Results of a survey of 91 innovative state humanities projects are presented, and the literature and theories about how adults learn are summarized. The representative sample of 91 public humanities projects are covered in alphabetical order. Most of the projects were selected because of their good humanities content and their success in…

A questionnaire developed in six languages--English, French, German, Polish, Russian, and Spanish--was mailed to more than 1,500 organizations known by the FernUniversitat in West Germany to be connected in some way to distance education, correspondence education, or home study. The study was undertaken as a response to the lack of systematic…

This booklet on the Open University includes an introductory section on the system, programs of study, students, the adult learner, the teaching package, study centers, local support, and correspondence tuition. General principles of teaching by correspondence, the role of the course tutor, and student comments are covered. Support provided by the…

The Open University of Great Britain relies heavily on broadcasting as a mode of instruction. Because increased course offerings have made program scheduling a problem and because production costs have risen sharply, a survey was conducted to determine the use patterns of students so that the system's resources could be allocated in the most…

The Open University of Great Britain is an open-enrollment, home-based institution in which the majority of the instruction is conducted via broadcasts and correspondence. The student is required to interact with printed materials, broadcasts, tutors, counselors, assignments, cassette recordings, experiment kits, etc. The choice of media is…

Intended as a communication to communicators on television equipment and techniques, this manual also gives an overview of educational television and instructional television practices in the United States, Britain, and Canada. Attention is given to broadcast television--its station organization, control room procedures, and commercial program…

The Planning Committee, appointed by the British Secretary of State for Education and Science to work out a comprehensive plan for an Open University, reports on the objectives, general approach, charter and statues, administrative structure and appointments, degree structure and courses, academic staffing, relationships with the British…

Using an innovative delivery system, curricular design, and approach to student services, Wayne State University has been able to clear many of the obstacles that have traditionally denied working adults access to higher education. Community relations are discussed and a labor studies program is described. (Author/MLW)

This article argues that colleges and universities that overlook the potential of new technology for development of distance-learning programs may find themselves losing students and revenue to other institutions and corporate competitors. Eight considerations in development of an institutional telecommunications policy are outlined, and several…

Describes study of undergraduates that investigated learners' preconceptions of the difficulty of interactive video, instructional television, and television. The effects of actively or covertly responding to practice questions on perceived mental effort, recall, and inferences are examined, and correlations between lesson time and inference or…

Describes a study that was conducted to investigate the effect of cooperative learning and the need for affiliation on performance, time on task, and satisfaction of undergraduates using an instructional television lesson. Individual measures are described, cooperative versus individual learning strategies are compared, and future research is…

Discusses the responses of mathematics teachers to the use of videotape recordings of mathematics teaching as a possible solution to the problem of teacher isolation. (Contains 20 references.) (MDH)

Most midwestern states have experimented with some type of interactive video for educational purposes, but Nebraska has developed a statewide system to transmit educational programs, mainly via satellite telecommunications. Other states may find Nebraska's experiences helpful in considering their own educational telecommunications plans.…

Distance education has become a major teaching and learning tool. Distance education typically uses technology to reach learners in the following ways: (1) audio communication through one- or two-way radio or telephone; (2) audiographic links such as computer-to-telephone setups; (3) freeze-frame transmission of visual images; (4) one-way…

This paper discusses the effects of the instructional use of computers and projects possibilities for their home use. Following a brief introduction, exemplar studies of two computer assisted instruction programs--TICCIT and PLATO--are described. The TICCIT study contrasted the performance of over 5,000 community college students in classes taught…