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A Pilot Study Of The Suitability Of An Individualized Audio-Visual Program In The Continuing Education Of School Administrators

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A Pilot Study Of The Suitability Of An Individualized Audio-Visual Program In The Continuing Education Of School Administrators

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Content A PILOT STUDY O F THE SUITABILITY O F AN
INDIVIDUALIZED AUDIOVISUAL PROGRAM
IN THE CONTINUING EDUCATION O F
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS
by
Ronald Jam es Sparks
A D issertation P resen ted to the
FACULTY O F THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY O F SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In P artial Fulfillm ent of the
Requirem ents for the D egree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Com m unications)
Jvlne 1970
70 - 25,063
SPARKS, Ronald James, 1933-
A PILOT STUDY OF THE SUITABILITY OF AN
INDIVIDUALIZED AUDIOVISUAL PROGRAM IN THE
CONTINUING EDUCATION OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRA
TORS.
University of Southern California, Ph.D. ,
1970
Educat ion, admini strat ion
University Microfilms, A XERQ\ Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan
\$) Copyright by
RONALD JAMES SPARKS
1970
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED
UNIVERSITY O F SO U T H E R N CALIFORNIA
TH E G R A D U A T E S C H O O L
U N IV E R S IT Y PA RK
L O S A N G E L E S . C A L IF O R N IA SOO Q 7
This dissertation, written by
Ronald James Sparks
under the direction of Dissertation C o m
mittee, and approved by all its members, has
been presented to and accepted by The G radu
ate School, in partial fulfillment of require
ments of the degree of
D O C T O R O F P H I L O S O P H Y
D ate J3JNE...1970
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
PLEASE NOTE:
Some pages have indistinct
print. Filmed as received.
UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS.
TABLE O F CONTENTS
Page
LIST O F T A B L E S .............................................................................................. iv
LIST O F IL L U S T R A T IO N S .......................................................................... v
Chapter
I THE PR O B L E M ................................................................................. 1
Introduction
Statem ent of the P rob lem
Importance of the P rob lem
Methods of P rocedure
Lim itations of the Study
The Major A ssum ption of the Study
Organization of Rem ainder of Study
II REVIEW O F RELATED L I T E R A T U R E ........................... 14
Flow of Information to School P erson n el
Change Agents
Solution
M essa g e D esign
P rogram Evaluation
Chapter Summary
HI THE P R O C E D U R E ........................................................................... 44
Introduction
Developing P rogram T opics
Developing the P rogram s
The Experim ental Population
Chapter Summary
IV FINDINGS............................................................................................... 66
The Content Learned
The Im portance of the Information
ii
Chapter
Page
P rogram D esign
The P rogram as an Information Source
R equests for Additional Inform ation
Production C osts
Chapter Sum m ary
V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDA- . 9 7
TIONS
The P rob lem
P rocedure
Findings
C onclusions
R ecom m endations
B I B L I O G R A P H Y .................................................................................................... 106
APPENDIX A ..................................................................................................... 114
APPENDIX B ..................................................................................................... 117
APPENDIX C ..................................................................................................... 1 1 9
APPENDIX D ..................................................................................................... 123
APPENDIX E ..................................................................................................... 125
APPENDIX F .................................................................................................... 127
APPENDIX G ..................................................................................................... 148
LIST O F TABLES
I
1
jTable P a g e
j
| 1. R esponse to Initial L e t t e r ............................................................. 62
2 . Sample P o p u l a t i o n .......................................................................... 64
3. Modified Gain S cores of 24 School A dm inistrators for
the Two P rogram s
67
4. Importance of Information in the P rogram s to .
Individual School A dm inistrators
69
5. Importance of Information in the P rogram to School .
A dm inistrators as a Group
71
6 . P resentation of New and U seful Information in the .
Two Program s
73
7. O rganization of Information in the Two P rogram s . 76
8 . D esign C larity of Audio and Visual E lem ents of the.
Two P rogram s
77
9. Attention Value of the Two P r o g r a m s ................................. 80
1 0 . P referred Source of Inform ation Contained in P rogram I 84
1 1 . P referred Source of Inform ation Contained in P rogram II 85
1 2 . Mean Ratings of P re ferred Sou rces of Information in the
Two P rogram s on a S cale of 1 (Low) to 7 (High)
87
13. O verall Rating of the P ro g ra m s in M eeting the School.
Adm inistration P er so n a l Information N eeds
89
14. P rogram Production C o s t s ..................................................... 94
iv
LIST O F ILLUSTRATIONS
R esp on ses of School A dm inistrators P ro g ra m Topics
Figure Page
1. EDUCATIONAL C H A N G E ....................................................... 46
2. TEACHING S T A F F ........................................................................... 47
3. IN S T R U C T IO N ................................................................................. 48
4. ADM INISTRATION.......................................................................... 49
5. SOCIAL ISSUES, F I N A N C E ..................................................... 50
6 . SCHOOLS ........................................................................................ 51
7. S T U D E N T S ........................................................................................ 52
I
i
V
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM
Introduction
The effects of the "knowledge explosion" have been felt in many
p ro fessio n s, from the general practitioner of m edicine to the c l a s s
room teach er of subjects once thought to be solid and stable, such as
m ath em atics. School adm inistrators are also feelin g the p ressu re of
needing to know m ore. At the sam e tim e they have le s s and le s s tim e
fo r research , consultation with others in their field , and reading
professional journals. A school adm inistrator m ust attend to the
in crea sin g ly com plex task of running a portion of an educational s y s
tem , and at the sam e tim e keep up with the le g isla tiv e , curriculum and i
social changes that are expanding at exponential r a tes. j
The central position that our schools occupy in the social changes
that are taking place today, demand sound, confident leadership based
on current, relevant inform ation. A dm inistrators not only need to
have a c c e ss to such inform ation, but the tim e and inclination to attend
to it. The typical school adm inistrator has been cut off from in form a
tion by several factors such a s, too little tim e, lack of contact with
other adm inistrators, and the fact that m o st have been in school s e r v
ice for a number of y e a r s , and his form al p rofessional preparation
does not reflect the is s u e s that confront him today. With the em erging
technological tools becom ing m ore readily available, it s e e m s that
[there m ay now be ways to close this "knowledge gap."
j
j
Statem ent of the P rob lem
I
!
The dilem m a of the school adm inistrator in keeping abreast of
current educational developm ents is w ell known to the laym an as well
as the educational profession . The U. S. C om m is sioner of Education,
discu ssing the lea d ersh ip problem in the adm inistration of our school
sy stem , notes that:
Just as teach ers should have th e opportunity
for p rofession al growth through the easy a v a ilib il-
ity of relevant in -s e r v ic e training p ro g ra m s, so
adm inistrators should be able to continue their
education a fter they have b een em ployed. (30:8)
This study w ill attempt to answer the following q uestions regard
ing the use of a self-con tain ed audiovisual device with program s de
signed sp ecifically for the continuing education of school adm inistra
tors:
1. Are the self-con tain ed , individualized audiovisual
[ i
program s effective teaching d evices as m easured by content tests?
2 . Is this type of com m unication sy ste m acceptable to a
[school adm inistrator?
3. Is there an interrelationship of program d e sign and J
program content?
4. Is there an in terrelationship of content test sc o r e s and the
!
;acceptability of the inform ation sy ste m by the school adm inistrator?
i
]
5. Is the project econ om ically fea sib le, based on cost per
1
i j
I program analysis? ]
I
i j
This study w ill attempt to test the hypothesis that a s e lf-c o n
tained, audiovisual program can be used to effectively bridge the
I
inform ation gap in public school adm inistration. This hypothesis,
'together with the many questions it r a ise s , w ill be d iscu ssed in g r e a t
er detail in the chapter on m ethodology and in succeeding chapters.
Im portance of the P roblem
Innovations in a so cia l sy ste m are m ore helpful when shared
jwith professional colleagues who find th em selves facing sim ila r
p roblem s. The school sy ste m , how ever, seem s to be particularly
inept in the basic com m unication sk ills at all le v e ls . N ational, state,
county, city and even in terschool and intraschool com m unication has
b een criticized by both the tea ch er s and the adm inistration. F ox and
Lippitt (51:129) point out that the channels of com m unication which
could be used to share su ccessfu l innovations in schools are so poorly
developed in m ost school situations that little sharing takes place.
iM eierhenry (49:21) and H avelock (25:32) have used the te r m "linkage"
; J
to d escrib e the m issin g elem en t in education, an elem ent that is highly
4
refined in the m ilitary and scien tific field s.
Subject m atter innovations have little c ro ss com m unication
i
jbetween d iscip lin es. M eierhen ery (48:22) pointed out that a physical
j
[education innovation has little or no im pact on E nglish or foreign
j i
language, or even between schools within the sam e subject m atter.
I
The lag between the reporting of sound, w e ll-te ste d innovational
p ractices and their w id e-spread im plem entation in the educational j
program s of public schools w as called a "long-standing problem of
i
m ajor proportions," by Richland (58:1). This problem is found at alii
le v e ls . A ccording to Howe (33:40) the O ffice of Education has attempts
ed to make local school d istricts aw are of recent developm ents in both
innovation and educational resea r ch , but without the su c c e ss that they
feel is p o ssib le.
Som e authors such as Baird (5:14) and Burchinal (9:7) Gagne
(18:3) have asked for a nationwide dissem ination program . The in -
J
crea sin g ly com plex roles of the school adm inistrator demand an
organized sy ste m of knowledge. S ystem s are achieving a place of
im portance for all elem ents of our society.
The goal of this pilot project w as to design, validate and field
te st a type of "linkage" that could help c lo se the com m unication gap
| betw een the innovator or resea r ch er and the im p lem en tor, the school
j adm inistrator.
5
M ethods of P rocedure
A b rief review of the literatu re on dissem ination of inform ation
to school adm inistrators revealed the need for a com m unication sy ste m
that would help c lo se the inform ation gap. A m ore in ten sive review of
I
the literatu re revealed that a print oriented inform ation sy ste m would |
j j
|not be fruitful with the identified target audience. Thus the m ajor
| j
problem delineated. D esign , validate and field test a non-print j
i ;
oriented inform ation s y ste m for the school adm inistrator.
O nce the area w as defined, the steps involved in the procedure
followed the steps outlined below:
1. D eterm ine the audience, (receiv er)
2. D eterm ine what inform ation was d esired by the audience,
(m essage)
3. D esign a method of tra n sm issio n , (channel)
4. D esign program s in consultation with subject m atter
exp erts, (source)
5. D istribute the program to the target audience, (field test)
6 . Evaluate the effectiveness of the program , (feedback)
7. P repare a report of the study, (dissem ination)
The steps above which pertain to the design of a com m unication
sy ste m c lo se ly follow the now c la ss ic m odel of the com m unication
[process developed by B erio (I960). W hile even today the study of
6
com m unication is still in its infancy according to Saettler (60:74), the
pattern of S o u rce-M e ssa g e-C h a n n el-R e ceiv er p ro cess em ph asizes the
im portance of the personal approach to com m unication. This study
investigated the application of the B erio com m unication m odel to a
target audience w hose inform ation needs had been identified.
L im itations of the Study
T his study was lim ited to the type of feedback for which the
program evaluations w ere constructed:
1. Population was lim ited to L o s A ngeles County secondary
and elem en tary school principals, and d istrict a ssista n t superintend
ents and d istrict superintendents.
2. A P r e -te s t w as taken before the program began.
3. A P o s t-te s t was taken after each program .
4. Each program contained question fram es based on program
content.
