Chaos offers educational communications and technology new systems' tools and ideas; i.e., it provides the system with a deterministic "I don't know" state within which new activity patterns can be generated. Previous characterizations and paradigms of systems stated that simple systems behaved in simple ways, complex behaviors implied complex…

Provides a summary of a series of research and development projects which investigated the reasons for failure in educational technology-based systems of instruction. Develops a new approach to the design of such systems and their subsequent implementation and control. A 17-item bibliography is included. (Author/CHC)

Discusses difficulties in defining instructional systems design (ISD) and presents five ways the field is viewed, ranging from a narrow view emphasizing media selection to a complete ISD view. The ISD view emphasizes five main components: educational theory and research, system analysis, diffusion, consulting/interpersonal relations, and project…

The major challenges for educational reform today are assembling disparate pieces of information to create sustainable systemic change and "scaling up" systemic reform to encompass all schools, all programmatic areas, all levels of schooling and diverse social contexts. Mid-continent Regional Education Laboratory (McREL) has begun to organize its…

The reasons for schools' lack of leadership in using microcomputers for technological diffusion are explored in this article. General systems theory is used to examine the effects of the computer revolution on political, social, economic, and educational systems. Selected characteristics of schools and computers are offered as possible…