This manual provides information needed by students taking independent study courses (special problems) in agricultural education, business education, home economics education, industrial education, or health occupations education as part of the Vocational Education Studies Program at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. The first part of…

This report presents 72 institutions' responses to the National University Continuing Education Association Independent Study Division's survey of program practices during academic year 1987-88. The six sections provide tables on total program scope, college programs, high school programs, noncredit programs, marketing methods and costs, and…

Acknowledging a recent increased interest in research about self-directed learning, this report analyzes and discusses two different forms of education: self-directed learning and distance education. Here, self-directed learning is identical with autodidactic learning, a form of education that cannot be included in organized adult education; the…

The University of Minnesota offered an experimental course to teach people to develop performance-based instruction courses and programs for education and industry. Computer-based teacher education was provided through distance delivery independent study with tutoring. The course was designed using the performance-based instructional design…

Interim programs at nine colleges are described. An introductory essay by Lee M. Swan, "The Interim: Potential for Quality Learning," emphasizes the potential for unique learning through the interim approach. At Augustana College (South Dakota), interim experiences are required, including core courses, internships, travel experiences,…

This student guide, one of a series of correspondence training courses designed to improve the job performance of members of the Marine Corps, deals with the skills needed by bulk fuel workers. Addressed in the four individual units of the course are the following topics: bulk fuel equipment, bulk fuel systems, procedures for handling fuels, and…

Researchers are concluding that high school and college students do not have a well-balanced repertoire of effective independent learning strategies. Another line of research has focused upon the question of the "process" or the "how" underlying such learning strategies. Three insights from this research are pertinent to developmental educators.…

This course, one of 16 sequential courses comprising phase one of a part-time Bachelor of Arts degree program in Australian Studies, illustrates that the concept of work has not been a universal or historically consistent category. Some of the distinctive features of work in the Western world are covered, along with some effects of the Industrial…

Part two of the final report on the adult independent learning program focuses on the following: (1) discussion of the 11 data collection categories developed to meet the information needs of specific groups--advisors working with adult learners, planners monitoring service performance, library policy decision makers responsible for determining…

The purpose of this investigation was to develop a method for improving the spelling skills of college freshmen. Parallel spelling units were devised, which covered the same minimal skills concepts. After a spelling pretest, the students in the sample could choose to study the material either by classroom drill or by using a self-instructional…

Mariemont High School in Mariemont, Ohio, has an open facility that enhances the school's goal to train the student to "think reflectively, critically, and constructively about the problems of his world." (Author/MLF)

The Guided Independent Study Program, an individually paced, master-oriented teaching method for serving undergraduate and graduate nontraditional students at the College of St. Scholastica, Minnesota, is described. A number of independent study courses in psychology, gerontology, and education have been offered to students who cannot come to the…

A model is presented for response to evaluating instruction in a university based on the teaching-at-a-distance concept. Technically appropriate and operationally viable, this model is applied to the National Open University of Venezuela (UNA). The model is based on two principles of educational evaluation: (1) the concept of evaluation as a…

The seminar concept is a form of independent study that allows children the opportunity to learn as much as they like on a chosen topic while they are acquiring valuable library research skills. The child begins a seminar project by writing down all possible ideas he or she can think of for exploring a topic. This is done on a "brainstorming"…