5. The sam ple evaluated the program im m ed iately after
com pleting it.
6 . The evaluations w ere m ade on the program 's im portance,
content, and design.
I
The M ajor A ssum ption of the Study
The m ajor assum ption of this study based on the resea rch con- '
ducted in recent years is that program ed instruction, can, and does
teach factual m aterial.
| In the early 1920's Sidney L >. P r e s s e y of Ohio State U niversity
i
developed a sy ste m of using a m echanical device for adm inistering and
scoring te s ts . It w as evident to P r e s s e y that even though th ese m a
chines could te s t, they could also be used to instruct and perform
certain routine functions of drill that would otherw ise be the resp o n si-
j
bility of the teacher
P r e s s e y (56:373) described this sy ste m in a b rief paper published^
in School and Society on M arch 20, 1926. This se e m s to have been the;
fir st system atic attempt to embody law s of learning, as they w ere
form ulated at that tim e into a device.
In a second paper published a year later by P r e s s e y (55:549), the
I
I
concept of teaching w as em phasized com pared to the prim ary attention
that was given to testing in the ea rlier a rtic le. It w as in this a rtic le
that P r e s s e y developed m ore fully the im portant features of his d e
vices that contained certain very im portant requirem ents of efficient
teaching, such as instant reward when the learn er responds co rrectly ,
and an individual adjustment to difficulty, that have continued to be the
m ost d esirable asp ects of program ed instruction despite considerable
change in program design since P r e s s e y 's paper.
i One of the fir st experim ental investigations of the effectiven ess
of learning when im m ediate knowledge of test resu lts is known to the |
i learn er was reported by J. C. P eterso n ( 54:41), a form er student of
P r e s s e y . In his experim ental com parison P eterso n found that the
gains of subjects who used a testing d evice that gave im m ed iate con
firm ation of resu lts w ere statistically significant.
A fter th ese first studies, there w as a period of alm ost 15 years
before further research m aterials aro se out of P r e s s e y 's early work.
This was due prim arily to the d ep ression y ears, a tim e when there
w as little m oney to conduct resea r ch or develop p rogram s, and to the
new ness of the individualized instruction concept to the education
com m unity. H ow ever, after W orld War II sev era l studies w ere pub
lish ed which attested to the effectiven ess of learning when a student is
im m ed iately apprised of his te st resu lts, such as those by B riggs (7),
Jensen (35), Jones and Sawyer (37), Jones (38), and Severin (61).
It w as during the p ost-w ar period that the landm ark paper, "The
Science of Learning and the A rt of Teaching" w as published by B . F .
Skinner (63:99-113). Skinner suggested that the experim ental analysis
of behavior has direct im plications for the teaching p ro cess and that
instrum ents w ere available that could effectively be applied to this
p r o cess. The presentation of a carefully sequenced set of m aterials
and constant reinforcem ent of the student's resp on se at each step of
. the program was the key concept in Skinner's paper.
An in ten sive program of evaluation and experim entation w as
I begun at Harvard under the guidance of Dr. Skinner. Lum sdaine and
G laser (44) have co llected m any of the important papers that contribute
to the present state of program ing art. W ell over 3,000 refe ren ces
are liste d in their bibliography, m o st dealing d irectly with program ed
i
in stru ctio n and its effe c tiv e n e ss. Blyth (47:14) sum s up the available
I * i
■ r e sea r ch when he reports that "we know that program ed instruction is I
I
j I
ian effective method of instruction and we know that it can be used at l
i i
j j
jvarious le v els of learning ranging fro m sub-human to p o st-d o cto ra l."
i '
At this point, it is appropriate to review the current features of
{the elem en ts which are contained in a "program ."
T here are many excellent texts which can provide a thorough
understanding of the concepts involved in program ed instruction. The
purpose of this b rief overview of the salient features of program ed in
struction is to enable the reader to follow the reasoning in this study,
if unacquainted with the concepts of program ing.
P rogram ed instruction is usually a self-in stru ction al technique
in which the subject m atter to be learned is arranged in a sequence of
I steps or fra m es, making up the program . The presentation is typ
ic a lly by m eans of sp ecia lly prepared texts or hardware of varying d e
g ree s of com plexity.
The learn er is required to respond to certain fra m es in the
i
program , either with m ultiple choice or constructed a n sw er s. R e
sponding m ay be overt or covert, but in both c a s e s , the lea rn er is
i :
provided with inform ation about the co rr ectn ess or his answ er. Either
he is told h is a n sw e r w a s c o r r e c to r incorrect; o rth e co rr ect resp on se
is shown, and he m akes his own judgment as to whether his resp on se
w as adequate.
Som e program s require all le a rn ers to go through the sam e
!fram es, reg a rd less of their knowledge or grasp of the subject m atter.
T h ese a re called linear program s. O th ers, known as branching
program s contain special additional steps that vary the path of the
le a rn er, enabling the fast lea rn er to take a different, usually fa ster
path through the program than the slow lea rn er. Som e program s and
hardware m ay have many separate or com bination of paths for the
le a r n e r s .
P rogram s also differ in step or fram e s iz e . Som e program s
present a great deal of inform ation before requiring a resp on se,
others u se sm all steps and require frequent resp o n se s.
The four main ways that program s m ay differ are:
1. L arge or sm all step s.
2. L inear or branching program s.
3. C orrect response perform ed by the learner or the
teaching d evice.
4. M ultiple choice or constructed resp on se.
It is not n e c e ss a r y to strictly construct only one type of program
j
or the other. Varying com binations of th ese features give r ise to
w idely differing s ty le s. There are also many types of hardware ;
I 11
!
available to present the program .
It m ust be understood that program ed instruction is not just a
"teaching aid." Teaching aids such as projectors or television sets
!simply transm it inform ation; they do not take the responsibility for the
student learning the m aterial. P rogram ed instruction does take the
respon sibility for learning taking place. "If the student fa ils, it is the
program that flunks. " B eca u se of this responsibility, program ers
m ust have a clea r concept of what they want to teach, and how they
j
^will know when the learn er has achieved an acceptable lev el of le a r n
ing. The objectives of the program m ust be clea rly stated, stated in a|
way that can be m easured .
It is typical of the rapid changes taking place that the descriptions
of program types, w hile generally co rr ect, are no longer com pletely
valid. S u ccessfu l program s have been built which have:
1 . P resen ted m aterial in a scram b led , random order.
2. P resen ted m aterial in large chunks, rather than sm all bits.
3. P resen ted m a teria ls to groups rather than individuals.
4. Had little opportunity for the student to learn im m ed iately i
whether he had learned each bit of m aterial. j
M elching has developed the following definition of program ed
| j
i
instruction:
Automated instruction is teaching done by a
set of sp ecially prepared m a teria ls called a
program , rather than by an instru ctor. The j
12
program m ay be presented by a variety of m edia,
including books, teaching m a c h in e s, film s, slid e s,
and tele v isio n . (50:7)
M elching lis t s th e tw o b a sic principles of preparing any program:
! 1. The program is designed to accom p lish a set
| of o b jectives. T h ese objectives are p r e c ise s ta te -
| m ents of the behavior to be learn ed by the student.
O bjectives are derived from an an alysis of the
tasks to be learned.
2. The P ro g ra m is alw ays tested by m eans of a
criterion test of the objectives ad m in istered to the i
students after they have taken the program . If the
students do not pass the criterio n te st at a very !
high le v e l, then the program is r ev ise d until they
do. (50:8)
At present there is no conclusive evidence that one style of pro- !
gram is superior to another, and there is conflicting evidence reg a rd
ing lea rn er p reference and program e ffectiv en ess.
The bulk of program m ed learning resea rch has follow ed the
: I
design of the com parative studies that w ere u sed to evaluate in str u c
tional film and te le v isio n . The resu lts are sp ecific to certain situa-
I
jtions, program s and le a r n e r s. The C enter for P rogram ed Instruction,
Inc. , (10:57) has stated that while the gains for program s rem ain
difficult to quantify, the resp on se of the u s e r s shows that all parties
[react favorably to the u se of program ed m a te r ia ls.
i ’
|
| Brow n, L ew is and H arcleroad (8:2 58) point out that the m ost
!
|com m on com parative resu lt when students use program ed m a teria ls,
f
is that they learn at le a st as much as through other m ethods of
1
instruction.
In view of available studies and their r esu lts, it can be stated
that the assum ption of this study is a valid assum ption. P rogram ed
instruction can and does teach.
O rganization of R em ainder of the Study
The rem ainder of this report w ill be organized as follows:
1. CHAPTER II - R eview of R elated L iterature
2. CHAPTER HI - Method of P rocedure
3. CHAPTER IV - P rincipal Findings
4. CHAPTER V - Sum m ary, C onclusions and R ecom m en da
tions
CHAPTER II
REVIEW O F RELATED LITERATURE
| C onsidering the relatively recent developm ent of individual
instruction, there ex ists a considerable amount of literatu re regard- j
!
ing the production, evaluation, and effectiven ess of program ed
; I
m a teria ls. Much of this m aterial w as found in reports and papers
originally delivered at conferences or sem in a rs. Som e reports w ere
funded by governm ent agencies and w ere available from the D efense
Documentation C enter. A system atic search of the m aterial w as a
valuable a ssista n ce in the design and lim itation of this study.
Although th ere w ere num erous studies on program ed instruction
and dissem ination of inform ation within school sy ste m s none dealt
sp ecifically with the u se of program ed instruction as a m eans of d is
sem inating inform ation to school p ersonnel. H ow ever, there was a
good deal of valuable m aterial on various asp ects of inform ation flow
to school personnel.
j
F low of Inform ation to School P erson n el
j
According to L oew enstein (43:6) the explosion of knowledge and
'subsequent problem of the dissem ination of this knowledge, is a major!
r 1 5
problem in all profession s today. The existing com m unication chan
nels sim p ly can not m eet the overload, yet m ore and m ore knowledge
b eco m es available every day. It is as true today as it was in 1939
when Lynd (45:129) pointed out that in the United S tates, unlike m any
countries, the problem is not so much that of accum ulating m ore
knowledge, as finding m eans for the effective utilization of that which
we already have.
Gagne (18:3) writing of adults in gen eral, felt that the individual
is in a self-co n stru cted prison, without m eans for se lf-r e n e w a l. The
in crea sin g ly com plex roles of citizen and w orker demand m ore than
just casual or incidental knowledge with organized sy ste m s of know
ledge achieving a place of im portance for all elem en ts of our so ciety
which has n ever before been experienced.
Unfortunately, a sy ste m of knowledge or dissem in ation of in
form ation in education is not w ell developed. P ie r c e (49:187), points
out that resea r ch and experim entation could and should be m ajor
fo rces for educational change, but are utilized only in a very lim ited
se n se . Schools m ake changes in curricula on b a sis of d iscu ssion and
opinion, not resea rch .
H ow ever, there are resea r ch reports in abundance that b ear on
all asp ects of education. Why isn 't this resea rch applied to the w ell
identified problem s facing education? M em bers of all p rofession s
j agree that innovations can be very helpful when shared with p rofes-
16
sional colleagues who find th em selv es facing sim ila r prob lem s. But,
as Fox and Lippitt have stated, in education:
I The channels of com m unication whereby su c-
! cessfu l innovations can be shared are so poorly
developed in m ost school sy stem s that little such
sharing takes place. (51:298)
The problem is found in the local school district as w ell as at
the national le v e l. Howe II (33:40) has stated that the O ffice of E duca
tion has had a difficult task in attempting to make local school d istricts
aware of recent developm ents in all types of educational r e se a r c h and
'innovations. M r. Howe com pares the O ffice of Education with the
D epartm ent of D efense and finds education sadly lacking in the adop
tion o f changes.
