Four papers were presented at a conference of 16 donor agencies involved in funding educational development and research. The conference focused on world investment in education, constraints on educational funding, and experiences with educational innovations aimed at improving cost effectiveness. Following an introductory overview of the…

Claims that computers and other high technology can replace teachers and staff, thereby reducing educational costs, are unwarranted for several reasons. First, most cost analyses focus on hardware costs, which are not the major factor directing the cost of computer assisted instruction (CAI). Second, technology is more likely to change the skill…

The two reports presented here describe an 18-month project intended to review and evaluate the first year's activities of the Office of Telecommunications Policy's (OTP) Telecommunications Demonstration Program for the delivery of social and health services; develop approaches for evaluating individual demonstration programs in the future;…

This report provides a blueprint for reorganizing the governing structure of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and suggests new procedures of test development and test administration that will increase the interpretability of the assessment while at the same time making more staff and monetary resources available for research…

A demonstration project was undertaken to determine whether 1978 telefacsimile technology could address the needs of rural public libraries in a cost-effective manner. The TALINET design utilized local public library staff and a research/resource information staff at the University of Denver to research questions and deliver information to five…

A study was conducted to assess the value of the Energy Data Base (EDB), which is produced by the Technical Information Center (TIC) of the Department of Energy (DOE) in order to provide a means of identifying primary energy information sources, particularly journal articles and technical reports. The volume of energy information distributed to…

Study investigates disparities in per pupil resources at the school and classroom level rather than state and district. Data indicates that intra-school and inter-school (within a district) variations are as large as and in some cases larger than inter-district variation. (Author/AM)

A study of Montana's vocational education facilities, course offerings, instructional practices, and faculty demographics was conducted in the fall of 1988. Data collection was accomplished through a survey instrument mailed to a random sample of vocational-technical teachers stratified on kind of school (secondary and postsecondary) and size of…

Designed to develop procedures and acquire information to help decision-makers establish policies for the use of microcomputers for computer-assisted instruction (CAI), this study involved the following steps: (1) a school-based research project was conducted to determine the costs and effects of microcomputer-assisted instruction; (2) an…

Focusing on interactive, computer-based systems and external, long-distance instruction transmitted from one or more satellite earth stations, this paper begins by citing the need to experiment with and develop new delivery systems that will increase productivity in both teaching and learning. The use of satellite technology in Utah and Texas is…

A Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) survey conducted in 1986 investigated the collection and use of management statistics in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries, and SPEC Kit #134 (May 1987) summarized the kinds of statistics collected and the reasons given by the 91 respondents for collecting them. This more…

Although there is little literature on the topic, there seems to be no reason why quality circles (QCs) could not be implemented in an educational organization. The most important obstacles are the seeming lack of tangible results in education, the lack of a tradition of group decision making and participative management, and the confusion over…

This report is an edited version of the transcript of a seminar held to explore the problem of increasing costs and defining productivity in higher education. The main paper, by William Massey, presents a conceptual model explaining the forces driving up costs in academic departments of institutions of higher education. Under the model there have…

A computer system using interactive videodisc was developed and used by the American Heart Association to teach nursing students and others cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Two studies were made of the use of the system. Between September 1982 and April 1983, 48 participants received CPR instruction by interactive videodisc and 51 by…

This guidebook is intended to help conference program planners in their jobs. The book is organized in four sections. Section One introduces the book, establishes reasons for having a conference, suggests alternative program models, and describes the coordinator's roles. Section Two describes the process of conference planning. Chapter 1 of this…