In this paper, problems with the philosophy and research relating to various interpretations of 'closing the gap' are used to open up a discussion of, and illustrate, the process whereby a narrow interpretation of 'science' and neglect of systems thinking result in the generation of huge amounts of dangerous and misleading misinformation and…

This is the text of Michael Armstrong's address to the Brian Simon Centenary conference, held at the Institute of Education on 26 March 2015. Michael Armstrong celebrates the humanism that underlay Brian's belief in a common system of education, democratic and non-selective, and finds its counterpart in the creative practice of school children.

The vision of academic and business leaders often sets a pattern for all activities to follow. Organizational objectives, tasks, performance, and uses of resources are needed to obtain and reach current and future society trends influencing organizational goals. This paper identifies 5 steps leaders need to create a systems approach toward…

The first step in establishing an educational system is to assess the desired outcomes of the task and to state them as observable behaviors. The second step is to determine the optimal learning environment for the achievement of those goals. The final step is to set up a system of evaluating the quality of the instruction and the performance of…

Though extensive research has been conducted to measure educational outcomes in terms of quantity and cost, there has been little discussion or analysis of educational quality and its measurement. Quality may be defined in terms of whether a service or product meets or exceeds prespecified standards and can be measured in relation to defined…

Reported on is an allocation mechanism that combines the decentralized efficiency and incentive features of a market system with the responsiveness of the centralized allocation structure to the overall goals of the university. In this system, decentralized "management centers" are automatically allocated only those income and expense items they…

The application of management by objectives (MBO) at Roosevelt University is described. Semantic problems were overcome and "administration by objectives" was implemented as a process by which institutional goals and objectives and those of each administrator are made explicit and agreed upon, the detailed steps and the sources needed to…

The importance of the incorporation of affective education into present school curricula is discussed in the contexts of (a) historical antecedents and (b) problems caused by the lack of attention paid to the role played by feelings and emotions in a child's learning, growth and development. Three challenges facing an educator who wants to…

In response to a low passing rate in a general psychology course taught at Howard Community College (MD), as well as to student and instructor dissatisfaction with the course, a systems model was developed and applied to improve course quality. The development of the model involved nine steps: (1) enumerating precise skill objectives which could…

An alternative research methodology is presented which focuses on the aims and values of education while attending to the learner as an elaborate, dynamic, everchanging total system. A summary covers the reactive, preactive, proactive, and spiralling learner systems, each of which meet the definitional system requirement of being dynamic, having a…

Education is criticized both for failure to accomplish its objectives and for the inappropriateness of those objectives. Perhaps there is a need for an educational system that is not directed toward specific, predetermined goals. It seems that educators have adapted the engineering and management applications of general systems theory. Instead of…

Educational accountability can be defined as the assigning of responsibility for educational outcomes. It has two essential dimensions--access to information about performance and the ability to change those factors thought to be responsible for unsatisfactory performance. While there are necessarily many parties held accountable in the schooling…

This overview of an introductory, graduate level course in instructional systems design taught at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville stresses the point that professors of instructional design need to utilize the concepts, principles, and procedures which they present in their courses. Special attention is given to the analysis, development,…

As the element of government closest to direct taxpayer control, education is in deep crisis. Education must become more productive if only to maintain its present level of operation. Increasing productivity means getting the same results for less cost, getting better results for the same cost, or getting significantly better results for…

The purpose of this paper is to identify the various components of the educational system in higher education, to illustrate how and where they interact, overlap, and come together so that it may be better understood how Web-based instruction (WBI) may impact higher education. A definition of an educational system is given, and three principles…