Richland bluntly stated:
The existing lag between the reporting of sound,
w e ll-te ste d innovational p ractices and their im p le
m entation in the educational program s of public
schools is a long-standing problem of m ajor p rop or
tion s. (58:1)
Donley (16:5) identifies seven persisten t contributors to the co m
munication failures in education:
1. E stablished central office procedures w ere not efficient
for d issem ination.
I ;
I 2. Inform ation sent to schools w as not forwarded to the
proper personnel.
I ;
3. C ollection of inform ation by central office tended to be
17
erratic.
4. The practitioners frequently lacked the knowledge or train
ing to read resea r ch reports critica lly with understanding.
5. Mental stereotyp es held by m any practitioners about
J "research" and "theory" inhibited reading in tere st in
m aterials dealing with either.
i
6 . T eacher involvem ent in resea r ch tended to reflect the
adm inistration's philosophy rather than broad exposure to
inform ation.
j I
7. Schools with m ultiple contacts with resea rch and develop- !
ment inform ation generally dem onstrated m ore in terest
and activity in innovation than schools in which in fo rm a
tion was funneled through a sin gle channel.
i
The research by Donley had particular im portance to this study.
It is not a lack of available knowledge or innovation, but a lack of
effective com m unication channels to the practitioner, that prevents the
d issem ination of much valuable inform ation.
R eferring prim arily to college and un iversity adm inistrators,
B aird (5:13) has stated that the choice in regard to the influx of in
fo r m a tio n seem s to be betw een a sy ste m of selectiv e d issem ination of
i
inform ation, chance location of inform ation, or doing without. To the
| p ractition er, that prevents the dissem ination of much valuable inform -
j i
ation.
18
Rankin and Blanke sum m ed up the literatu re pertaining to the
cau ses of the lag in educational change:
Two assum ptions re-o c cu r frequently in the
literatu re on educational change: ( 1 ) there is a
large gap between theory and practice, and (2 ) sp e-
j cial organizations m ust be created and individuals
i trained to bridge this gap if educational im p ro v e
ment is to be consistent, effective, and efficient.
(57:8)
T h ere has been som e system atic study of how educators do get
I
heeded inform ation. The Vocational Education R esearch Coordinating
I
Unit (67:11) surveyed 600 schools on vocational education innovation
and what had influenced the change. O nly 50 percent of the schools r e
sponded (perhaps the others had not initiated any recent innovations).
C onferences and m eetings w ere the m ost con sistently m entioned
sou rces of inform ation and journals w ere of least im portance in each
j ;
'case.
' i
This finding of the relative unim portance of journals w as c o n
firm ed by P a isle y (52:96) who cited a Stanford R esearch Institute study
that found educators obtained inform ation from prim arily three sources*
i
I
con versation , curriculum m a te r ia ls , and textbooks, in that order of
(importance. Journal a rticles and resea rch reports w ere used much j
I j
I
i
{less.
i
H ow ever, the Kentucky State Departm ent of Education in a su r-
ivey of 2 0 0 school d istrict superintendents in their state, found som e
i i
I j
(conflicting data. When the superintendents w ere asked what so u rces ;
19
of inform ation they used , the resu lts w ere as follows:
Publications as sou rces
KEA, NEA (sp ecifica lly
Other
L ocal Sources
Local d iscu ssions
In S erv ice
Obs ervation
E xperience
Consultants
U niversity
State Departm ent of E duca
tion
Other
G eneral Sources
56
90
18
13
13
11
17
15
146 (total)
55 (total)
39 (total)
C onferences /W orkshops
O ther
26
22
12 (32:6)
It would appear that th ese superintendents did use journals as
i
prim ary so u rces of inform ation. When asked about the w ea k n esses of
the so u rces of com m unication, "lack of confidence" w as m entioned the
g rea test number of tim e s, 36, and "lack of applicability" second with
24.
I
! I
W hile the Kentucky study would se e m to su ggest that m ore p erti-
jnent journal a r tic le s m ay be a p ossible answ er to the need for better
j I
d issem ination of inform ation in education, Barton and W ilder (51:378)
| !
[found som e conflicting resp o n ses in a resea rch study of how elem en - |
! [
(tary school principals form ed their b eliefs regarding the teaching of
jreading. When asked if they read reports of sp ecific resea rch studies!
20
on reading only 40 percent of the school principals surveyed answ ered
"yes". H ow ever the reading of books and a r tic le s on reading w as 67
(percent, considerably higher. This suggested to the authors that
school principals m ay have gotten much m ore of their inform ation
from the m a ss m edia than from the resea rch studies.
Only one recent study dealing sp ecifica lly with inform ation n eed
ed by school adm inistrators w as located. In 1967 the Kentucky State
Departm ent of Education m ailed an open-ended questionnaire to su p e r
intendents of 200 school d istric ts throughout Kentucky. The question
naire asked, "In what topical areas do practicing educators have the
greatest need for rese a r c h inform ation? " The rep lies w ere tabulated
as shown:
117 (total)
111 (total)
49 (total)
Instruction
General 46
T eacher and teaching 26
M otivation 23
Instructional Technology 15
Other 7
C urriculum
G eneral 42
R esearch inform ation in 22
m ajor fields
Reading 23
M athem atics and S ciences 17
Other 7
Pupil and Learning
Child growth and develop- 18
m ent
Pupil evaluation 13
Pupil guidance 7
Dropouts 6
Pupil M otivation 5
21
O ther School A dm inistration 50 (total)
A reas
School finance 15
School com m unity relations 11
| School buildings 9
| G eneral adm inistration 5
Other (staff, s a la r ie s , etc.) 10 (32:5)
The design of the questionnaire used in this study w as open-ended,
yielding a wide variety of a n sw ers, highly subjective in nature. While
j
the resea r ch ers (32:3) admitted that this design m ade the results m ore
j
difficult to tabulate, they also believed that, "It is gen erally agreed
that verbal m a teria ls can take m any d iv erse form s and still 'mean'
I
i
the sam e thing in te r m s of categories under which they are subsumed."
T hus, w hile the rep lies w ere com pletely objective, it seem ed possible
to interpret what the superintendents "meant" by their reply. What
w as lacking in p recise control w as perhaps made up in a m ore open
resp on se from the ad m in istrators. j
B ecau se this study was lim ited to a state far rem oved geograph
ic a lly and ideologically from Los A ngeles County, it seem ed n e c e ssa r y
to conduct a sim ila r su rvey prior to developm ent of program topics for!
this study. The design of the Kentucky questionnaire had m erit and
iwas used as a m odel for a sim ila r survey of superintendents and j
i |
! |
a ssista n t superintendents and principals in Los A ngeles County. The
resu lts of this su rvey w ill be found in Chapter IV, P rin cipal Findings.
Change Agents j
I :
! M eierhenry (48:14) has pointed out that m any persons in educa- j
22
tion have a blind faith that if good research resu lts can be identified,
they w ill be autom atically im plem ented. He su ggests that educators
need to develop reports about resea r ch findings that can be understood
and interpreted by school person n el. T here is no shortage of research
]
jm aterial to point the way to the school adm inistrator, the problem is
(to get the adm inistrator to attend to the research .
This is not n e c e ssa r ily the fault of the r e s e a r c h e r s. Guba
(18:11) pointed out that r e s e a r c h e r s are not expected to apply or d e v e l
op their findings, although they m ay. Education needs to develop
"diffusion sp ecialists" who can present a valid picture with im pact and
p e r v a siv e n e ss. C redibility and inconvenience are the two m ajor b a r
r ie r s to dissem ination in education. Information is sim p ly not a c c e s
sib le to the practitioners. He suggested that this inform ation should
I
i
jalso be an integrated and accepted component of the school if it is to
I
I I
|be effective. Two essen tia ls a re production and staging if inform ation
!is to be dissem inated to school personnel.
Culbertson (14:5) found that becau se of the lack of production and:
i
< j
staging m ost of the innovators in education in recent years have com e
fro m outside education. A definite linkage between the resea r ch c o m
m unity and the schools w ill only com e about if the inform ation is of I
good quantity and quality.
The tentative conclusions drawn by F ox and Lippitt (51:296) r e -
gard ing the us e of ou tsid ers as d issem in ators w a s:" t o hplp m ake
23
educational innovations visib le and available to potential adopters
usually requires d escrip tive effort and conceptual help by a trained
outsider. "
: W ilson (68:5) used the te r m "educational engineers" or change
i
I
agents to d escrib e a needed person in education who can tran slate the
results of studies into operational school program s.
j
j Some w riter s have suggested p ossib le solutions. L ip p itt(42:12)
stated that in education a great proportion of the significant new in - j
vention of the significant new inventions rem ain quite in visib le,
undocumented, and in a cc essib le for consideration by potential adoptersj
b ecause there is a significant lack of a p rofessional network of {
com m unicators and agents of change.
M eierh en ry (48:21) used the term linkage in describing what is i
{lacking in today's school sy stem s particularly betw een d isc ip lin e s. j
Hoban (28:131) w as even m o re sp ecific regarding the need for a j
m ediator betw een the d isco v erer and the organizer of knowledge and
(the men who m u st apply the knowledge in a practical situation. Educa-
i
! i
tion needs som eone who can bridge the gap betw een theory and
jresearch and the im plem entation of changes in educational p ra ctices j
{which they im ply.
B aird (5:7) suggested a s e le c tiv e dissem in ation of inform ation
i
program be developed, a sy stem which would provide abstracts of j
I
|
{educational documents on a nationwide b a sis.
24
B urchinal also saw abstracts of research reports as a p ossible
I answer:
Think of the knowledge that could be m ade
readily available to any educator if local cen ters
w ere to rec eiv e the output from national sy ste m s
such as ERIC, SRIS, and EPIE, and if they, the
educators, w ere to acquire a few abstract b u lle
tins for local literatu re and b asic referen ce books
in education. (9:7)
i
H avelock (25:37) urged the creation and use of linking sp ecia list
I
roles at the school building, sy ste m , and state le v e l, and a lso a |
i
rigorous evaluation of the varied u se s of new m edia. R e se a r c h e r s are
not being trained in roles that enable them to se r v e as m id d le-m en , as;
dem onstrators of their findings, and that there needs to be a m ore
satisfactory linkage betw een the b asic and applied rese a r c h com m uni-
i
tie s on the other.
j
B eca u se school ad m inistrators are obviously w ell educated,
when referring to the adoption of new id ea s, it is re-education that j
m ust be considered . Educational sy ste m s are singularly lacking in
the manpower to re-ed u cate their p ersonnel. Lippitt (41:15) stated
that it requires m ore than just the w ritten tra n sm issio n of documented!
j
d escriptions in order for the internalization p rocess of adoption to go
ion. Education needs a great out-reaching effort of "peddling our own
w a r e s."
i
H avelock (41:24) developed a m odel of the utilization problem in j
25
education. This m odel is shown in F igure 1. It is the linkage area of
this diagram that is the focus of the p resen t study. A linkage sy ste m
betw een the reso u rce and resea rch people and the people who m ust
|
im plem ent the findings at the school le v e l is apparently lacking at this
[time.
: I
Solutions
Various solutions to the problem of effective dissem in ation of
i
• j
inform ation to school ad m inistrators have been attem pted and proposed,
i J
T h ese solutions can be categorized by the com m unication channel that
is offered as a m eans of transm itting the d esired m e s sa g e .
