Student retention has remained, over many decades, a strong area of concern in postsecondary education, for good reason. Retaining students is a key factor in an institution's maintenance of its stability and reputation, and it helps students and society to avoid the all-too-common consequences associated with a lack of education, including…

Reviews research results and arguments supporting Keller's Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) as a paradigm for distance learning, describes a project at Athabasca University which compared various PSI configurations for distance learning, and discusses the advantages, disadvantages, and flexibility of PSI for such use. Nineteen references…

A computerized delivery system in consumer economics developed at the University of Delaware uses the PLATO system to provide a basis for analyzing consumer behavior in the marketplace. The 16 sequential lessons, part of the Consumer in the Marketplace Series (CMS), demonstrate consumer economic theory in layman's terms and are structured to focus…

Presents a model for testing in individualized adult programs which includes aptitude, placement, achievement, and proficiency measurements. The model calls for measurement of discrete-point knowledge as well as the communicative ability and cultural insights of students. The kind and detail of record-keeping are discussed. (Author/AMH)

The purpose of this project was to develop and field test a model for delivering teaching competency instruction to inexperienced vocational teachers. An off-campus course was developed utilizing six individualized learning packages or modules based on 38 competencies considered most important for beginning teachers. Twelve teachers from the three…

Awareness of the need for more effective instruction for heterogeneous groups of students has resulted in the development of the "mastery learning" model through which students are provided with the additional time necessary to achieve mastery of the content to be learned. The mastery learning model does not, however, provide a…

A project was designed to develop a model for learning center organization in the Kentucky vocational schools and to develop a learning center handbook. During the project's first year, meetings of learning center coordinators resulted in development of preliminary models for learning center operation. One was developed for use in vocational…

Key concepts from theory and research on student learning are discussed, and a conceptual framework to promote the design of local instructional improvement efforts is presented. The objective is to advocate that institutional researchers focus more directly on the basic issues of teaching and learning and to suggest that improving instructional…

This report aims to encourage the wider use of target setting for individual students and trainees in the learning and skills sector, defined as the provision of post-16 further and continuing education and training, funded and inspected in England by the new Learning and Skills Council. Section 1 addresses types of targets for individual students…

A multimodal career education model entitled BEST IDEA was field tested as an approach to the problem of retaining skilled nurses in the work force. Using multimodal assessment and intervention strategies derived from the multimodal behavior therapy of Arnold Lazarus, researchers developed an individualized career development assessment and…

A project was undertaken to develop a set of individualized instructional materials for use in helping academically disadvantaged students to acquire the vocational, study, and learning skills necessary to succeed in secondary and postsecondary programs. In order to identify the industrial vocational concepts and related study and learning skills…

A project was undertaken to develop a model for organizing and operating learning centers in secondary and postsecondary vocational schools as well as in community colleges in Kentucky. During the first year of the project models were developed for learning centers at both instructional levels. Stressed in each model was the use of key elements of…

A 16-week office specialist certificate program was developed for Spanish-speaking adults who have the ability and desire to obtain an entry-level office administration position but who have limited English proficiency and basic occupational skills. The program, which is based on the vocational bilingual training model, takes advantage of the…

This booklet, which is intended for general readers wishing to understand important trends in vocational education and training, provides insight into how self-paced learning programs are being implemented in Australia and how teachers and students evaluate their effectiveness. The following topics are discussed in the first booklet's first seven…

This eleventh in a series of eleven learning modules on program planning, development, and evaluation is designed to assist secondary and postsecondary vocational teachers in planning and conducting locally directed and product-oriented program evaluation. Introductory sections relate the competencies dealt with here to others in the program and…