A study was undertaken to explore whether students using an advance organizer-metacognitive learning strategy would be less anxious, more self-directing, more efficient, and more self-confident when learning unknown computer applications software than students using traditional computer software learning strategies. The first experiment was…

To provide opportunities for self-direction, middle-school educators must offer an orchestrated development plan aimed at the acquisition of attitudes and skills that allow and promote self-direction. Self-direction and self-help are becoming increasingly necessary as "high-tec" cultures move forward. Self-directed learners exhibit…

This book offers suggestions to parents for implementing interest-initiated learning in home-school situations. Interest-initiated learning is based on three principles: (1) the learner initiates and controls learning according to his or her own interests; (2) the student's own priorities guide the learner; and (3) the teacher only enters the…

This book challenges common assumptions about the nature of education and the need for formal schooling and provides an overview of promising alternatives to compulsory education. Following a foreword by Ivan Illich, four sections cover the philosophical roots of opposition to compulsory public education, current analyses of the public school…

Based on a second language learning workshop that was a follow-up to the 1990 British conference, "Autonomy in Language Learning," at the Lane End conference center, this report covers the practical implications of the ideas that emerged at the conference. The continuum that encompasses learner autonomy and autonomous learning is…

A system was developed in the Open Learning Centres to make resources and instructional materials available to adult basic education (ABE) students. The materials were organized so that information could be provided to students to help them make choices among the items. Initially, a color coding system was devised, but it was found that it was not…

This study investigated the constraints students in an alternative education program encountered when attempting to implement their individualized curricula in the Independent Study Program (ISP) at the University of Illinois. The study used in-depth interviews with an informant sample of 10 ISP students to gather data about curriculum…

The VIISA (Vision Impaired In-Service in America) training model provided early intervention/childhood professionals with training that would help them better serve preschoolers, ages birth to five, with blindness and visual impairment. Materials and procedures for two courses were developed and taught to 344 participants in 9 states over a 3-year…

This manual is designed for improving understanding of colloquial Romanian in continued language learning beyond the beginning level. The first part of the manual includes four popular Moldovan fairy-tales with illustrations to help understand what is implied in the text. The second section includes local expressions, some of them with…

This individualized inservice packet provides teachers with guidelines for the meaningful selection and assessment of print materials, so that they may locate and utilize the appropriate reading content for individual students. It is one of a nine-part series of booklets--Teaching Teen Reading--in self-instructional format, intended as a practical…

Taking a report on the effects of cooperative completion of cloze by Jacobson (1990) as its point of departure, this study used English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students to investigate the potential of the cloze procedure and of group work for learning, including its usefulness as an instructional or self-instructional procedure for language…

This guide was developed to assist teachers and media staff in Winnipeg, Manitoba to work together to plan programs that help students develop independent, resource-based learning skills. The first section of the guide describes how library research projects can be used to teach independent learning skills. The guide discusses opportunities for…

Noting the rapid and large changes in international finance over the past 2 decades, this paper offers suggestions for teaching business education courses on international finance. The paper recommends a combination of computer-assisted instruction and electronic classroom, discussion group, independent study, and lecture. Computer-assisted…

This guide presents state policies and procedures for all types of off-campus instruction delivered by Colorado institutions. Instruction may be offered at off-campus locations, at other institutions' campuses, or delivered to students via the mails or electronic media. Part A provides an introduction, while Part B considers general policies…

The Independent Study in the Humanities Fellowship program for teachers of grades 9-12 has been sponsored since 1983 by the Council for Basic Education under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The program awards $3,000 fellowships for summer study to outstanding teachers of English, foreign languages, history, and other…