P rint Media
j
A 1960 conference on dissem in ation of inform ation on new er
educational m edia, sponsored by the National Education A ssociation
(69:5) recom m ended that a s e r ie s of w ell w ritten bulletins be directed
to sp ecific education audiences by subject m atter or grade dealing with
the u s e of newer m edia. C onceivably this recom m endation w as not
lim ited to the c la ssr o o m teach er. The con ference's second r e c o m -
[mendation was to hold m ore w idespread conferences on new m ed ia.
i
i
| In the Kentucky State su rvey cited ea rlier recom m endations w ere
j I
jrequested from superintendents throughout the state regarding p o s-
j |
sible efforts that m ight im prove the d issem ination of inform ation to
26
them . At the national level the suggestions w ere:
Readable Sum m aries 27
R eports Evaluation 13
Current B ibliographies 6
At the lo ca l level:
Conduct w orkshops 22
C ollect and su m m arize inform a- 47
tion at local le v el (32:11)
A New York State Audio V isual Council report on a " P roject to
Im prove the D issem ination of Inform ation About New Instructional
M aterials and Their U ses in Education in the Schools Within a State"
arrived at a recom m endation sim ila r to the Kentucky survey. A udio
visual d ir e c to r s, school ad m in istrators, teach ers and superintendents
attending a two-day conference on the dissem in ation of inform ation on
new m edia, w ere asked for suggestions for m eans of dissem ination.
F orty-on e suggested a n ew sletter, 21 suggested a conference. The
final recom m endations of the report were:
1. A new sletter should be published five tim es a year.
2. A center and fa cilitie s should be established for collecting
inform ation.
; 3. Staff should be established for the project center. j
4. T here should be teach er training w ork sh op s. (15:22)
j |
It is in teresting to note that dissem ination su ggestions, even
i !
{when concerned with the dissem ination of inform ation on new m ed ia, j
i
jwere focused on com m unication patterns that have already proved
ineffective in handling the knowledge explosion. M iles d iscu ssed
methods of affecting change in sch o o ls, and suggested that:
D evices to develop aw aren ess and in terest co n
cerning the innovation, such as jou rn als, papers and
conferences m ay be very cru cial. (51:225)
I
M iles even dragged up the role of the "county agent" cited so
j
often in com m unication rese a r c h , and suggested:
S Support and conceptual help provided by con-
| sultants or other outsid ers - -com p are the role of
the county a g en t--m a y be essen tia l for adequate
developm ent of aw aren ess - -in tere st and later adop
tion /of innovation/. (51:227)
j
It se e m s clea r that com m unication suggestions still reflect the
attitudes of the past and the m edia prominent in a form er tim e.
f a c e to F ace Com m unication
Som e w riters have suggested that the m ost effective m eans of
com m unication with school personnel is by face to face or person to
p erson tran sfer of inform ation. The form at how ever v a ries. L ee
1(40:9) suggested that the m ost logical type of activity to d issem in ate
inform ation is through regional research c e n te r s. T hese centers
i
would distribute inform ation and serv e a lso as a direct source of in
formation and dem onstration.
j
In an extensive review of the various roadblocks to educational
|
change, P elleg r in recom m ended the u se of m a ss m edia, d em on stra-
tions and:
28
A ll sorts of m eetings and con feren ces at
various le v els in which in terp erson al in te r
changes can be conducted. (53:30)
T raveling sem in ars and conference m ethods w ere recom m ended
by Richland (58:14) as an effective method of reaching local school
d istric ts. A pilot project w as launched to te s t the fea sib ility of this
|method and found to be su ccessfu l. An estim a te of the cost was not
|included in the report.
An in vestigation of inform ation dissem in ation to educational
j
practitioners by D onley, Cali and T orette (16:40) also suggested that
! '
I ;
dissem ination activ ities which provided p erson al contact w ere fruitful,
i
and could w ell supplem ent existing m edia. The in vestigators indicate !
that the effective d issem ination of educational resea r ch w as through
con ferences, in -se r v ic e -tr a in in g , study tea m s and consultant services^
Here the em phasis w as definitely on face to fa ce com m unication. j
In -r esid en ce learning se ssio n s w ere su ggested by H avelock and !
;Benne (13:39) as the ideal vehicle for tra n sm issio n of new knowledge
- j
of a com plex nature. It w as suggested that s e s s io n s such as these
would enable the rec e iv e r to experience new inform ation either
through observing dem onstrations or trying the innovation out for h im -
■ self.
Non-print M edia
A rm ed with a truckload of journals, a case of
cold b e e r , and a quiet room , a m an can get a lot of
education at his own pace . . . or is he ham pered
29
by m isleading title s, u n n ecessa ry verb iage, or
just damn poor w riting.
Thus wrote Husted (46:40) on the sole u se of print oriented
m edia as a m eans of dissem inating inform ation.
| F o rm s of inform ation tra n sm issio n other than print have been
urged by som e w r ite r s. Technology transfer is under intense scru t-
j j
j iny in the United States. "Technology transfer" is defined by Swanson
j
as the m ech an ism s for transferring resea rch resu lts into practical
: i
i
i I
applications. He suggests that a m u lti-m ed ia approach may be m ore
affective at the action or application lev el of the school adm inistrator
than a printed m e ss a g e alone:
Inform ation tra n sm issio n m ust occur to spark
m an's mind (or m en's minds) and to effect c o m
m unication of ideas through d ecision channels at a
lev el of understanding sufficient for the acceptance
and action. (64:ii)
A ccorded to Edling (49:313) the "newer" m edia have been s e r i-
; ously underestim ated as an agent of change. B y preparing m e ss a g e s
that can utilize this m edia, m ore positive changes in behavior can
resu lt. M e ssa g e s can be prepared in such a w ay that existing atti-
tudes can be dislodged, or at le a st partially shaken, and that i s what
i i
is n e c e ssa r y in re-education.
|
j L ee states flatly that:
A ll of the evidence obtained through the present
investigation points con clusively to the need for a c -
i celeration and intensification of the kinds of research j
i which m ake u se of the great advances in tech nology
30
by applying them to im provem ent in learning.
(40:14)
The knowledge gap has been blam ed on the technological ex p lo
sion, but rather it appears that it is the lack of applying technology
that is contributing to the widening gap. j
; I
Education has not used the com m unication tools that other p r o
f e s s io n s have to keep ab reast of today's rapid changes. Change is a
I
way of life today, in all p ro fessio n s. But education has in m ost
ca ses relied on print or fa c e -to -fa c e com m unication. M eierh en ry
(49:440) cites the need for promoting change in education, but points
out that b asic to promoting any change is the skillful use of com m uni
cation instrum ents and channels. M edia, he points out, have the
possibility of showing different m odel situations in a very striking
fashion.
,
P ie r c e (49:197) saw two b asic tasks that m edia could perform in ;
the d issem ination of educational inform ation. One task would be to
make it p ossib le for the laym an to develop better understanding about
sch o o ls. A second task would be to a c c e le r a te the rate at which
school sy ste m s take on new p ra ctic es. M edia, he pointed out, have
I i
: i
not played an im portant role in current educational change. M edia can
|not only inform but m otivate to action, but their role still needs to be
ideveloped in the educational sy ste m .
I j
P erhaps it is b ecau se traditionally education has u sed the p er-
31
sonal approach a s the m ost effective m eans of com m unication that
m edia are not used m ore. R ogers (59:179) has pointed out however
that im personal sources of inform ation are m ore important than p e r
sonal sou rces for the early adopters of an innovation. P erso n a l
influence, he concludes, is evidently not n e c e ssa r y for m otivation.
Swanson, (64:57), w riting of inform ation in general in In fo rm a
tion, An Exploitable Com m odity, saw packages of inform ation p re-
j pared for group audiences as a m eans to create a w a ren ess, but also
i i
; I
wanted follow -up with counseling fa c ilitie s to prom ote im plem entation.
In this c a s e m edia would serve as the m otivational sou rce but the
i d etails of im plem entation would need to be handled by fa c e -to -fa c e
g en era lists on the problem.
i
H avelock in Planning for Innovation rather strongly attacks the
i .
presen t state of affairs:
! We are living in a pseudo-technological
environment surrounded by sophisticated equip
ment which is perform ing trivial tasks and stand
ing id le m ost of the tim e w hile knowledge u se r s
continue to rely h eavily on old w ord-of-m outh and
j w ritten media for m o st of their m e ssa g e input.
(25:33)
j He goes on to say that the task is further com plicated by the
j ;
habits of the audience who are alread y com m itted and attuned to the
w ritten w ord and inform al exchange as the only m eans of com m u n ica
tion.
i
W ilson (69:7) suggested that schools develop a public in form a-
32
tion sp ecia list who could also d issem in a te inform ation to both the la y
m an and profession al.
It is apparent that m any w r ite r s have recognized not only the
problem of the com m unication gap, but the road blocks of tradition and
habit that hinder dissem ination of inform ation in the educational s y s
te m . Mayo (18:44) hoped that the lo c k -s te p training m ethods a re now
giving w ay to m o re individualized instruction.
It w as in this direction that the current study w as directed, to
i
develop an individualized audiovisual program that would not rely on
i
the traditional and relatively ineffective m eans to com m unication to ■
bridge the school adm inistrators knowledge gap.
M essa g e D esign
i
i !
j The design of the m e ssa g e , or as C herry (11:7) defined it, the j
| j
separate elem en ts that when joined together set up the tra n sm issio n of
I i
istimuli and the evocation of resp o n se s, is the heart of the com m u n ica
tion p r o c e ss. It i s no longer p o ssib le to separate the m e s s a g e from |
the m edia as w as once popular; b eca u se, as Heinich (27) pointed out,
the softw are is dependent upon the hardw are's capabilities. N everth e-|
le s s , the num ber one problem m a y well b e one of lin gu istics as j
j
suggested by D reyfus (17:3), requiring m o re attention to m e s s a g e
design than d issem in ators of inform ation to school personnel have
j |
jgivento it. j
33
R ogers (59) in his su rvey of over 500 studies gen eralized that
diffusion depends as much on p sychological and sociological fa cto rs as
it does on the substantive inform ation to be diffused. The design of the
m e s sa g e can have a strong influence on the p sych ological "set" that
the audience w ill have toward the m e s s a g e . M any resea rch rep orts in
education a r e not designed to appeal p sychologically (or sociologically)
to the intended audience.
In a p relim inary report of reasons why North Dakota tea ch er s j
iw ere ignoring pertinent r e sea r ch m a teria l, Krahm er (34:10) stated !
that tea ch ers and adm inistrators w ere sim ply unprepared to read with !
understanding such reports. He su ggested a long range purpose
should be to develop a form of d issem ination which w ould be u n d er
standable to them .
I
j
What m ight this form be? One study cited e a r lie r , by B arton
and W ilder (51:378) in which adm inistrators w ere asked how they
I
developed their b eliefs regarding the teaching of reading, only 40 p e r
cent of elem en tary school principals answ ered "yes" on reports of
sp ecific r e sea r ch studies. H ow ever 67 percent answ ered "yes" to
having read books and a rtic les dealing with reading. This su ggested j
I
I to the authors that many of th ese elem entary school principals w ere
: i
| getting m o st of their inform ation on reading from the m a ss m ed ia.
The m ass m edia have certainly perfected the attention attracting
pow ers of the m edia far beyond the resea r ch papers.
