This master's thesis examines applications of computer technology to the field of industrial design and ways in which technology can transform the traditional process. Following a statement of the problem, the history and applications of the fields of computer graphics and industrial design are reviewed. The traditional industrial design process…

The conceptualizations of morphogenic processes suggested by systems theorists provide a useful framework for describing growth and development in complex adaptive self-directing organisms. These processes involve changes in (1) a system's structure, state, or functioning; (2) discontinuities in development; and (3) at least two kinds of…

Program advisory committees in vocational education have traditionally been charged with the responsibility of evaluating programs for the purpose of keeping them up to date with business and industry practices and current technology. Rapid technological development and accountability requirements have led to state mandates that the advisory…

County government has a large stake in the creation of employment and training systems at the local level to insure that Federal, state, and local dollars are spent effectively. The door to the creation of an employment and training system has been opened by the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) through the establishment of Private Industry…

The establishment of the first documentation center in a library school early in 1955 by Jesse Shera, Dean of the Library School at Western Reserve University, has been widely interpreted as his greatest contribution to librarianship. It may have been his greatest folly, however, because information science has subsequently flooded the library…

This guide defines a methodology for program monitoring and discusses positive results achieved in Pennsylvania by implementing Instrument-based Program Monitoring (IPM) in the field of child day care services. IPM uses checklists or special questionnaires to structure monitoring interviews and site visits. This method differs substantially from…

This document proposes the adoption of a rules-based theoretical perspective for the study of family interaction. In the first section, Logical and Empirical Requirements, concepts and basic assumptions pertinent to rules theory are considered. The concepts of coordination and determinacy, as used in a rules framework, are explained, and logical…

Learner objectives, text, practice exercises and answer sheets are provided on the history of educational technology, which includes three major periods: Audiovisual Instruction (1920-1945), Audiovisual Communications (1945-date), and Instructional Systems Analysis and Design (1950-date). The terms "educational technology" and "instructional…

An approach that uses diagrams to illustrate systems of influence is described and proposed as a medium for cross-cultural communication. The approach, entitled System Dynamics, facilitates representation of complex interactions, and has been used in a variety of scientific and professional fields since its inception in the 1950's. Influence…

Designed to test the premise that the production system for courseware has a strong impact on the quality of the courseware developed, a survey of 14 U.S. institutions of higher education was conducted in 1986 to investigate the production systems used by these schools. Many of the questions used and the list of institutions surveyed were…

During the summer of 1986 a group of 15 racially diverse students entering 10th and 11th grades participated in an intensive 4-week course taught by members of an NSF-funded project. The project's goals were to develop science and mathematics curricula based on the principles of systems dynamics. The course was a test of materials intended to…

This paper suggests that present-day curriculum, based on Newtonian thought, has been rendered obsolete by the holistic and interactive "post-modern" world view based on quantum physics, nonlinear mathematics, general systems theory, and Ilya Prigogine's nonequilibrium thermodynamics. The Newtonian world view, which is linear and…

This booklet begins by examining the role played by evaluation in course and curriculum development, and then shows how the basic "error elimination" approach advocated by the philosopher Karl Popper can be used as a basis for the on-going evaluation of instructional systems. Next, two contrasting paradigms of evaluation are described,…

The systems approach used at the University of Michigan to prepare vocational/career educators of handicapped and nonhandicapped students is described. Activities conducted in each of three stages of the model--planning, implementation, and evaluation are described. Program planning is seen to include identification of target population, review of…

Initiated by the Council on Library Resources, this study assessed the current level of retrospective conversion and explored the primary issues that need attention if libraries are to convert their bibliographical files to machine-readable form. Data were obtained from a literature review, contact with a number of libraries currently engaged in…