The potential of regional schools and colleges in generating social science information for rural development organizations has been discounted because of the commonly held assumption that the combination of low resources and relatively poorly trained or overworked staff will not yield satisfactory results. Often, however, the significant limiting…

Markets can be defined as groups of people or organizations that have resources that could be exchanged for distinct benefits. Market segmentation is one strategy for market management and involves describing the market in terms of the subgroups that compose it so that exchanges with those subgroups can be more effectively promoted or facilitated.…

Reports the results of a series of long-range studies that demonstrate that participants in short courses improve their communication skills as much as students enrolled in semester-long college classes. (AEA)

Reports the findings of a study of continuing education in the environmental health field including types of courses, participant profiles, tuition charges, in-house versus outside courses, and problem areas. Focuses on short courses as an increasingly important means of enhancing professional performance. (DC)

Examined was the effect of the establishment of mini-courses on student attitudes in a small rural high school setting. All students in grades 9-12 were given the School Sentiment Index (SSI) and the Subject Area Preference (SAP) in the early fall and near the end of the school year. Completed by 205 students (118 boys and 87 girls), the SSI…

Presents data from a survey of the course offerings of 265 midwestern high schools that tend to support the belief that language arts minicourse programs still exist in spite of a trend toward a more traditional curriculum. Listed first in the data is the finding that every high school offered at least one minicourse in composition. (AEA)

This summary report outlines the aims of a project that focused on provision of short courses for technical professionals in the chemical and allied process industry and the process plant industry. Continuing education needs of both companies and individuals, as well as corporate policies and attitudes toward continuing education and constraints…

Cosumnes River College adopted a Flexible Calendar Program in 1975, reducing the traditional eighteen-week semesters to sixteen weeks and adding a three-week intersession which has been the focal point of change at the college, especially in approaches to learning and teaching. For students, the fifteen, non-instructional days allowed time to…

The Electronic Switching System (ESS) Minicourse was designed to serve as a second-stage selection procedure for candidates for the full ESS training program. A criterion-related validity study was undertaken to provide further evidence of validity as well as data helpful in setting a cutting score. (Editor/SJL)

The Career Advancement through Short-term Training (CAST) project offered comprehensive career guidance and counseling to those persons needing to upgrade technical skills, those needing flexible training schedules, those moving into new careers, and those needing prerequisite training. Materials and products were developed to implement a…

Cosumnes River College participated in a Flexible Calendar Pilot Project established by the California Legislature to study the feasibility of more flexible and effective nontraditional calendar and course scheduling. The college adopted a school calendar for 1976-77 which provided for two sixteen week semesters and a three week intersession…

A study was conducted to identify and evaluate effective recruitment strategies and the effectiveness of a short-term, individualized audio-tutorial course designed to improve the communications skills of non-traditional students. Subjects were 30 students enrolled in and completing the individualized course, Learning Skills I, and 30 control…

Provides an overview of the continuing education programs in library and information science available in Iran, and describes a survey that assessed the effectiveness of short courses conducted by the Iranian Documentation Center during 1982-1986. Recommendations for curriculum development and future programs are discussed. (2 references) (CLB)

A questionnaire was sent to 1,705 Texas farmers and ranchers who had either purchased farm management software provided by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service (purchasers) or had participated in Extension Service short courses and had purchased farm management software (participant/purchasers). A total of 489 farmers/ranchers responded.…

This project established seven regional demonstration centers for the teacher training products known as minicourses, designed by the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development. The goals of these centers were identified as increased user awareness, the establishment of an environment in which educators could evaluate the…