34
It might be argued that the m a ss m edia are w ell equipped to
com m unicate with school person n el, and perhaps educational reports
should be turned over to them for effective d issem in ation . But the
m ass m edia inherently respond to m a ss audiences with:
T e r s e , sim p le sty le, with nam es in stead of
| is s u e s , with dram a instead of ab straction s, with
denotative rather than connotive d isco u rse. (22:14)
K elly (31:92) suggested that it is often abstract m aterial with
which educational rese a r c h is dealing, but perhaps if the m e ssa g e
started with the concrete and then let needed abstractions com e from
ithe concrete exam p les, much m ore would be d issem in a ted . An e ffe c
tive m e ssa g e might be a con crete exam ple of a program in operation
|at a sp ecific school from which an adm inistrator could draw enough in
form ation to apply it to his own school, and thus develop the abstract
jmeanings from the con crete exam ple.
I
1 i
V isuals
B ecau se the s y ste m of com m unication used in the current study
did em ploy projected pictures in an attempt to m ake the m e ssa g e as
jconcrete as p o ssib le, the literatu re search on m e ss a g e design also wa$
|
concerned with film strips. and slid es for the d issem in ation of inform -
j
ation. There have been num erous research studies investigating the
effectiven ess of learning from film strip s or s lid e s. M ost of these
|
studies com pare one or two types of media with a conventional lecture.!
35
Dworkin (20:383) found no significant difference in learning between
lectu res and sound film str ip s. H eidgerken (26:261) found no sig n ifi
cant difference in learning betw een motion pictures and slid es in a
inursing cou rse. Johnson (36:363) found no significant difference in
learning between liv e in stru cto rs, film s alone, film strip s alone, and
film s with film strip s used in a geom etry co u rse. Hoban and Van
O rm er (29) found slid e s or film strip s to be as effective as motion
pictures if motion is not an integral part of the le sso n .
j
T h ere are h ow ever, certain types of film strip s that are m ore
effective than oth ers. VanderM eer (66:126) found that film strip s w ere
im proved as a result of using learn er resp on ses in subsequent m o d ifi
cation. This finding indicated that program s m ust be validated before
final production to m ake them as effective as p o ssib le.
The relative c o st of production of film strip versu s slid es was
I also research ed , once it had been decided that m otion pictures would
not be used in this study. While many factors play a part in the final
cost, generally a slid e program is m ore co stly than a film strip p ro
gram of the sam e num ber of fra m es, once a certain volum e has been
! reached. Trow (65) in a thorough study of the production costs found j
j i
j that if le s s than five copies of a program w ere produced, 2X2 slid es
| ;
w ere cheaper. When m ore thanteto copies of a program w ere desired ,
j
j a film strip made fr o m a m a ster negative or positive w as cheaper.
|T row 's findings w e r e confirm ed in conversations with production j
36
personnel at D eluxe G eneral F ilm L aboratories in L o s A n g eles, C a li
fornia.
C redibility of M essa g e
i
I
! Communication r e se a r c h ( 6 ; 39; 4; 1) has pointed out the im p or-
i
jtance the ethos of the sou rce has on the im pact of the m e s s a g e . The
[finding is alm ost universal that the ethos of the sou rce is in som e way
j
'related to the cred ib ility of the m e s sa g e . M iles (51:652) felt that the
credibility of a m e ssa g e designed for school personnel is heightened if
; i
the sou rce of the m e ssa g e is a d ispassionate but authoritative group
serving as a clearinghouse for inform ation in innovation. This is the
type of com m unication s y ste m the current pilot project w as attempting
to develop.
: j
: I
P ro g r a m Evaluation
I !
Current literatu re concerning evaluation of a p rogram such as ,
[contemplated in this study w as research ed in depth. It w as apparent
early in the literatu re search that there is som e d isagreem en t on r e
liable and valid evaluation of a d issem ination program . j
j
One criteria of the effectiv en ess of the program s designed in j
this current study w as a m ea su re of acceptability to the target
| ;
[audience.
Krumboltz (47:148) pointed out that the opinion of students about j
37
how they liked a program is not a valid b a sis for judging the amount of
learning produced by the program . Kelly (31:70) contended that in any
learning experience, the teach er m ust often rely on trial and erro r.
He a lso admits that when a teach er contrives an ex p erien ce, he m ust
!be w illing to accept the fact that each student w ill get som ething dif-
i
I
jferent out of it, and that so m e w ill not profit by it at a ll. In the
current study the "liking" of the program would be evaluated sep a r a te
ly fro m the amount of factual m aterial learned. It was con sidered
im portant to m easu re how w ell the target audience liked the program
I and accepted the m edia that was used to present the program . U n less
the target audience could fir s t be induced to attend to the m e s s a g e ,
factual m aterial could not be tran sferred reg a rd less of its quality and
im portance.
Guba urged that resea rch be carried out under r e a lis tic , natural-j
is tic circu m stan ces.
G enerally speaking, the im position of the kinds
of control required by c la s s ic experim ental designs
would invalidate the utility field test by im p osin g
what m ight be called 'laboratory b ia s ' on the resu lts.
(24:20}
He suggests that r e se a r c h e r s m ust allow the wide variety of
variables to function and in teract a s they would do n orm ally. This
j
m ay even mean that the r e sea r ch i s carried out under conditions of
"invited in terferen ce." Y et, on the w hole, evidence of su c c e ss or
failure w ill be clear in a w e ll conducted field study.
38
M ager (47:51) suggested that program s be evaluated in the field
of exp erien ce of the u ser. The object of field testing is not only to
find out how w ell a program does w ork under the control of the intend
ed u s e r but to find out what m ust be done to m ake it work under the
control of the intended u ser. M ager im plied that there can * > < : no ul-
i
Itimate perfection of a program , and a program needs constant evalua
tion, or feedback from u ser to send er.
j
W henever something new is introduced into a sy ste m , it changes j
| j
|the makeup of the sy stem in som e way. N aturally when a new, j
(mediated p rogram is introduced to a school adm inistrator, who is '
print oriented by nature and conditioning, the w ell known Hawthorne
(effect may play som e role in the evaluation. The Hawthorne effect
cannot be ignored, but it can be u seful. When teach ers want to m otiv-
i I
ate students they alm ost invariably inject novelty into the teaching J
se ssio n . It w as anticipated that the Hawthorne effect would have som e !
effect on the acceptance of the program s in the current study, but the
v ery novelty of the m edia might a lso m itigate against its acceptance.
; I
Is it p o ssib le to m easure the effectiv en ess of tran sfer of factual
jmaterial contained in a program ? The traditional m easu rem en t has j
I
j
been the difference between a le a r n e r 's p r e -te st sco res and h is post-
j
test s c o r e s . H ow ever, there a re sev era l seriou s questions regarding j
I j
ithis m ethod of a sse ssm e n t. Edling (49:306) pointed out that when
!
factual knowledge is tested, p o st-te st sc o r e s alm ost always a re en- j
39
hanced as a resu lt of p re-testin g .
Krumboltz (47:140) acknowledged that in alm ost every te st which
is given tw ice, students do better the second tim e and that attributing
im provem ent solely to the intervening program w ill result in error to
an unknown d egree. H ow ever, if a program m er sets certain stand
ards of perform ance in advance and then evaluates the extent to which
the learn ers are able to perform to th ese standards, the program can
be accurately rated. Krumboltz refers to this as the "absolute m eth-
! I
| od. "
| It would be be im p ossib le to m ea su re how much the learn er
im proved through the use of the program if he was not p re-tested and
p ost-tested . Robert M ager (47:10-53) has proposed an alternative
: method which he fe e ls is the m ost accurate now available, known as
I the "modified gain s c o r e ." This sy ste m is used when the m ain criter-j
ion of in tere st to the investigator is how much behavior has been
changed by the program . This im p lies that at le a st two observations
I
m ust be m ade, at two different points in tim e.
The sim p le gain score is one m easurem ent:
GAIN SCORE = PO ST-TEST — PR E -T E ST
I This te st is a com parison of a student's p re-in stru ction behav- ;
■ io r with his p ost-instru ction behavior. W hile this gain sc o r e is m orel
! useful than a single p o st-te st, it does not reflect how w ell the pro-
i
| gram ac c om plished its ob jectives. On a te st with 100 points possible,!
40
a gain from ten co rr ect in the p re-test to twenty in the p o st-test is
shown as a ten-point gain. A gain from 80 to 90 co rrect on the sam e
test is also shown as a ten-point gain, but obviously this second le a r n
er knows m uch m ore in term s of program ob jectives.
M ager su ggests that actual behavior change should be placed in a
setting of total p o ssib le behavior change, such as the m odified gain
score:
P O ST -T E ST — PR E-TEST
MODIFIED GAIN SCORE
MAXIMUM SCORE — PRE -TEST
j The m odified gain sc o r e shows how m uch of the p ossible i m
provem ent w as actually realized , and is thus a m ore sen sitiv e m e a s
urem ent according to M ager. F or exam ple, if as a result of working
through a program one student im proved from ten co rrect to twenty
correct out of a p o ssib le 1 0 0 , and another student im proved from
j
80 co rrect to 9 0 co rrect on the sam e te s t, their sim ple score would
be:
; Student #1 = gain 10 points
0 10 20 100
Student #2 = gain 10 points
_C
0 80 9 0 1 0 0
The m odified gain sco re would be quite different how ever. Stu
dent number one did not travel far toward the p ossible achievem ent
41
from the program , but this is not reflected in the sim p le gain sco re.
A different picture of student one is shown with the m odified gain.score:
Student #1
0 10 20 100
M odified gain - 20 - 10 - HI » \ \%
\ 100 - 10 90
I
j For student num ber two, using a m odified gain s c o r e , a 50%
i
gain is shown:
X
0 80 9 0 1 0 0
j
M odified gain = 90-80 - 10 _
100-80 ' 2 0 = /0
It se e m s that the m odified gain sco re is a m ore sen sitiv e m e a
surem ent of change. This sy ste m was used as a m eans of evaluating
ithe content learned from the program s produced for u se in this study.
The ultim ate te s t of a program 's effectiv en ess, of co u rse, is
when and how w ell significant research findings are translated into
I i
I f
educational p ractice. A ccording to Sparks (32: forw ard), 70% diffu
sion of educational p ractice through the United States took approximate-j
ly 35 years. This m easu rem en t of program effectiv en ess was not usecj
j
in this study. Another m ea su re of a program 's effectiv en ess w as out- !
i
j
lined by Cook (13:10) in a report of a study which judged a program by
how much it stim ulated the recipient to seek further inform ation. If
enough inte r e s t was aroused by the program , it w as con cluded that the
42
program had had a fair m ea su re of s u c c e s s.
Chapter Sum mary
E vidence indicates that there is a definite com m unication gap
between the educational r e se a r c h e r and the im plem enter of the re -
| search , the school adm inistrator. T h ese com m unication gaps and the
possible solutions suggested in the literature a r e sum m arized as
follows:
1. Education has not developed an effective m eans of d is s e m
inating educational research and innovations to its p ractition ers.
2. A uthorities in the field of com m unication have urged the
creation of sp ecia lists who could in terp ret the educational research
and d issem in ate the inform ation to the school adm inistrator.
3. The inform ation that is dissem in ated is done so p rim arily ;
! !
| through conferences and conversations with other educators.
4. The m o st wanted inform ation was in the area of innovation
! in instruction and curriculum . j
i |
5. While many authors urged sim ply in creasin g the in fo rm a
tion on the channels now used , such as journals or co n fere n c es, others]
proposed using "new" m edia as an agent of change. j
6 . Many resea rch reports on im portant is su e s in education
do not have a psychological appeal to a school adm inistrator who p re-
ife r s to get his information from th e m a s s m e d ia .________________________
43
7. A film strip can be as effective as face-to-face co m m u n ica
tion in the amount of m aterial learn ed .
