An audiovisual consultant presents a guide to selecting suitable and cost effective tape and cassettes. He describes and illustrates physical properties of tapes and includes a list of manufacturers and suppliers. (MF)

Cost is viewed as one consequence of individualization or contract learning rather than as an objective. Issues of accountability, faculty salaries, curricular unit framework of analysis, and formulae for cost prediction are addressed. (LBH)

Analyzes the advantages of skills centers, including subject mastery, cost-effectiveness use of facilities, per student cost savings, and improved student-teacher relationships. Discusses ways of overcoming obstacles to establishing a center, and cites current successful programs. (RT)

Conducted an inexpensive mental health needs assessment of 520 households in a rural community using volunteer university students as telephone interviewers. Respondents considered situational stressors such as unemployment, financial strain, and alcohol and drug abuse to be community's most pressing mental health problems and believed that…

Reviews the copyright problems involved in interlibrary loans using photocopies of journal articles and describes the development of a document delivery system, in which materials are stored on optical disks, printed on demand, and a copyright fee is included in pricing. Technical and practical aspects of the system are discussed. (CLB)

Examines three key federal information issues from an economic perspective: what information the government should make available to the public; whether government information should be disseminated via governmental or private means; and whether costs of transmission should be borne by the public at large or by the information user. (CDD)

Describes the Canadian government's New Horizons program which sponsors projects begun and run by older adults. Shows how policy can assist the evolution of seniors' activities and can help seniors play active parts in society. Discusses the cost and benefits of such a program. (Author/ABB)

Discusses the overall efficiency of investment in primary and secondary education and technology transfer via investment both in physical capital and higher education in 30 of the poorest African countries. A high (21.2 percent) rate of return to investment in primary and secondary education was found. Includes six tables and 20 references. (MLH)

A survey shows that officials at universities with big-time sports programs intend to reduce their spending on athletics, but are reluctant to make cuts in football and basketball. The National Collegiate Athletic Association is proposing only a few rule changes for their special convention in June. (MLW)

This discussion of the benefits of audio teleconferencing for distance education programs and for business and government applications focuses on the recent experience of Canadian educational users. Four successful operating models and their costs are reviewed, and it is concluded that audio teleconferencing is cost efficient and educationally…

Discusses the trends toward developing "spelling checkers" for word processing programs. Compares 19 different commercial dictionary programs with regard to word size, dictionary source, number of words checked, memory requirement, algorithm type, and cost. Cautions against becoming too dependent on spelling checkers, noting their shortcomings.…

Some states use subsidies, grants, and other public monies to rejuvenate lagging rural economies, but without sound economic analysis to guide these efforts money may go to projects that do not achieve economic development goals. Minnesota's Iron Range programs illustrate what happens when economic analysis is sacrificed in political tugs-of-war.…

Discusses the concept of pacing as it relates to distance education. Highlights include the relationship of pacing to academic standards, activity scheduling, student independence, student interaction, effective utilization of media, course materials, learning methods, student motivation, drop-out rate, and the cost effectiveness of pacing. (LRW)

Data were studied from the Internal Revenue Service on 1,928 hearing-impaired students who had graduated or withdrawn from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Results showed that graduates had higher lifetime earnings and returned significantly more money to the Federal Treasury than the students who withdrew. (JDD)

Discusses the development of research skills through online searching by secondary school students, and compares online and optical data disk systems. The factors compared include cost, currency, subject areas, number of uses, search time, preparation needed, search methods, help needed, and alternative uses of the equipment. (CLB)