Journal of Educational Technology Systems

Education in rural America is saddled with a number of special problems, which are highlighted in this report. For the most part, they relate to the social and economic characteristics of rural regions as well as their general lack of educational facilities and services. The belief that a simple solution exists for these problems is untenable, for whatever that solution may be, it is likely to require more money, facilities and specialized manpower than can be supplied. The complexities of rural development make this perfectly clear. Nonetheless, through an examination of specific areas of concern, some new, problem-solving approaches within the capabilities of rural schools and communication technology can be conceived.

This paper is Part I of a two-part report. The purpose of the complete report is threefold: 1) To describe the origins, evolution, details of, and rationale for an innovation developed by the author over a five year period at Jersey City State College. The Unit Box Experience, which is the principal assignment and major project in the author's elementary school science methods course, involves the preparation of a multimedia, multisensory, and multilevel package of instructional materials and strategies to implement a classroom tested published unit. Each Unit Box is a custom made kit prepared, used, and owned by the apprentice teacher. 2) To report the findings of a followup study on the Unit Box Experience conducted over a four year period. The followup study entailed three facets: a) brief telephone interviews with 94 per cent of the 704 graduates who completed Unit Boxes in the author's course; b) in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 77 or one out of nine graduates; c) 627 classroom visits to and observations of student teachers and graduates who completed Unit Boxes in the course. The findings of the followup study will be reported in Part II of this article. 3) To report on four serendipitous and significant ramifications of the Unit Box study to be dealt with in Part II of the report, to be published in a future issue of this journal.

A computer based system for the evaluation of instructional strategies and student performance is described. The system provides the teacher with student scores and statistical information. The system also provides comments for students. The system assumes a one-hour turn around time for processing. The hardware includes a Bell and Howell Mark Document Reader and a General Electric Terminet 1200 Printer. These units are connected by telephone to a remote processor.

An instructional product review process is conceived and analyzed from a generic and systemic viewpoint. As conceived it is composed of the planning, implementation, and analysis stages, with each stage converging on a series of generic concerns.

The review process is illustrated with materials which can be used to assess the quality of an instructional package or module. And includes a set of “Directions for Reviewers,” a list of module assessment or development criteria, and an instrument entitled “External Module Review Form.”

For the past two years, the MITRE Corporation has been demonstrating an interactive television system in Reston, Virginia. This system allows homes in Reston to interact with a computer at the MITRE Corporation eleven miles from the city. The computer manages the acquisition of a variety of data on call from any of the homes in Reston, including games, financial news, educational materials, and a few dozen other services that demonstrate the potential of this new medium. The demonstration also enables home users to utilize the minicomputers as calculating machines, using home keyboards similar to those used on currently popular fifty dollar hand calculators.

This is the only true interactive system operating today in the sense that personal services are provided to individual homes, rather than simply providing a response mechanism in the home to a program which is publicly broadcasted.

This paper will describe the Reston demonstration. It will show how the system is put together, what the results have been to date, and what the plans are for the future.