8 . P rogram s can be evaluated in a number of ways to
I m easu re th eir effectiv en ess, with the m odified gain sco re being one of
!
!the m ost valid that is now available.
j
9. P rogram s m ust be evaluated in the field of exp erien ce of
jthe u s e r , not solely in a laboratory setting.
CHAPTER III
THE PROCEDURE
!
I
| Introduction
i
Chapter I presented a statem ent of the problem , its im portance,
delineations, lim itation s, the questions to be an sw ered , and the d efin i
tion of te r m s used in the study. Chapter II contained a review of
related literatu re as it pertained to the problem .
|
The p resen t chapter is concerned with the procedure follow ed in
conducting the study. One of the tasks w as to develop program s for
luse in the study. In order for th e se program s to be interesting and
i 1
pertinent to the target audience, a questionnaire was selected as the ,
j
instrum ent to gather possible program top ics.
] I
I '
i Developing P ro g ra m T opics
j
An open-ended questionnaire was developed which sim ply asked
; j
the school adm inistrator: "If an audiovisual program ed device w ere
available to you, what inform ation would you lik e to have in your p r o
fe ssio n a l field ?" A letter b riefly explaining the project was w ritten, '
i
approved, and printed on U n iversity of Southern California stationery !
45
(Appendix A). E n closed with the letter was a postcard with spaces to
list three top ics. T here was a lso a place on the card for the ad m in is
trator to indicate if he would be in terested in taking part in the pro-
jgram, and a place for his nam e.
E very school principal of elem entary and secondary schools in
Los A ngeles County and every school superintendent in Los A ngeles
jCounty was sent the letter and postcard. The nam es and a d d resses
cam e from the 1968 copy of L os A ngeles County D irectory of Public
Schools (12:1 -94). A total of 1756 le tte r s w ere sent.
A total of 429 postcards w ere returned, or 24. 4%. No follow up j
i
le tte rs w ere sent to those adm inistrators not replying to the initial ,
Tetter. Some of the adm inistrators responded with m o re than three j
top ics, giving over 1290 topics in all. The design of the questionnaire
was open ended, following the pattern of the Kentucky Study (32), and
while the replies w ere com pletely objective, it seem ed p ossible in all
but three ca ses to interpret what the adm inistrators "meant" by their
reply. What w as lacking in p r e c ise control w as hopefully made up by
J
getting a m ore open resp on se from the adm inistrators and avoiding the
|
juse of a lengthy check list.
A tabulation of the resp on ses is shown in F igu res 1 through 7.
A s shown in F igu re 3, "Instruction," w as the m ost often m entioned by
the adm inistrators as an area w here m ore inform ation w as wanted.
I
iThe m ost often m entioned area of instr u ction was "curriculum ." It __
Figure 1
R esponses of School A dm inistrators
P rogram Topics
EDUCATIONAL CHANGE (4)
D ecentralization (3)
State P r e ssu r e
_ __ (3)
Technology (24)
R ecent R esearch (45)
L earn ing/C om m u n ica (34)
tions
Program m ing ( 1 0 )
Media (2 0 )
S ystem (23)
Number of R esponses 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
T otal 166
O '
Figure 2
R esponses of School A dm inistrators
P rogram Topics
TEACHING STA FF
__ (2 )
M ilitancy
Preparation
(16)
(13)
Evaluation * (47)
A s C ounselor
Interviewing
(16)
_ ( 2)
Communication with
C la ssro o m M anagement
(23)
( 6 )
In -se r v ic e Education (23)
N um ber of R esponses
T otal
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
148
35 40 45 50 55
' * Includes self-evaluation.
. * > ■
!
Figure 3
R espon ses of School A dm inistrators
P rogram Topics
1
INSTRUCTION
P ro fessio n a l Staff (32)
P araprofession al Staff
( 1 1 )
New Math
( 1 1 )
!
Reading (43)
i
B ehavioral O bjectives (36)
Innovation (67)
Individuali zing (44)
Adult ( 6 )
Vocational
_ ( D
T eam Teaching (23)
1
Curriculum (105)
Evaluation of (25)
T exts ( 6 )
Num ber o fR esp o n ses
• • • • • • ■ « • • •
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
i
Total 408
F igure 4
R espon ses of School A dm inistrators
P rogram Topics
ADMINISTRATION _ ( 2 )
Quality ( 6 )
Community (25)
Board
_ < D
D ecision Making (5)
Public R elations (2 0 )
T eacher Relations (15)
Role of (35)
L iterature on ___ (3)
R ecord Keeping
_ ( 2)
A s a Negotiator (8 )
Innovations in (1 0 )
In ter-sch ool
Communications
___ (3)
•
Num ber of R esponses 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
T otal 135
sO
F igure 5
R esponses of School A dm inistrators
P rogram Topics
SOCIAL ISSUES
Race
E x trem ism
(6 )
_ ( 2 )
i
i
In Community
Law and O rder
(25)
__ (2 )
Parents (2 0 )
Number of R esponses
Total
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
55
35 40 45 50 55
FINANCE
T ax
( 1 2 )
___ (3)
j
L egislation
Community Control
Budgeting
( 1 0 )
_ o >
(19)
N um ber of R esponses 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Total 45
! U 1
o
Figure 6
R espon ses of School A dm inistrators
P rogram Topics
SCHOOLS
N on-graded (32)
Scheduling (32)
Legal (32)
Organization of (1 2 )
Building (7)
Number of R esponses 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Total
I -------------------------------------------------------
115
F igure 7
R espon ses of School A dm inistrators
P rogram Topics
STUDENTS
T eacher R elationship
( 1 1 )
Gifted ( 6 )
Slow ___ (3)
P h ysical F itn ess
_ ( D
Drugs ( 6 )
Student Government (4)
Motivation ( 1 0 )
Grouping ( 1 0 )
Behavior P roblem s
( 1 1 )
Role in D ecision Making ( 6 )
Handicapped (4)
Dropouts
_ _ ( 2 )
• * •
Num ber of R espon ses 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 !
L y i i
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________t'J |
Figure 7 (continued)
Evaluation of ___ (3)
P r e -sc h o o l
_ ( D
Continuation
_ ( D
U nrest (24)
Laws
_ ( D
M inority ( 8)
Independent Study ___ (3)
• • •
Num ber of R esponses 0 5 10 15 2 0 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
T otal 115
(Ji
co
54
appears that the school adm inistrator w as indeed in terested in im
proving the quality of instruction given in his school or d istrict and
w as particularly in terested in curriculum changes. He was also
interested in innovations in education, m entioning it 67 tim es. In all,
j
|instruction, as it affects the staff, curriculum or the individual stu-
I dent was m entioned 408 tim es by the adm inistrators.
!
The areas of concern m entioned m ost often included:
Educational change 166 tim es i
Teaching staff 148
A dm inistration 135
Schools 115
Students 115
Two areas w ere m entioned considerably le ss:
Social is s u e s 55 tim es
Finance 45
: j
Figure 1, Educational Change, is a significant exam ple of the j
types of item s m entioned. Four responses liste d "EducationalChange!1
as a needed ite m of inform ation. Others nam ed m ore sp ecific areas '
of change, such as "M edia." The combined ite m "Learning/Communi-j
cation" on this table m ay at fir st seem out of p lace, but it appeared to
the investigator that it w as the intent of the ad m in istrators to indicate
|they wanted inform ation on recent changes or developm ents in le a r n
ing and com m unication. Often the two w ere liste d as one item in the
i
table.
i i
i I
I The general pattern of adm inistrators need for inform ation j
55
follow s that of the Kentucky (32) study review ed in Chapter II. The
area of m ost needed inform ation w as instruction, and b ased on this
finding, the two pilot program s developed for this study w ere designed
'illustrating two innovations in instruction.
i
A dvisory C om m ittee
I The main function of the advisory com m ittee w as to se le c t top-
j
I j
i c s , to suggest subject m atter consultants, and to review the final
|
product. The com m ittee was com posed of: !
D r. H erbert M iller
A ssista n t P r o fe sso r of Education
U niversity of Southern C alifornia, Acting Chairm an,
D epartm ent of Instructional Technology
D r. R obert G erletti
D irecto r, Educational M edia
L os A ngeles County School D istrict
D r. Stephen A braham son
D irector of the D ivision of R esearch in M edical Education j
U niversity of Southern C alifornia, School of M edicine
P ro g ra m T opics and Consultants
The A d visory C om m ittee selected two topics based on the su rvey
of the target audience's need for inform ation. 1.) Individual instruc- j
tion, 2 .) A uto-tutorial instruction.
I :
j Consultants w ere M rs. Pat C lark, A dm inistrative A ssista n t to j
I
ithe Superintendent of Sch ools, Fountain V alley School D istr ic t, and j
56
Dr. Adam D iehl, P r o fe sso r of Education and D irector of A udio-visual,
C alifornia State C ollege, L os A n geles.
Developing the P ro g ra m s
I The program s w ere developed sep arately, at le a st through the
jproduction stage. The general strategy for preparing th ese program s
j
w as in the e c le c tic tradition suggested by recent literature on p ro-
jgramed in struction.
i
Sp ecifically, program ed instruction has m oved into the u se of ;
jvarious m edia and away from the sm all steps on the printed page that
typified ea rly p rogram s.
As Claxton (19:112) pointed out one of the inadequacies of p ro
gram ed in struction is that som e fail to p resen t the m aterial in an in -
I
| j
jteresting form at. R esea rch ers in advertising have shown that v isu als
attract and hold attention, yet this finding has not generally been ap-
!
■ plied to program ed instruction design.
F or these rea so n s, it w as believed that the program s developed
should have som e "show m anship." H ow ever, the principles of p ro-
i !
gram developm ent w ere not ignored.
A fter an initial contact with the consultants, content outline was
i
i
developed to se r v e as a guide for the developm ent of behavioral ob
jectiv es, and as a m eans to determ ine, if enough visual m aterial could
be collected to produce a program . ______
57
B ehavioral ob jectives w ere developed and content m aterial c o l
lected from which a rough script and sto ry board w ere developed.
As m ore visu als w ere produced, a detailed content outline was
created and a m ore p r e c ise script developed. If n e c e s sa r y , behavior-
| al objectives w ere rew ritten in m ore sp ecific fo rm to reflect program
content.
i
j
j The consultant w as now asked to rev iew the program s for con-
:
I !
tent. Slides w ere shown and the script read. The consultant w as
i I
asked to su ggest any changes or em phasis that should be added. ;
At this point program question and answ er fra m es w ere d evel
oped. This w as a technique within the program to allow the learn er to
respond to w ritten questions in a program booklet accompanying the
program . (Appendix F)
i
i Each p rogram w as validated by a sam ple of the target audience.
School ad m inistrators viewed*the program w hile it was still in the
flexible form at of slid e s and scrip t, and m ade com m ents or s u g g e s
tio n s for changes. It is im portant to note that unlike many educational
i I
productions of m otion pictures or film str ip s, the validation w as not
! done with a scrip t alone. A scrip t is too ab stract for m any people j
! I
| who are not in film production. Reading a script does not give an
j ;
! accurate picture of the finished production.
j j
j H ow ever, to w ait until the final sta g es of production is too j
1 costly if chan ges do have to b e m ade. T h u s, in this project, the pro- j
58
gram w as developed as far as p ossible and yet still be in a form that
could be revised ea sily . B eca u se of this flexibility, th ere w as no
hesitation to validate it and make n e c e ssa r y changes.
After revalidation to check effectiven ess of changes, the final
version was shown to the subject m atter consultant for approval.
