This paper looks at the potential of the new electronic media of broadcast television (including teletext and interactive cable), the videodisc, and the microcomputer. It examines the nature and extent of these media as textual communication systems and considers their implications in terms of both the reading skills they demand, and the ways in…

Addresses cognitive style and visual literacy in use of instructional computing, focusing on learner interaction with screen displays and ways cognitive style and visual preferences facilitate or inhibit learning, and asks whether having computers in classrooms is only a case of utilizing another form of television. Research areas are suggested.…

Discusses questions of central importance to researchers interested in educational computing, namely long-range, cumulative effects of computer use; cumulative effects on cognition, emotion, and behavior; identification, conceptualization, and study of computers' capabilities carrying the most educational promise; transfer of learning; and…

Field tests were conducted to evaluate theory-based computer-video instructional modules designed to teach or review concepts and operations for factors, prime numbers, and fractions. (MNS)

This collection includes 16 conference papers and presentations and brief descriptions of 35 workshops and demonstrations. The document contains the following papers: (1) "Visual Literacy in the Elementary Grades" (David J. Bieman); (2) "Inservice Training for Sheridan's Audio Visual Staff" (Dave MacDougall); (3)…

The goals of this study were to understand the expectations of both designers and teachers for the design and use of packages that integrate computer and television technologies, and to investigate the implementation of these packages in the classroom. Interviews were conducted with eight designers of "The Voyage of the Mimi" (MIMI), a…

The role of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in supplying television educators with teacher aids, models, and devices is described in this report, which emphasizes the work of special effects or visual effects technicians and explains how difficult concepts and principles can be demonstrated through the use of three-dimensional models,…

Solutions Unlimited is a computer/video project developed by the Agency for Instructional Television (AIT) in collaboration with a consortium of state, provincial, and local education agencies. The goal of the project is to improve the problem-solving skills of students in grades 6 through 8 through the use of brief instructional television…

Focusing on university programs for adult learners, this discussion of distance education reviews existing programs, including the British Open University and the Annenberg/CPB Project; discusses course design; and describes the integration of a variety of media including television, video cassettes, audio, computer assisted instruction, radio,…

Reflects upon opportunities for research in instructional technology provided by present state of media hardware technology and educational requirements. Prospects for research in incidental learning, including learning from television, are discussed, as well as traditional learning research on intentional learning, including possibilities for…

Technological delivery systems currently available or in use are examined for adaptability by rural schools, especially high schools faced with increasing demands to expand curriculum. This report focuses on the Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory's (McREL's) service area of Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South…

Current issues in educational communications and technology are addressed in this collection of 51 papers, which are mainly research reports. The first five papers were prepared for a symposium on the status of research in instructional technology, an introduction and four discussions of divergent points of view in the current controversy over the…

The first of two papers describes the author's experiences teaching a narrow-cast instructional development course at Indiana University. Among the disadvantages of the experience were the logistics of coordinating the instructional activities between two campuses, additional preparation time requirements, diminished student-teacher interactions,…

Current issues in educational communications and technology are addressed in this collection of 47 papers, in which research reports dominate. Topics discussed include factors related to the learner, e.g., problem-solving skills, motivation, comparison of instructional design strategies, effects of organizational cues and text layouts, and…

The Educational Technology Center (ETC) was established by the National Institute of Education in October, 1983, in order to find ways of using the computer and other information technologies to teach science, mathematics, and computing more effectively. This report describes the ETC, presents its framework for research, and summarizes work on 14…