbook quiz; (c) the teacher viewing a model lesson film, identifying target behaviors, and recording these on a form in the handbook; (d) the teacher preparing and conducting a 10-minute microteaching lesson with a small group of pupils from her own class (this is video recorded and replayed twice); and (e) the teacher reviewing the third replay of the reteach lesson with a colleague. Evaluation of the Minicourse program was undertaken by a comparison of pre- and post-course audio recordings of discussions made in the teachers' own classrooms. (JA)