The title of P ro g r a m I w as "Individual Instruction" and was basec
{on the learning center concept u sed in the elem en tary schools in the
Fountain V alley School D istrict. The script w as prepared from school
d istrict literature and d iscu ssio n s with d istrict and school p ersonnel.
: i
The visuals w ere fir s t photographed on 35 m m . film and mounted as
2X2 inch slid e s. A pproxim ately 150 slid es w e r e shot, of which 56
w ere used in the program .
The slid es w e r e copied on negative film in film strip form at
which was turned over to a com m ercial film laboratory. Thirty r e
le a se film strip prints w ere produced for each program .
P rogram II w as titled "The A udio-T utorial System " and was p r o
duced in a slightly different manner than P rogram I. Individual
fram es from a 16 m m . motion picture w ere copied on slide film ,
which was then copied on negative film stock from w hich the re le a se
{ I
Sprint was run off. B eca u se of the photographic "grain" of the 16 m m .
j j
{print and the in c r e a se in contrast which accom panies film copying, the
final r e le a se print of P rogram II was not of the sam e quality as P r o - j
I I
! ;
{gram I. T his was done purposely to determ ine if the sam ple would j
59
I react to le s s than fir st quality v isu a ls. It w as anticipated that possible
future com m ercial productions might w ish to convert existing motion
picture film s to the film strip form at used in this study.
P rogram Booklet
An im portant and integral part of the program s was the P ro g ra m
Booklet. The booklet was in four parts: a content te st, a form to e v a l
uate the program design, a form to m easu re the im portance of the
program 's topic and program questions.
As outlined in Chapter I, the b asic problem w as to a s s e s s the
suitability of individualized audio-visual program s in the continuing
education of school ad m inistrators. A cru cial distinction m ust be
made between a s se ssin g the quality of sp ecific program s and evaluat
ing program ed instruction as a method of in struction. This study w as
concerned with the fo rm er, it was assum ed that program ed in str u c
tion, given a properly developed program , can teach. As the AERA
Joint C om m ittee (3) pointed out in their 1963 report, it is always a
m atter of doubt if a particular program can significantly im prove the
quality and quantity of instruction until adequate te s ts of the program
have estab lished its effectiv en ess.
Lum sdaine (23:274) lis t s three main considerations which should
be a s s e s s e d to properly m ea su re the suitability of a particular p ro
gram for m eeting a sp ecific educational purpose, term ed: "Appropri-
60
a ten ess," " effectiveness" and "practicality."
"Appropriateness" is defined by Lum sdaine as the extent to which
the content of the program is con sistent with its o b jectiv es. The
"Evaluation" portion of the program booklet was designed to m easu re
i
Ithe appropriateness of the program . The Evaluation form had three
specific sections: Subject M atter Content, P ro g ra m D esign, and the
.
I
jProgram as Inform ation Sou rce. "E ffectiveness" r efe rs to how w ell
j
ithe program attains certain p rospective ou tcom es, how w ell it teach es
what it set out to teach. The pre-and p o st-te sts w ere u sed to m ea su re
j
the effectiven ess of the program . "Practicality" refe rs to cost of p ro
duction, fea sib ility , and acceptance by the le a r n e r .
The E xperim ental Population
; !
The experim ental population for this study w as drawn at random j
! i
ifrom the population of school ad m inistrators of L os A ngeles County as i
I I
1 I
listed in the 1968 edition of the D irectory of Public S ch o o ls. (12)
T w en ty-seven subjects w ere selec ted . Nine w ere d istrict super-j
j
intendents, nine w ere a ssista n t superintendents, and nine w ere school ;
I
!principals (five elem en tary, one junior high school and three senior j
! I
j
high school). i
i
! Although th ese subjects w ere picked at random, they w ere pocked
i
;
(from groups according to d istrict or school enrollm ent. This was
n e c e ssa r y to in su re representation from large d is tr icts as w ell a s_____.
61
sm all d istric ts.
The subjects in the experim ental sam ple w ere sent a tele g ra m
(Appendix B) alerting them to the study and explaining that a letter
jwould follow within a w eek asking them to participate.
j In the w eek following the sending of the tele g ra m , le tte rs w ere
]
m ailed outlining the project in m ore detail and asking for the a d m in is
trators' participation. E nclosed with the letter was a postcard to be
j
j i
returned indicating whether the subject would agree to participate
i
j :
(Appendix C).
i 1
1 The resp on ses to the first letter are shown in Table 1. A total
of twenty resp on ses w ere returned, 18 "yes" and two "no." The "yes"
resp o n ses w ere evenly distributed in all three categories of the school
adm inistrators contacted; 6 6 % of each group and 6 6 % of the entire
| group responded affirm atively to the first request to participate in the
j ;
'resea rch project.
Two w eeks after the teleg ra m had been sent and ten days after
the fir st letter had been sent, a follow -up letter (Appendix D) was sent
to the seven ad m inistrators who had not responded. A second return
postcard was en closed which w as a duplicate of the fir st card sent.
! !
I
There w ere no additional postcard resp o n ses to the follow -up
le tte r s .
J j
| j
! The n on -responders w ere then contacted by telephone. In every
j
[case it was a change of personnel that had caused the lack of resp on se.
62
Table 1
R esp on se to Initial L etter
N "Yes'
1 %
"No"
%
Not
R esponding
= 1
[
Superintendents 9 6 6 6 %
2 7% 1 4%
!
A ssistan t
Superintendents
9 6 6 6 % 0 0 3 33%
Principals 9 6 6 6 % 0 0 3 33%
Total 27 18 6 6 % 2 7% 7 26%
i
63
A ssistant superintendents had been prom oted to superintendents, or
principals had retired or left the d istrict. In every instance the person
jwho had assu m ed the position of the adm inistrator originally contacted
jagreed to participate in the project. (One superintendent was unable to
participate until after the d istrict tax o v e r -r id e election and asked to
be contacted later in the year).
The final sam ple with the changes in personnel and positions,
consisted of tw enty-four adm inistrators; eight prin cipals, eight assist-i
[
ant superintendents and eight superintendents. The list of adm inistra-;
tors and siz e of school or district enrollm ent is shown in Table 2. j
i
With the sam ple population com pleted, the experim ent was begun.
P rogram s com plete with record, film strip , program booklet, postcard
for additional inform ation, and return envelope along with a DuKane
AV M atic table top projector w ere delivered to each participant.
Chapter Sum m ary j
Two program ed audiovisual packages on education topics of in -
I :
iterest and im portance to the school adm inistrator w ere designed. A
sam ple of tw enty-four school adm inistrators con sisted of eight D is - j
j 1
jtrict Superintendents, eight A ssistan t Superintendents and eight school
i
P rin cip als w ere selected . Each adm inistrator w as provided an indiv- j
| |
iidual sound film str ip rear screen projector and two audiovisual pro-
|grams which con sisted of;
64
Table 2
Sam ple Population
Superintendents, D istrict E nrollm ent, Type of D istrict
1968-69
1 3,525 E lem entary
2 4 ,5 4 7 E lem entary
3 5,095 E lem entary
4 7,472 Unified
5 13,202 High School
6 14,899 Unified
7 15,695 Unified
8 24,9 9 3 Unified
A ssistan t Superintendents, D istrict E n rollm en t, Type of
D istrict 1968-69
9 1,307 E lem entary
10 5,095 E lem entary
11 6,369 E lem entary
12 9 ,8 2 6 High School
13 9, 830 E lem entary
14 9,864 E lem entary
15 12,154 E lem entary
16 31,374 Unified
P r in cip a ls, School E nrollm ent, Grades 1968-69
17 215 K - 6
18 425 K - 6
19 428 6 - 8 j
20 540 K - 6
21 706 K -6
22 1,180 9 - 1 2 |
23 2 ,2 4 8 8 - 1 2 |
24 2 ,758 7-9
1
Enrollm ent data from: Richard M. C low s, D irecto ry of the
Public Schools (Los A ngeles: County Superintendent of
------------------------------------------------
Sch ools, 1969). •
. . .. ------- . . .j
65
1. A film strip
2. A record with narration and inaudible pulses which
advanced) the film strip
3. A p rogram booklet containing a p r e -te s t, program
q uestions, evaluation form , and a p o st-te st
4. A return envelope for the program booklet
5. A return postcard for additional inform ation on the
program 's content.
The program booklet was designed to m ea su re four aspects of
jthe system : ( 1) the content learned, (2 ) the im portance of the subject
i
'm atter content to the school adm inistrator, (3) the acceptability of the
i j
program design, and (4) the relative im portance of the program as an j
; I
inform ation source in m eeting the com m unication needs of the sam ple.;
CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS
Group experim entation in education is often conducted in c l a s s
room s in order to evaluate the instructional m ethods or learning p ro
ced u res. C la ssro o m investigation is c lo se r to reality. The in te r
viewing variables that m ay not occur in the an alysis of an educational
sy ste m in a laboratory setting. This study w as ca rried out in the o f
fice s of school p rin cip a ls, d istrict superintendents and a ssista n t s u
perintendents. The setting for the experim ent was therefore the sam e
setting in which an educational sy ste m such as the one designed for
this experim ent would be used.
It was the purpose of this study to determ ine the suitability of
an individualized, program ed inform ation sy ste m in the continuing
education of school adm in istrators. This chapter w ill first state the
various findings, with interpretations and im p lication s, and then d is
cu ss th ese findings in term s of the suitability of this type of a c o m
m unication sy ste m .
The Content L earned
Table 3 contains the modified gain sc o r e s of the subjects as
67
Table 3
M odified Gain S c o r e s of 24 School A dm inistrators for the
Two P rogram s
P ro g ra m I P ro g ra m II
Subject P re - P o s t - M odified P re - P o s t- M odified
Num ber T itle test test G ain % test te st Gain %
(10 p ossibl e) (11
possible)
1 S 3 9 87 0 11 1 0 0
2 S 2 10 1 0 0 0 11 1 0 0
3 AS 4 8 58 0 9
82
4 P 0 10 1 0 0 0 11 1 0 0
5 S 3 6 43 0 10 91
6 AS 1 9 90 0 10 91
7 P 2 8 75 0 11 100
8 P 3 9 87 0 9 82
9 AS 8 8 0 1 10 90
10 P 7 10 1 0 0 3 11 1 0 0
11 AS 7 8 33 0 10 91
12 AS 6 10 1 0 0 0 11 10 0
13 AS 0 7 70 0 9 82
L4 AS 6 10 1 0 0 0 11 100
15 S 0 7 70 0 10 91
16 P 3 10 1 0 0 0 11 1 00
17 P 3 10 1 0 0 6 10 80
18 P 4 8 67 0 10 91
19 S 4 9 83 0 11 1 0 0
20 AS 5 10 1 0 0 0 11 1 0 0
21 S 6 9 75 0 9 82
22 S 4 9 83 0 11 1 00
23 P 1 9 90 0 11 1 0 0
24 S 1 10 10 0 0 9 82
M ean * 80 Mean = 93
S - Superintendent
AS - A ssista n t Superintendent
P - P rincipal
! 68
I
m easu red by the p r e -te st and p o s t-te st s c o r e s . The average gain for
P ro g ra m I, "Individual Instruction" w a s 80 percent. The average gain
for P ro g ra m II, "The A udio-tutorial System " w as 93 percent.
The m odified gain s c o r e s reflect to som e extent the fam iliarity
of the subjects with individual instru ction and the relative new ness of
the audio-tutorial sy ste m . The rather high p r e -te st sc o r e s by som e
of the subjects tended to d ep ress their m odified gain sc o r e s.
