Cable television has great potential for the future of mass communication. While some recreators lament television as an unsocial form of recreation, others see it as beneficial for its ability to reach shut-ins and handicapped groups. (JN)

The National University Consortium for Telecommunications in Teaching, the first national effort to provide high quality bachelor's degree programs for Americans who cannot attend college full-time on campus, is described. It is suggested that both institutional participation and enrollment projections may be exceeded. (MLW)

Regional counseling, assessment centers, and the telecommunications revolution, it is suggested, will have a significant impact on the shape of prior learning assessment programs in the 1980s. Educators must resist the temptation to tie in all assessment programs to courses and credentials. (MLW)

Postsecondary education must maximize the value of its resources and technology in an era of retrenchment, and future success in providing educational services will depend on cooperation among institutions and a networking of existing resources. (MSE)

Describes the formation and organization of a statewide energy consortium consisting of faculty from 19 campuses of the California State University and Colleges system. Also describes three major consortium activities and reasons for its success. (SK)

Describes a program at Andrews University developed along with the Berrien County Intermediate School District that utilizes college faculty to provide instruction to talented and motivated high school students. Explains logistics (curriculum design, administrative arrangement, and financial aspects) of the program, challenges, and benefits.…

Analyzed annual electronic journal usage data for the NorthEast Research Library (NERL) consortium. Discusses the high degree of skew in journal use; describes results of a cluster analysis that revealed three distinct groups of institutions based on journal use; and recommends that institutions consider their consortial membership and organize…

In 1971 the Scottish Universities Council for Studies in Education (SUCSE) was formally constituted as a representative voice of the Scottish university departments of education. One aspiration was to coordinate degree courses across the universities as a distinctive Scottish MEd degree with credit transfer to promote mobility. However, the…

A 4-week summer institute committed to helping talented minorities pursue graduate degrees in education immerses participants in a graduate-level curriculum of critical and cultural theory, increases their language and analytical skills, and prepares them for and supports them through the graduate school application process. In 10 years, the…

The Tri-District Arts Consortium in South Carolina was formed to serve artistically gifted students in grades six-nine. The consortium developed a summer program offering music, dance, theatre, and visual arts instruction through a curriculum of intense training, performing, and hands-on experiences with faculty members and guest artists. (JDD)

Describes the development and outcome of a cooperative computerization effort involving nine public and university museums. The discussion covers the project goals, data development and analysis, and contributions resulting form the project. Appendices provide the system data fields used and a comparison between automation of library and museum…

This article describes the Valley Education Consortium, a long-term, ongoing school-university partnership to achieve concurrent improvements in secondary school curriculum and assessment. The partnership consists of 10 school districts in western Oregon, three county education service districts, the Oregon State University-Western Oregon State…

The phenomenal growth of distance-learning programs and the possibility of a virtual university have increased concerns about how to ensure that higher education programs delivered via telecommunications are of good quality. The Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications has formulated guidelines, presented here, for…

Discusses the implementation of the OhioLINK (Ohio Library and Information Network) system, an integrated library system linking 23 public and private academic institutions and the Ohio State Library. Topics include a history of OhioLINK; organizational structure; decision-making procedures; public relations strategies; cooperative circulation;…

Presents guidelines for colleges on selecting employee health insurance carriers and retirement investment programs. Reviews types of insurance programs, presenting examples from several states. Discusses mechanisms for reducing insurance premiums, including claim reduction, self-funding, mail-order pharmaceuticals, and forming consortia with…