Evolving from a television library begun in 1962, the Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT) was established by American and Canadian educators in 1973 to strengthen education through technology, and in cooperation with state and provincial agencies, it develops and distributes instructional video and computer materials. It has been active in developing instructional technology that teaches intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, the affective domain, or motor skills in addition to presenting information. In its 1985 instructional video production "Math Works," students are taught to use cognitive strategies, such as critical thinking, to manage their own learning processes by watching peers cope successfully with a difficult math problem. AIT's 2-year program "Principles of Technology" uses 6 different learning situations to teach applied physics to vocational and technical students. It contains 1,500 pages of text, 72 video programs, 90 laboratory sessions, mathematics exercises, classroom presentations, and teacher/student interaction. All materials produced by the agency are evaluated by teachers and other subject matter experts. AIT funds curriculum design and program production by forming consortia of interested state and provincial educational agencies in the United States and Canada. AIT is also actively seeking mutually beneficial curricula-sharing projects around the world and has worked with geographers and television crews in 14 countries to produce a program entitled "Global Geography." Materials intended for use outside the United States are translated, correlated to foreign texts, and adapted to the culture in which they will be used; the videotapes on which the materials are recorded are subjected to various technical conversions. "Principles of Technology" is being adapted for use in Bophuphatswana, Mexico, and Turkey, and "Math Works" is currently being adapted for use in Israel. (A two-page description of "Principles of Technology" is appended.) (MN)