An educational research project at the Medical University of South Carolina is described that was undertaken to evaluate the efficiency of a new method for teaching core psychiatry to medical students. This method, the Psychiatry Learning System (PLS), is a multimedia, self-instructional course comprised of programmed text with videotaped clinical…

Describes results of survey of media service directors at public universities in Ohio to determine the expected longevity of audiovisual equipment. Use of the Delphi technique for estimates is explained, results are compared with an earlier survey done in 1977, and use of spreadsheet software to calculate depreciation is discussed. (LRW)

The impact of two methods of individual instruction, guided reading and the learning center approach, on undergraduates in an educational psychology course is investigated. Objectives are (1) to determine which method is more effective in terms of cognitive gains, and (2) to compare attitudes toward the two methods. (JMD)

An experiment was conducted to determine if a mathematics laboratory would reduce the withdraw/failure (W/F) rate in freshman mathematics courses. Fifty-six students in two course sections of analytic geometry were designated as comparative experimental groups T-1 and T-2, with 29 subjects in T-1 receiving only tutoring, and 27 in T-2 receiving…

To compare information about the uses of computers in composition in representative universities, this document reports on a study that gathered data from teachers, administrators, and students at 10 universities by means of questionnaires and interviews by letter, by phone, and in person during visits to campus computer labs and classrooms. The…

Two instructional methods for a freshman physics course were compared: audio-tutorial (AT) instruction in a learning center and lecture-recitation-laboratory (LRL) instruction. Both random assignment and student preference were used to distribute the 575 students between the two methods. Course content, homework, and tests were identical.…

The use of the audio-tutorial (A-T) individualized teaching approach at the University of North Dakota is described. This approach, which was based on the work of S. N. Postlethwait and the philosophy of B. F. Skinner and Benjamin Bloom, attempts to match an instructional strategy with the needs of the learners. The modified A-T graphics approach…

In response to a decision at Worcester State College (Massachusetts) that remedial mathematics and other mathematics courses should be taught in a non-lecture format--learning by doing rather than by watching--a math computer lab was created. Three courses each have a 1-hour lecture per week, with students responsible for all additional learning…

This document contains 35 papers from the program development section of an international conference on vocational education and training (VET) for lifelong learning in the information era. The following are among the papers included: "Using Quality Indicators to Create World-Class Curricula: From Concept to Application" (Curtis Finch,…