The teaching potential of videocassettes and videodiscs are reviewed, together with an indication of when mass access is likely to rival that of broadcast television. It is argued that videocassettes and videodiscs, with their focus on small groups of viewers and interaction, have far ranging consequences for instructional television design, and…

The planning and implementing of a rural instructional television fixed service (ITFS) distance education program at California State University-Fresno (CSUF) is described. The three important functions of establishing a distance education program within a learning institution are addressed: telecommunications networking, management…

This paper discusses the different levels of decision-making regarding media selection and technology use in distance education, and suggests a set of criteria and procedures that are practical yet rigorous. Interactivity is one of the main criteria proposed, and the value and meaning of interaction and interactivity in a distance education…

A cooperative effort of 29 engineering colleges, Colorado's National Technological University (NTU) is designed to provide career-long engineering education through the use of educational television and teleconferencing. NTU delivers both graduate courses leading to Master of Science degrees and continuing education instruction via communications…

The third in a series on distance learning, this volume presents 11 exemplar instructional packages which are the output of a process of evaluation and selection in accordance with guidelines developed by the Technical Working Group at the Pakistan Meeting. It reflects an awareness of issues in the development, use, and renewal of distance…

This paper describes the development and current state of videodisk technology in Canada. The first section focuses on the technology itself, i.e., the disks, disk players, and the possibilities they offer for interaction between learner and machine. The current costs of the technology and the probable effect of these costs on the market are also…

The presentational power of television gives it unique teaching characteristics and it is a source of a wide variety of learning material that would be unavailable to learners in any other way. For instance, it can be used to: (1) demonstrate experiments or experimental situations; (2) explain principles involving movement over space and/or time;…

Thirteen half-hour television programs entitled "The Geography of Tourism" developed for use in Wilfrid Laurier University's (Canada) distance education program are discussed. Distance education embraces teaching, or communicating with, students who are not physically in the classroom with the instructor. The central theme of the series…

This paper considers the style and structure of broadcast educational television programs in relation to learning outcomes, and proposes a study to identify those key factors which intervene or affect this relationship. The types of structure examined include simple or complex and self-standing or integrated programs, and types of style include…

This paper describes the development of a library support system at California State University (CSU), Chico, which enables off-campus students who attend live television lectures transmitted from campus to have the same, or better, access to learning resources as on-campus students. Background information provided includes a description of the…

The report describes field testing of an open collge project designed to adapt a collge-level media course for 19 homebound visually impaired, hearing impaired, and orthopedically disabled students. Student recruitment procedures and problems are described, as are staffing patterns of the project. Adaptation of the course, "The Art of Being…

This report presents findings and recommendations of an investigation that surveyed and evaluated the current educational situation in South Africa and offered recommendations on the use of computers in education and training. The following concerns are discussed: computers in formal and nonformal education; strategies for the introduction of…

This volume, the first of two, documents a selection of current worldwide research and activities and new developments in the area of distance-taught higher education. An introductory editorial summarizes the current status of distance teaching in higher education and identifies trends drawn from the reports collected. Details of origins, size,…

This COMIT English module used most of the interrelated devices of sound, sonic pen, keyboard, slide, and terminal display in a lesson which, depending on the student's interest and ability, might last from four to ten hours and formed an integral part of a second year course in critical analysis. Four contexts were included in the subject of…

As part of an experiment, a three quarter sequence in organic chemistry was designed to be accompanied by laboratory experiments that reinforce the lecture material and encourage independent investigation by minimizing cookbook-style procedures. By having laboratory techniques explained in detail on video casettes, students were exposed to uniform…