Outlines the pros and cons of the National Information Utility Program, which is designed to provide current updatable courseware to schools nationwide. The information is broadcast over FM radio and television signals to facilities subscribing to the utility. (MD)

Discusses the process involved in curriculum changes. Describes the limiting factors that principals inherit. Outlines the successful use of the "contagion model" in implementing a mastery learning program as a curricular change in intermediate schools. (MD)

Reviewing the concerns expressed in an educational article written 100 years ago, the author shows that these same areas concern educators today. The article provides a perspective on the problems of education. (MD)

Chapters in this edition contain many different approaches and strategies that can be used in individuals to improve teaching. The selections give the reader a variety of perspectives. The chapters from the first edition of this sourcebook have been updated or rewritten, and seven chapters have been added to provide additional information. The…

If the intellectual norms and values embedded in the mathematics education reform movement are to move beyond individual classrooms and significantly influence entire schools and districts, school and district administrators will need to become centrally rather than peripherally involved. This paper discusses the way in which administrators' ideas…

This paper discusses the implications for technology and distance education of the following value statement: "The world's resources are not infinite and they are not distributed equally on a global basis. Continued resource consuming growth and maldistribution of ever more scarce resources will increase conflict and poverty as well as…

Curriculum management stresses the identification of purpose and content involving essentially what'' questions; instructional development deals with strategies and techniques of teaching that attend basically to questions of how.'' This article deals with a description of an appropriate instructional development system. (Authors/CB)

A designer of educational games and simulations analyzes his own design process which revealed unexpected weaknesses in his mode of working, led him to consider how to minimize them when designing future games and simulations, and resulted in changes to a more efficient and effective work style. (EAO)

Reviews needs assessment history and extant techniques and offers a model for generating needs assessments based upon five general purposes of front-end analysis and their corresponding types of items--problem finding; problem selecting; knowledge/skill proving; finding feelings; and cause finding. Thirty-three sources are appended. (EJS)

Argues that trainers of instructional developers will ensure students' success and enhance their own reputations if their students have had experience in putting theory into practice. Five references are listed. (Author/LLS)

Examines certain common professional characteristics that unite instructional developers across a variety of settings, and addresses the question as to whether a strong case can be made for providing developers with a common approach to their training. (Author/MER)

Provides an overview of modern instructional technology including the characteristics of cost effective instructional programs and the principal features, stages, applications, and expectations of modern instructional technology. (CHC)

Discusses the need for and use of models in the design and development of instructional materials, providing an overview of the main characteristics of a unit model and three course models: a simple linear model, a refined linear model, and a branched model. (RAO)

Argues that with project prices of courseware surpassing those of hardware, the National Science Foundation (NSF) must promote transportability if computer-based instruction is to gain widespread implementation.

Gives an overview of the development of educational technology in Japan evident in the increase of publications, the diffusion of technological innovations, and the organization of research pertaining to the field. (Author/MER)