This document explains recent developments in computer science and information systems of interest to the educational manager. A brief history of computers is included, together with an examination of modern computers' capabilities. Various features of card, tape, and disk information storage systems are presented. The importance of time-sharing…

General Information Storage, Retrieval, and Application System (GENIRAS) is a computer-aided information system designed for the storage, retrieval, and manipulation of data files. The system gives the user (1) flexibility in defining and using data bases, (2) a wide range of procedures to be applied to the data, and (3) a variety of acceptable…

For the 1971-72 tryout of IMS Version 3, special-purpose, optically scannable materials were developed and designed. Purpose, design considerations, and developmental stages are described for each form. Adapted formats for use with the Xerox 660 Scanner/Copier are explained. The forms are appended. (SK)

A subset of data base management techniques for the hardware/software functions necessary to support a management information system are discussed. Seven basic dimensions of data base design are: (1) data base life span, (2) logical record growth, (3) record content growth, (4) data set organization, (5) linkages, (6) design criteria and (7)…

Computer routines to sort the weekly log records submitted by teachers participating in the Southwest Regional Laboratory's communications skills monitoring program are described. Written in Univac FORTRAN V, Weekly Log Record Sort (WLSORT) sorts log records on magnetic tape to enable subsequent computer programs to interpret the input data by…

Proposed training procedures and materials, and participants' questions on the use of the Southwest Regional Laboratory's (SWRL) student monitoring system data base in the Instructional Management System (IMS) are described. The training sessions were undertaken because IMS Version 3 requires classroom teachers to use special materials and…

Hardware and software components employed in the 1971-72 tryout of a research-based, computer-operated Instructional Management System (IMS) are listed and described. Purposes of the tryout are given, and the communications system detailed. Source-input and output documents are listed, along with the IMS computer programs and IMS files.…

Instructional Management System (IMS) information cycles from participating schools to the Southwest Regional Laboratory (SWRL) for processing, returning again to the school in the form of summarized reports of pupil data. One segment of this cycle is managed by the IMS pupil data base processing program. The program generates reports from…

Computer routines to summarize data and generate reports from weekly log records submitted by teachers participating in the Southwest Regional Laboratory's communications skills monitoring program are described. Written in Univac FORTRAN V, Communications Skills 1, Weekly Log Summary, Revision 1 (CS-1-WLSR1) displays information by student group,…

The automated identification of students as they progress through an instructional program is described as an essential capability of the Southwest Regional Laboratory's (SWRL) Instructional Management System (IMS). Performance characteristics of procedures for linking data to individual students (whose records are maintained by IMS) are…

The Instructional Management System (IMS) developed by the Southwest Regional Laboratory (SWRL) processes student and teacher-generated data through the use of an optical scanner that produces a magnetic tape (Scan Tape) for input to IMS. A series of computer routines, OPSN, preprocesses the Scan Tape and prepares the data for transmission to the…

Some of the schools participating in the Southwest Regional Laboratory's Instructional Management System (IMS) pilot test submitted input data forms to and received processed information from regional processing and data collection centers. To determine the feasibility of alternative methods of data collection and output return, evaluative data…

Computer routines for the translation of teacher-prepared mark sense forms to magnetic tape are described. The program, Receiving IMS (RIMS), is part of the Southwest Regional Laboratory's (SWRL) Instructional Management System (IMS). It accepts mark sense sheets from remotely located Xerox 660 scanner copiers and/or IMS update information from…

Procedures utilized during the 1971-72 IMS (Instructional Management System) exercise to record and monitor the flow of data-gathering forms are described and explained. Mailing, logging, pre- and post-processing and filing operations are discussed. Operational problems are identified. Examples of forms are appended. (SK)

The Southwest Regional Laboratory's Instructional Management System (IMS) central data processing system produces reports for dissemination to participating schools which provided the original source data to the system. Described in this document are the computer software routines (SIMS) that control the dissemination of information contained on…