The history of services offered by the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind in Melbourne, Australia, is traced. Features of institute services include client involvement in vocational decision making, a variety of segregated and integrated services, and maintenance of a Tertiary Resource Service which produces study material for novel areas of…

The National Film Board of Canada's video series "Pour tout dire" was developed during the National Core French Study and actively involved two of the study's members. The series integrates a number of recommendations from the study and contributes to their implementation in the classroom. (Author/MSE)

The HealthCare Interactive Videodisc Consortium, a self-governing organization, was formed to design, produce, and evaluate interactive videodisc courseware for the medical field. The 14 United States and 4 Canadian medical and nursing school members were selected based on subject matter and biomedical communications expertise and availability for…

Identifies guidelines from the literature relating to screen design and design of interactive instructional materials. Describes two types of guidelines--those aimed at enhancing motivation and those aimed at preventing loss of motivation--for typography, graphics, color, and animation and audio. Proposes a framework for considering motivation in…

Describes one public library's project of photographing teenagers reading around the library and making the photos into bookmarks with the library logo and a "read" message. Discusses the background, arrangements, photo session, assembly, distribution and publicity, and funding and community response. (AEF)

Discusses the problems of providing methodology and statistics (higher) education (MSE) to students for whom these subjects are merely of auxiliary interest relative to their major course of study. Examines the role of computer-based education and conditions necessary for developing electronic teaching materials which offer real solutions to this…

Describes practices, programs, and policies that colleges and universities can use to collaborate on student recruitment, using the experience of the Greater Cincinnati Consortium of Colleges and Universities (Ohio) as illustration. Collaborative projects include development of written materials, recruitment events, presentations, joint trips or…

Describes the CESAR training system, a hypermedia learning environment for hearing-impaired children that has been developed by a multidisciplinary team. Discusses the design principles to define the training material; and creating and using the material. (AEF)

Presents a method for flexible instructional development which aims at assisting the educational designers in the development of modules that are easily adaptable to different learners' needs and allow learners' choices and different delivery platforms, including distance education. (AEF)

Describes the use of concept mapping as a tool to gather data about student misconceptions. Student concept maps are used to inform the design/development of an innovative, simple-to-use, computer-based learning tool which may be incorporated into online courseware. The interactive grouping tool is designed to allow students to construct their own…

System dynamics has been shown to be an effective tool in managing the complexities of domains that involve complex structures. A framework is suggested for using system dynamic tools and technologies as the basis for constructing highly engaging learning environments. (Author/AEF)

This study considers the place of creativity in the preparation of learning materials used on the Internet and for virtual learning space. Reports on interviews and letters from specialist media practitioners who considered techniques that lead to successful information transfer and recall that help motivate learners. (Author/LRW)

Discussion of professional development among academic staff focuses on a collaborative project between a lecturer and a subject specialist to develop learning materials for a new distance education course at the University of Queensland. Highlights include existing models of professional development; the needs-based component; and the action…

Discussion of the use of videodiscs to improve postsecondary teaching focuses on a project at the University of Alberta (Canada) that considered ethical standards in visual anthropology. Topics include identifying teaching examples, accountability, collaboration, integrity, intentionality, authenticity, and dignity and privacy. (LRW)

Presents the professional development model at the Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE), Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, NJ) in which teachers develop their own Internet-based science and mathematics projects to use in their classrooms. Discusses school-year workshops, the summer institute, follow-up, and factors…