This digest begins with a brief discussion of the current status of the relatively recent phenomenon of online searching in schools. The advantages and disadvantages of online access in this context are then outlined, and some suggestions are offered for school library media specialists who wish to initiate online information retrieval for their…

This survey examines the availability and use of computers and instructional applications of computers in public and private schools in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Of the 805 schools surveyed, 669 responded with usable data. During the 1987-88 school year, 97% of the responding schools indicated that they used computers. It was also found…

Undertaken for a doctoral dissertation, this research project on reference services tested a model of major variables that influence academic library reference service outcomes. The study focused on reference librarians who serve in boundary spanning roles, i.e., positions where interchange with the organization's external environment is central…

This final report of a statewide computer literacy study for the state of Alaska is divided into several sections. A general introduction provides the history of the project and an outline of its three stages: (1) a national review of the status of computer literacy through a computerized literature search; (2) a telephone survey of…

This report addresses three major issues concerning the Army's program for developing extension training materials: (1) indications of low usage of Army Training Extension Course lessons by soldiers in the field; (2) improvements needed in the process for developing extension training materials; and (3) the need for further evaluation before the…

In response to the assertion that reading is a fixed set of processes that can be identified and studied independently of context, a study was initiated based on the following assumptions: that different types of reading (prose comprehension and text search) can be identified and measured, that reading competencies are highly associated with uses…

This study was conducted to fulfill two objectives: to gather the data necessary to define the core collection, i.e., a subset of the holdings that can be identified with reasonable assurance as being able to fulfill a certain predetermined percentage of the future demand on the present collection, and to examine the value of these data as a…

A study investigated the relationships between selected student characteristics and measures of perceived campus and Vocational Resource Educator (VRE) support service satisfaction by postsecondary handicapped populations in three Missouri community colleges. Characteristics included length of stay in school, academic achievement, handicapping…

This document reports the results of a survey on the use of microcomputers for classroom instruction in New York state school districts, which was conducted as a project of the steering committee of the New York Statewide Instructional Computing Network (SICN), an organization of New York educators designed to provide a means for sharing…

Getting assessment results used is no easy task. This paper examines the findings of a recent study on the uses of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and suggests implications for increasing use of state and local assessment results. The NAEP study, conducted at Northwestern University, generated evidence that assessment results…

This report summarizes two case studies conducted in 1979-1980 in a combined fifth-sixth grade special class for talented and gifted pupils in a large Oregon school district and a sixth grade self-contained classroom in a small school district, both of which were using ThinkAbout, a series of 60 15-minute instructional television programs designed…

This report describes the results of an investigation into the status of American secondary social studies education, which involved (1) a national survey of secondary social studies teachers to gather their perceptions of the field, their outlook for the future, and information on the use of film/video resources; (2) interviews with state and…

A national survey of 1,320 arts teachers and 165 supervisors was undertaken to assist in identifying content areas and developing content objectives for an instructional television series on visual art, music, drama, and dance for students in grades 6 through 9. The objectives of the survey were to assess teaching practices in arts education in…

This report describes evaluations of two courses which were conducted, primarily through participant observation, in 1981. A general introduction looks at simulation in computer assisted learning (CAL) and at use of simulation CAL in the Open University science faculty. The first study discussed was based largely on a tutor's observations of…

This comparative examination considers a new era of research on children's learning. How children learn from microcomputers is studied, in light of research on children and television; and such issues are illuminated as how television and computers differ in their historical and economic contexts, how such differences affect their ability to serve…