The content of this report is based primarily on an assessment of the activities and plans of large companies currently involved in various phases of instructional technology, on an extensive review of reports published on the subject, and on the knowledge and experience of the author with similar studies. The report examines broad areas of…

Many educators believe that they should be able to decide what they need and issue functional specifications for the equipment they want to purchase. In order to maximize the cost effectiveness of a given technology, it may be better to have a constant interplay between people familiar with educational problems, educational research, hardware…

Cost-effectiveness is both a powerful and an often misused technique for analysis. In order to help the educational planner with his problems in achieving a more effective use of educational resources, this paper proposed a method of analysis which is called resource effectiveness. In order for a program to be evaluated properly, both the…

Although much progress has been made in the ten years that computer-assisted instruction (CAI) has been researched, two major problems still exist. One is the high cost of CAI; the other is its lack of flexibility. The former problem will abate with improved technology and the creation of educational CAI utility systems. One possible solution to…

Benefit-cost analysis consists of establishing ratios of benefits to costs for a set of project variants. The decision rule is to select that project variant where the ratio is a maximum. This paper argues that specification and estimation errors can contribute to findings for large-scale systems of benefit-cost ratios approximating zero. The…

A two-fold solution to the cost information deficiency problem is proposed. A formal managerial cost accounting system is designed expressly for the two information services of retrospective search and selective dissemination. The system was employed during a trial period to test its effectiveness in a technical information center. Once…

Scripts of the three presentations made during Forum 12 of the AACJC conference are presented here. The introductory remarks, made by James O. Hammons, deal with the need for accountability and cost effectiveness and the development of these concepts. Sharon Jaggard presents a comparison of three courses at Bulington County College on the basis of…

This document presents the full report of a study of 66 colleges that agreed to use the author's cost-effectiveness strategy. Drawing on real-life examples, it is shown how other colleges can use cost analysis to bring expenditures in line with income. Necessary data collection forms and comparative tables that make implementation an uncomplicated…

This report, divided into six sections, is a summary of a study to research the costs of implementing Individually Guided Instruction (IGE). Section 1 introduces IGE and gives a brief overview of all studies conducted as part of the Institute for Development of Educational Activities grant to Teachers College, University of Nebraska. Section 2,…

This report attempts to assess the economic benefits and costs of the PACE (Projects to Advance Creativity in Education) Early Identification and Intervention Project. The report is structured to provide an indication of impacts generated by the Project, with some estimates of its direction and relative magnitude. The first section on impact…

Delivery costs per contact hour for secondary school vocational technical education in Tennessee were gathered from January to June 1973. A sample of six selected schools teaching 58 courses in 109 separate classes was used. Data were analyzed to determine direct and indirect costs per student contact hour for each course with and without…

A technical, user and cost comparison study was undertaken to provide the Educational Resources Information Clearinghouse (ERIC) staff with data on silver halide, diazo, and vesicular type films for microfiche duplication. This information will allow ERIC to determine if diazo and/or vesicular films should be considered in producing ERIC duplicate…

An accountability policy is seen as having three basic elements: demonstrated student accomplishment, independent accomplishment audits, and public reports. It requires the regular independent review of results obtained for resources expended. Effects resulting from implementation of such a policy are: (1) the focus of schooling shifts from…

Least cost decision rules for transferring documents from primary to secondary storage are developed from a dynamic programing model of an information system. The program is constrained to provide for a minimum acceptable level of user benefits. Knowledge of the physical size of the primary storage area and the fraction of documents returned from…

This study was undertaken to investigate new techniques of costing and resource allocation in higher education. A preliminary study was made of current costs of producing graduates in different disciplines broken down by major items of expenditure (capital and maintenance costs, salaries, administrative costs, etc.). Then, alternative models were…