This study sought to discover the factors that influenced the selection and organization of learning experiences by medical students engaged in designing individualized curricula. Ten students of the Independent Study Program (ISP) of the College of Medicine at Chicago-University of Illinois participated in the study. Data were collected through…

This book explores the lives of a group of adult students, their rationale for pursuing an independent study degree at a distance, and their perceptions of computer conferencing. It is based on data from unstructured interviews and participant observation that were then analyzed from a symbolic interaction perspective. Chapter 1 describes the…

To examine the effects of varied roles, forms of feedback, and error spacing on subject attitudes and learning in programed instruction (PI), 125 students in an introductory psychology course were randomly assigned to treatment groups differentiated by three ways of spacing error-producing frames (spaced, semi-massed, and massed), two forms of…

The experience of 37 students enrolled in a program to earn college credit while at high school through independent, correspondence study was examined. Two questionnaires, one for students and the other for their sponsoring principals and counselors, were mailed to 37 students and 39 counselors and principals to determine their evaluation of the…

Discussion of the use of peer teachers to provide college students with microcomputer education focuses on a video course used to teach Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet software. Budget considerations are discussed, student and faculty reactions are described, and potential time savings to faculty are examined. (LRW)

Reviewing research on alternative schools, the author notes that the schools show improved student attendance, attitude, and involvement, as well as higher educational quality and academic achievement. (MD)

The performance of a group of grade 9 mathematics students trained to use a self-explanation procedure during study was compared with that of students who used their typical study procedures. The processing activities used by the students during the study session and those used in a subsequent problem-solving test were observed. The focus of…

Readers theater is a dramatic art that directs attention to the words of a text. During a performance, a reader (rather than an actor) presents and interprets the work within a narrative context intended by the author. In this project, the text, a collection of the words and writings of a woman known as the Peace Pilgrim, tells the story of her…

Discussions concluded that now is the time to develop criteria for measuring professional quality of practicing physicians and to improve learning processes in medical schools. (Editor/IR)

A discussion of motivational techniques for promoting self-regulated learning in college students focuses on two methods students use to anticipate and negotiate the affective consequences of success and failure. The strategies, defensive pessimism and self-handicapping, are described and a study of their impact on self-regulated learning of 127…

Discusses learner autonomy in formal language learning contexts. The author considers how autonomy is to be fostered, focusing first on learning strategies and learner training and then on the pedagogical dialogue and role of the teacher. It is argued that learning arises from interaction, which is characterized by interdependence. (26 references)…

Reports an investigation, using an interpretive research methodology, of preservice primary teachers' prior perceptions of design and technology and changes in their perceptions as a result of their engagement in independent technology projects. Discusses implications for the design of technology education courses for preservice and inservice…

This paper focuses on a most significant domain of inner power of teachers' lives--their leadership of student learning. Traditional conceptions of teacher leadership owe much to the presumption of a classroom, or a formally designated site, where teacher instructed learning takes place. However, the rise of the Internet, with its ready…

Studying law in Finland requires a great deal of independent studying for extensive examinations. To succeed, students have to have good self-regulation and study skills and be aware of their conceptions of learning and knowledge as well as of their approaches to study. Experiences from study counselling at the Faculty of Law, University of…

The paper reports a small-scale research on the predisposition of adult ESOL learners in a further education college to the components of autonomous learning. The research is based on the perception that there is an untested assumption that all students will react positively to the concept of autonomous learning and by implication are positively…