This guide was developed in response to faculty inquiries about how to prepare more effective syllabi. Its content was derived from several sources: discussions with faculty about course planning procedures; interviews with students; reviews of workshops and other literature; and analysis of a large number of syllabi from different disciplines.…

A computer assisted instructional program was developed for teaching the rules of filing to library student assistants in the New York Institute of Technology. The procedure used in developing the program was based upon the Interservice Model of Instructional Systems Design (ISD) developed at Florida State University. The first of seven chapters…

Integrating the arts from the preschool level through graduate school enables students to develop their creativity and their ability to reason, draw abstractions, analyze, give personal meaning to what they are learning, and to express themselves in very powerful and fulfilling ways. Students must be taught with a variety of approaches to…

It is argued that in order to make computer assisted instruction effective in the schools, educators should pay more attention to implementation issues (including modifying teacher attitudes, changing classroom routines, and offering realistic technical training and support) and to producing understandable product and performance evaluations.…

It is argued that the three basic issues that have typically been the concern of formative evaluation (comprehensibility, appeal, and usefulness) tell us very little about the role that an instructional product can play in the ongoing environment of the classroom. The focus in this paper is on the field test, i.e., on research situated within the…

Designed to help educators and policymakers consider the effective use of currently-evolving distance learning technologies, this policy brief examines: (1) the need for distance learning; (2) the most promising combinations of technologies (two-way television, one-way television with audio return, and audiographics); (3) the cost-effectiveness of…

Current issues in educational communications and technology are addressed in this collection of 47 conference papers in which research reports predominate. Topics discussed include factors related to the learner, e.g., learning strategies, information processing, spatial ability, cognitive style, and cognitive strategies. Presentation format and…

The vast underutilization of technology in educational environments suggests the need for more research to develop models to successfully adopt and diffuse computer systems in schools. Of 980 surveys mailed to various Ohio public schools, 529 were completed and returned to help determine current attitudes and perceptions of teachers and…

Three dimensions of education--development of knowledge, training of mental abilities, and development of character--and their implications for social and individual good are discussed in this paper. Education is described as the process that prepares young people for their social inheritance through the transmission of societal values. A…

An interactive video program, "The Screening Interview," has been developed at Miami University (Ohio) to help prepare college and university students for on-campus employment interviews with corporate recruiters. Within the context of the simulated interview situation provided by the program, students function as the alter ego of either…

The result of the Writing across the Curriculum Project at Minneapolis Community College, this handbook provides teachers with effective, efficient, and practical suggestions for crafting good writing assignments in content area classrooms. In general, the book encourages teachers to ask good questions and to experiment with writing. Respectively,…

This three-part paper describes the development of a software program called "The Growth Curve of Microorganisms" for a tenth-grade biology class. Designed to improve students' cognitive skills, the program enables them to investigate, through computer simulations, the impact upon the growth curve of a population of three variables: temperature,…

The Air Force Occupational Measurement Center conducts task-based occupational surveys of Air Force specialties that include supervisor ratings on recommended training emphasis for entry-level airmen. Priorities are input to the Instructional System Development training model, which guides the development and revision of specialty training…

WICAT Systems, Inc., produced a "proof of concept" instructional videodisc in college biology with support from the National Science Foundation. The project involved simultaneous development of content design, instructional strategies, software, and hardware, with a principal focus on evaluation of the instructional videodisc in the classroom.…

Interactive videodisc computer-assisted instruction (CAI) on land navigation tasks for M1 Abrams tank commander was developed and installed in a Basic Noncommissioned Officer's Course (BNOC) classroom at Fort Knox, Kentucky. A two-sided videodisc was developed to support the CAI courseware, which was developed on Hazeltine Corporation's…