Current issues in educational communications and technology are addressed in this collection of 48 papers, in which research reports predominate. Topics discussed include factors related to the learner, e.g., field dependence/independence, learning strategies, information processing, spatial ability, cognitive style, and cognitive strategies. Presentation format and media and stimulus characteristics are also addressed, including illustration types, graphics in courseware design, encoding specificity, text layout variables, feedback, and synthesizing strategies. Several papers examine innovative educational media such as videodiscs, compressed speech audiotapes, videotapes, and microcomputers. Additional papers discuss the use of media in persuasive messages, the design of instructional visuals, the use of video to study cognition, the relationship of film theory to instructional television, visualization, naturalistic inquiry and case studies as research methods, electronic books, and drill and practice. References and data tables are included with many papers. Cumulative indexes of authors and descriptors covering the first seven volumes of conference proceedings (1979-1985) for the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology are included. (LMM)