With the increasing cost of periodicals claiming an ever greater proportion of university library acquisitions budgets, a Wayne State University Education Library committee investigated the nature and value of newsletters. They considered two groups: commercial and noncommercial. The former are those which are published for profit and are intended…

This report presents a costing model for teacher education programs. It explains that this is necessary since most teacher education innovations in the United States extensively use technological support, and involve high cost personnel, materials, and systems. The report also notes that the present state in planning and cost projections requires…

The Education Amendments Act of 1972 authorizes the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to improve postsecondary education opportunities by providing assistance to educational institutions and agencies for a broad range of reforms and innovations. The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education was established for this purpose. It…

Initiated in 1959, Project PLATO has attempted to identify and promote technical innovations that improve computer based education and make it economically viable. Three successive systems (PLATO I, II, and III) displayed the potential of the computer to deliver high quality instruction, including programs emphasizing student autonomy and…

This bibliography lists publications dealing with various methods and techniques for assessing alternative courses of action. The analytical methods treated by the cited publications tend to emphasize a priori evaluation (that is, predicting and assessing the outcomes of alternatives). These methods include cost-benefit and cost-revenue studies,…

The paper describes a simple, yet effective method of computing a comparative index of instructional costs. The Instructional Cost Index identifies direct cost differentials among instructional programs. Cost differentials are described in terms of differences among numerical values of variables that reflect fundamental academic and resource…

There are four major functions involved in the management of any human enterprise: planning, organizing, executing, and controlling. Educators would add an additional function--evaluation--although it is generally subsumed under control. The control function has been neglected in education. Control means formative (inprocess) evaluation plus…

Following an explanation of cost-effective studies and the need for them in libraries, part one of this report provides step-by-step instructions, with examples, to enable librarians to conduct such studies in their own setting. Part two provides an example of the use of the model, presenting the results of the cost analysis of monographic…

This report provides a procedure by which the educational administrator can select from available alternatives the best method for transporting students and can evaluate at intervals the success or failure of the method selected. The report outlines the methodology used to analyze the problem, defines the range of alternatives called the…

A recently developed cost-effectiveness model for on-line retrieval systems is discussed through use of an example utilizing performance results collected from several independent sources and cost data derived for a recently completed study for the American Psychological Association. One of the primary attributes of the model rests in its great…

A major problem in the use of films in instruction is to get the right film to the right teacher when he wants it and needs it, and to do all this at a minimum cost. This paper presents a view of film distribution systems in terms of two interrelated subsystems: a logistic subsystem and a behavioral subsystem. The logistic subsystem consists of…

This paper presents a methodology for the analysis of the effects of changes in the cost of higher education to the student. It considers first the importance of the cost in higher education in determining whether or not a potential, qualified student will actually enroll. Methods are then illustrated for estimating the student's ability to pay…

Cost Utility Analysis (CUA) is, basically, an administrative tool to be used in situations where making a choice among meaningful programs is necessary. It does not replace the administrator, but can provide a significant source of data for the decision maker. CUA can be a guide to the selection of an optimal program in terms of available funds,…

Two separate subject matter areas were selected for investigation which were felt to represent two distinct types of learning situations. One was a kind of logico-mathematical procedure; the other was a visual form discrimination task. Two separate courses were developed for each subject matter area. One reflected an inductive instructional…

The Minnesota Computer Aided Library System (MCALS) provides a basis of unification for library service program development in Minnesota for eventual linkage to the national information network. A prototype plan for communications functions is illustrated. A cost/benefits analysis was made to show the cost/effectiveness potential for MCALS. System…