Identified in this study are the factors which affect the user's capacity to seek out and utilize information, and the factors which serve as obstacles to information use. Factors relating to both organizational and individual use include level of use, user skills, and user motivation; differentiation of level of use is presented in three levels:…

This theme issue focuses on the development of telephone-based videotex systems that use television sets and the telephone with the addition of a simple keyboard to access banks of information available on computers and to receive information in print on the television screen. A series of articles are included on Prestel, a telephone-based…

Institutional research and the role of information systems are examined and three types of information provided by institutional research offices are discussed: institutional studies, management analyses, and periodic management reports. The varying characteristics of research offices are described and the role of the institutional research office…

This Stufflebeam-Guba CIPP type model for the evaluation of innovations in education attempts to maximize the effectiveness of critical decisions through the timely reporting of relevant information in a useful form to appropirate levels of decision making. Evaluation is thus seen as the combination of effective decisions based on timely, relevant…

This volume emerges from three collaborative prjects developed in the Newton, Massachusetts public schools. The Career Information Project attempted to develop improved procedures for acquiring, processing, and disseminating career information. The Follow-Up Program designed and implemented as system for conducting comprehensive follow-up studies…

The synthesis presents an initial overview of five investigations of educational dissemination and change in American schools and the implications of these studies for policy making related to federal and state dissemination programs, management of such programs, and needed research, development, and evaluation. A brief synopsis of each study was…

The "climate of opinion" is the dominant direction of opinions and perceptions as expressed by existing or assumed activities of constituent individuals, groups, and institutions. There are three regional definitions of this concept: macrolevel, local level, and individual level. A model of climate of opinion contains the following features: (1)…

In long established research organizations, it is necessary to safeguard good research ideas originating at lower organizational levels. The upward progress of unusually good ideas in an organizational hierarchy may be compared with that of ordinary ideas by means of a mathematical model, with the assumption that ideas follow a Poisson…

This is a collection of papers presented at an annual conference of the College and University Systems Exchange (CAUSE). Conference activities included a keynote address, general session, and five tracks of presentations: (1) Information Systems Development and Management's Expectations; (2) Information Systems Benefit Analysis; (3) Small College…

The final report on facilitation of knowledge utilization by institutions for child development contains analyses of consultation-intervention in four different child care institutions (including psychiatric facilities and an orphanage), and a guide to providing individualized services in children's residential centers. Described in each case are…

This study assesses the effectiveness of a book which designates places of interest in Michigan and Indiana. Developed by students at the University of Indiana, the book increases the local cultural awareness of both adults and children in the two state area. A questionnaire was sent to 336 families to determine the number of families who had used…

Success in secondary school depends largely upon students' competency in study skills. The English teacher emerges as the plausible agent for the development of the following skills: following directions, locating information, evaluating and selecting information, assembling and organizing data, retaining and recalling information, varying rates…

A basis is provided for judging the adequacy of evaluation plans or evaluation designs in this document. It is assumed that using the procedures suggested to determine the adequacy of evaluation designs in advance of actually conducting evaluations will lead to better evaluation designs, better evaluations, and more useful evaluative information.…

Discussed are personnel issues in special education from the perspective of an observational evaluation of an experimental course of study, "Social Learning Curriculum," used with students in 17 intermediate (ages 9 to 14 years) classes for the educable mentally retarded. Included is the 60-item rating scale which was used to evaluate…

The resources included in this Guide are geared for the Educational Information Consultant (EIC), an education specialist who receives, processes, and fulfills client requests for information needed to resolve specific curricular, instructional, and administrative problems. The Guide begins with highly-selective introductory sections on how to…