The School Program Addressing Non-attendance (SPAN) is an alternative program in Morton, Illinois, East High School addressing the needs of students removed from their regular classes for excessive absenteeism. Materials and activities used in the SPAN English program are both highly motivating and general enough to benefit students when they…

The introduction of nontraditional teaching techniques into a solid framework of traditional teaching can greatly increase student motivation and attention. Nontraditional methods involve students as dynamic actors in the educational process in three ways: by increasing student motivation, maximizing the level of subtlety or detail achieved, and…

A study tried to determine if development can continue through middle age, if education can stimulate adult development, and, if so, what the contributing factors are. The subjects were 60 men and women who had begun doctoral studies between ages 37 and 48, half of whom had just finished and half of whom had just started. Half of the students were…

This paper describes how audiovisual media have influenced the way students have learned--or failed to learn--at the Open University at Walton Hall. The paper is based in part on results from a large body of research that has repeatedly demonstrated the interrelatedness of a wide range of factors in determining how or what students learn from…

Made up of four separate reports, this document presents comparisons and student comments for five Annenberg/CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) telecourses offered in the fall of 1984: The Brain, Mind and Behavior; The Constitution: That Delicate Balance; The Write Course; The New Literacy; and Congress: We the People. Based on evaluations…

An introduction briefly summarizes the four previous conferences in this series, identifies trends in topics addressed, and introduces the 16 presented papers in this collection. The papers are as follows: (1) "Formative Evaluation and the New Technologies" (Marjorie Cambre); (2) "Formative Evaluation of Sesame Street Using Eye…

Perceiving ethnic minority schools merely as institutions which provide competency in the language of heritage is a limited view. History, values, and cultural traditions are also within the curricula of most ethnic schools. The subject matter often conflicts with modern American values, which stress change and mobility rather than tradition. In…

Adults often prefer self-directed learning over teacher-directed, classroom-oriented learning. They feel that their life experiences and self-initiated projects teach them more than they can learn in a formal classroom situation. Persons usually do not pursue such self-directed learning, however, because of conflicting role requirements, a lack of…

Phoenix, Arizona, has experienced the impact of a nationwide trend toward an increased teenage birthrate, with nearly 1,500 births to teenage mothers in 1980. To serve the special needs of teenage mothers, the Phoenix Union High School offers an alternative education program, Cyesis, for pregnant and parenting teens. Data from the center's…

An interdisciplinary career training program, "Contracting with Business and Industry" (CWB&I), was developed by Bay de Noc Community College (Michigan) to meet nontraditional students' needs for specialized career orientation, training, and personal development. Through contracts between the college and local businesses, students acquire…

This course, one of 16 sequential courses comprising phase one of a part-time Bachelor of Arts degree program in Australian Studies, uses Australian literary and documentary writings of the 19th century to examine the formation of the proposition that the Australian national character is based on rural life. The course is designed for independent…

This course, one of 16 sequential courses comprising phase one of a part-time Bachelor of Arts degree program in Australian Studies, investigates work in contemporary Australian society, with particular attention paid to whether housework falls into the category of work, current economic crisis, the role of trade unions, and the effects of…

Society is beginning to recognize that the need for education extends beyond the range established for formal schooling. Education is a process that begins at birth and never ends, and is always a matter of individual capacities, interests, and needs. The schoolhouse concept, which limits education to that which can take place in a traditional…

Many schools of education do not specifically direct attention to programs that encourage, train and prepare teachers for life in rural schools and communities. Also the professors who concentrate most of their time in the city complex have had little exposure to rural needs and experiences. However, with some leadership on the part of rural…

A third-party evaluation was conducted of the first year of an experience-based career education project (EBCE) in Rhode Island. Three sources of evaluation information were used: evaluator observations, the Community Resource Questionnaire, and the Student Skills and Attitude Inventory. Because the actual project implementation was for just one…