Individualized learning by distance education is discussed, with examples from Lincoln College, New Zealand. After identifying advantages and disadvantages of this approach for students, five degrees of freedom in learning encompassed by this mode are covered that involve content, method, pace, assessment, and sequence. Freedom of content allows…

The learning project interview is a group-interview technique that is useful for developing an awareness of the process of adult learning. Specifically, it provides insights concerning the types of things adults try to learn, the number of learning experiences they have, their methods of learning, and the sources of the subject matter that they…

The amount and structure of prose learning derived from vocabulary definition and graphic post-organizer construction methods of independent study tasks is examined. Undergraduate subjects (n=144) read a 2000-word passage in a 20-minute reading period. Two subject groups performed text information tasks while a third acted as a control to measure…

The second language learning methods of Southern Baptist missionaries in Zambia are described. Instead of studying the new language in a school setting, the student receives a week of orientation and is then placed in the community and expected to practice communicating with the native speakers at every opportunity. The student follows a course…

A guide for independent learners of Maniyaka (also known as Mandingo), one of the Mande languages of Liberia, is intended for individuals already in a Mandingo speaking situation but without access to experienced teachers of the language. An introductory chapter discusses the languages of Liberia and provides a map of Liberian languages, a chart…

The problems of resource allocation and management within open learning systems in colleges of further and higher education in Britain are discussed in this paper, with particular focus on the deployment of academic staff. First, the components of open learning systems are outlined; e.g., providing materials for students' private study, grading…

A program was devised to provide 12 educable primary grade children with meaningful independent work experiences during the morning period while the teacher was engaged in reading instruction. (DB)

A study examined significant deliberate learning activities (as demonstrated in learning projects) which were related to spiritual growth. (Spiritual growth was defined in broad terms within which each interviewee interpreted his or her own concept.) Fifty persons between the ages of thirty-five and fifty-five and representing five groups (three…

A description of the kinds of services libraries may provide to students in nontraditional programs and an examination of the kinds of training needed by librarians who perform such services. (LS)

Four inquiries were conducted to provide some initial feedback on the operation of the Directed Activities Related to Text Project. Three were concerned with aspects of process and examined such problems as the ways in which the actual course of a text-based lesson reflects the objectives of the project, and how such a lesson can be shown to…

This booklet describes the mini-awards programs that are provided by teacher centers as an alternative form of inservice teacher education. Mini-awards (or mini-grants) are monetary incentives given to an individual teacher or to a group of teachers to encourage curriculum and staff development and to address the professional needs of teachers.…

This study was conducted to test the effect of practice or adjunct questions on learning in a real-world training environment. Subjects were 289 males enrolled in a self-study Naval communications course. Subjects were assigned to one of three experimental groups which received workbooks, or to a control group which did not receive workbooks. The…

Summer School in Action was created in 1979 by members of the Syracuse (New York) Area Teacher Center Policy Board to meet the expressed needs of local teachers. The participants for the first year (1979) were 21 elementary and secondary school teachers with a median of 8.6 years of teaching experience. The second year (1980) participants numbered…

The results of a second year of experimentation in self-directed learning (SDL) of English for Special Purposes are presented. The experiment was carried out with a group of 13 intermediate level students at the "Ecole des Mines" in Nancy, France. Changes in the original strategy are described. In addition to communication exercises directed by a…

The purpose of this project was to develop, administer, and evaluate an inservice education program designed to provide entrepreneurial competencies for owner-managers of newly formed small business firms. The project objectives included the following: (1) identify the core-crucial managerial-entrepreneurial competencies needed by the…