Edling (49:306) pointed out that in any p r e-test and p o st-te st
situation, a p r e -te st tends to enhance the p o st-te st s c o r e s when fa c t
ual m aterial is being tested . The content of the p re- and p o st-te sts is
based on the program 's content, not on the knowledge of the subject
m atter in gen eral. T h erefore, w hile the m odified gain s c o r e s do
show an in c r e a se in sp ecific knowledge, the subjects m ay have had
considerab le general knowledge of the m aterial covered in the p ro
gram . The m odified gain sco re is one index of e ffectiv en ess, but the
im portance of the m aterial to the school adm inistrator is another
valuable index.
The Im portance of the Information
Table 4 contains the resp o n ses of the subjects to the question,
"How important w as the inform ation in the program to you as a school
adm inistrator? "
P rogram I, "Individual Instruction" w as thought to be "very
69
I
Table 4
Im portance of Information in the P rogram s to Individual
School A dm inistrators
Program I P rogram II
Im portance No. % No. %
(N = 24) (N s 24)
Very important
5 2 0 . 8 1 4. 1
Important 15 62. 5 17 70. 8
Not particularly important 4 16. 6 4 1 6 . 6
;Of no im portance w hatsoever
- - - -
Other
- - 2 8 . 3
70 j
important" by five (2 0 . 8%) of the subjects and "important" by fifteen
(62.5% ). H ow ever, P ro g ra m II, "The A udio-tutorial System " w as
"very important" to only one (4. 1%) but "important to seventeen
(70.8% ). T his apparently reflects the subject m atter content of P r o
gram I could be used by all sch o o ls, while P ro g ra m II review ed an
instructional sy ste m that would be workable only in a secondary school,
and then in a lim ited fashion.
Two of the sam ple (8 . 3%) checked "other" in answ ering this
question. Both stated that this program would be of value only if they
w ere involved in a sp ecific program , but not at the tim e of the study
and in their present assignm ent.
Table 5 contains the resp o n ses of the subjects to the question,
"How im portant was the inform ation to school adm inistrators as a
group?" The resp o n ses to this question w ere c lo se ly correlated with
the resp on se to the previous question. P ro g r a m I w as m ore im p o rt
ant than P rogram II to school adm inistrators as a group as w ell as to
the individual adm inistrator.
Apparently the m ajority of the sam ple believed that their in te r
ests w ere rep resentative of school ad m inistrators as a group. This
Iwould seem to indicate that there is not a wide variety of s p e c ia liz a -
j
tions within school adm inistration as is found in p ro fessio n s such as
law or m ed icin e. A physician, for exam p le, m ight not d eliver n ew
borns but s till rate a program dealing with newborns as im portant to
71
Table 5
Im portance of Inform ation in the P ro g ra m to School
A dm inistrators as a Group
Im portance
P rogram I
No %
P rogram II
N o. %
(N = 24) (N = 24)
V ery important 7 29. 1 1 4. 1
Important 13 54. 1 18 75. 0
Not particularly important 4 16. 6 4
1 6 . 6
O f no im portance w hatsoever - - - -
Other - - 1 4. 1
1Z\
doctors as a group. School ad m inistrators apparently see their
in tere sts as the sa m e as those of others within their profession.
Was the inform ation new and/or useful to the adm inistrator?
Table 5 contains the respon ses to this question. Program I presented
inform ation that w as useful to tw enty-tw o (91. 8 % ) of the subjects, but
new to only one (4. 1%) of the su bjects. The inform ation in P ro g ra m I
was ranked as im portant and useful by the overw helm ing m ajority of
the sam p le, even though the inform ation was not new. This finding
su ggests that the program ed audiovisual s y ste m of presentation m ay
provide useful and important supplem entary inform ation on topics that
are already fam iliar to the subjects. "Individual Instruction" has been
w ell covered in the professional education literatu re in recent y e a r s,
it would have been surprising if the topic was unfam iliar to the su b
jects .
Table 6 also contains the resp o n ses to the sam e question about
P ro g ra m II and show s a m arked change in resp on se. The inform ation
contained in the program was new to thirteen (54. 7% ) of the school
ad m in istrators. H ow ever, of th e se , seven (29. 1 % ) who felt the in
form ation w as new, did not think it w as useful. Only seventeen
i ( 70. 8 % ) of the subjects felt the inform ation w as important an d /or u s e
ful in P ro g ra m II, com pared to tw enty-tw o (91. 8 % ) who felt P r o g r a m I
j
contained im portant inform ation. It would appear that new inform ation
ialone is not seen by the school adm inistrator as overw helm ingly useful«
73
Table 6
P resen tation of New and U seful Information in the
Two P rogram s
P rogram Inform ation
P ro g ra m I
N o. %
Prog
No.
ram II
%
(N = 24) (N = 24)
P resen ted new and useful
inform ation.
- - 6 25. 0
P resen ted inform ation which,
while not com p letely new,
w as im portant and useful.
22 91. 8 11 4 5 .8
P resen ted new inform ation
which w as in terestin g but
not particularly useful.
1 4. 1 7 2 9 .7
P resen ted inform ation which
was new but neither in te r
esting nor u sefu l.
O ther 1 4.1
I 74
i
!
Q uestion four in the evaluation form asked: "If you felt the in-
!form ation presented w as useful, for what sp ecific purposes w as it u s e -
; f u l ( e . g ., building, planning, budget, inform ation for d iscu ssion ,
I
j
etc.)?" P rogram I received the la r g e st number of com m ents, r e fle c t
in g the number of subjects who found it useful. Superintendents, a s
sistant superintendents and principals listed building planning, and in-
se r v ic e training with alm ost equal frequency. One candid com m ent
was: "Planning. D ream ing might be m ore accurate. "
T here w ere few er resp on ses to this question on P rogram II.
S everal adm inistrators indicated that they would use it as a b a sis for
d iscu ssion , others as a m eans of large group instruction.
F ro m the resp on ses to the four questions on subject m atter
t
i content of the program s, it appears that the m ajority of the subjects
jfound new and/or useful inform ation in both program s. The program
I
| "Individual Instruction," while containing inform ation that w as not
com pletely new, apparently was very useful to the sam ple. P ro g ra m II,
j while the inform ation w as new to m ost of the adm inistrators, w as not
considered useful by over a quarter of the subjects. When com pared
with the m odified gain s c o r e s , it appears that the content learned in
the program is not related to the im portance of the subject m atter to
the school ad m in istrators. The program that was rated "important"
by an overw helm ing m ajority of the sam ple, had a low er average m odi-
fied gain s c o r e . P ro g ra m II. which had a significantly higher average
75
m odified gain sc o r e , w as rated by only seventeen (70. 8 %) as contain
ing im portant subject m atter.
j
i
I
| P ro g ra m D esign
i
| Table 7 contains the rep lies to the question regarding how easy
the program w as to follow, an indication of its organization. As might
ibe expected, P rogram I with subject m atter already fam iliar to the
sam ple, w as rated "Easy to follow and understand" by fifteen (62. 5%)
of the sam ple. P rogram II w as rated easy to follow by only eleven
(45. 8 %). H ow ever, when the fir st two ca teg o ries, "E asy to follow. . . "
and " F airly easy to f o llo w ..." are com pared, the sc o r e s for both p ro
gram s are quite c lo se - P ro g ra m I, tw enty-tw o (91. 6%) and P rogram H,
tw enty-three (95.8%). This would se e m to su ggest that unfam iliar
subject m atter, when presented in the audiovisual form at, m ay be as
easy to understand as fam iliar subject m atter.
The resp on ses to the question regarding clarity of the audio and
; visuals are shown in Table 8 . It should be rem em b ered that P rogram
;II used only visuals that w ere copied from a w ell used 16 m m . motion
picture. The grain and contrast of the visu als w as noticeable c o m
pared to P rogram I, which w as produced from original 35 m m . slid e s.
The visu als in P rogram I w ere rated "very clear" by eight (33. 3%);
P ro g ra m II also received six (25.0% ). There w as an even sm a ller
|
difference betw een P rogram I and P rogram II in the " rea sonably cleai*!
76
Table 7
O rganization of Information in the
Two P rogram s
O rganization
P rogram I
No. %
Prog
No.
ram II
%
cu
II
(N = 24)
E asy to follow 15 62 .5 11 45. 8
F a irly easy to follow
and understand
i
7 29. 1 12 50. 0
Somewhat confused and d if
ficult to understand
1 4. 1 1 4. 1
Im possib le to follow and
_ _
understand
Other
1 4. 1
Table 8
D esign C larity of Audio and Visual E lem en ts of the
Two P rogram s
P rogram I P rogram H
Audio V isuals Audio V isuala
C larity of D esign
No. %
No. % No. % N o. %
(N = 24) (N = 24) (N = 23) *
V ery clear; Explanations excellent 9 37. 5 8 33. 3 14 58.3 6 25. 0
R easonably clear; explanations good 13 54. 1 11 45. 8 9 37. 5 10 41. 7
C larity of program w as just adequate 1 4. 1 3 12. 5 1 4. 1 6 2 5 .0
Not very clear; explanations need
im provem ent
-- 2 8 . 3 - - - -
U nclear; confusing 1 4. 1 -- - - 1 4. 1
j* One evaluation not answ ered
78
category, with ratings of eleven (45. 8% ) and ten (41. 7%) resp ectively.
T he visu als in P rogram II w ere rated "just adequate" by six (25. 0%)
; of the sam ple com pared only to th ree (12. 5%) in P r o g r a m I.
i
The audio portions of both program s was "very clear" or "rea-
' sonably clear" to the m ajority of the sam ple. H ow ever the com m ents |
on the audio and visual section w ere generally lim ited to the audio
portion of both program s. C om m ents w ere:
Too rapid.
V ery poor record.
Audio and m u sical introduction good on attention
holding power.
V oice good, tim ing w ell paced, m ore and varied
views of m edia center would have helped.
Audio covers all the inform ation, is film strip
n ecessa ry ?
N ew technology a bit confusing, paced too fast.
Two com m ents on P rogram II did directly m ention the visuals:
Dull confusing, unattractive.
Not as clea r as in the fir s t program .
It would appear that while the amount of subject m atter content j
learned was not depressed by the u se of l e s s than perfect visu als, a
sm all percentage of the sam ple did notice and com m ent on the lack of |
clarity. (Two others com m ented on the visuals but blam ed it on the
| i
I m achine). One of the goals of com m unication is to get the audience to j
j attend to the m edia, and it would appear that u n less the best visuals
! i
i I
j (and audio) are used in a program of this sort, a sm all but significant !
j j
j percentage of the audience m ay reject the sy ste m , even though they
will learn from it if they attend to the m edia.
The ability of this type of audiovisual sy ste m to keep the school
administrator's in tere st is shown in Table 9. Although the inform ation
in Program I w as not com pletely new to the su bjects, s ix te e n (6 6 . 6 % )
rated the program as having excellent or high attention value. How-
I
ev er, Program II, which contained new inform ation that w as useful to
few er of the subjects than P rogram I, w as rated as having excellent or
high attention value by eighteen (75.0%) of the subjects.
P rogram I w as rated "excellent attention value" by ten (41. 6 % )
com pared to six (25.0%) for P rogram II. H ow ever, P ro g ra m I had a
sudden drop to six (25. 0%) in the "high attention" ratings, and seven
(29. 1%) rated it only m oderate. P rogram II w as rated "high" in a t
tention value by tw elve (50. 0%) of the subjects.
It seem s that for the m ajority of the su b jects, the program s w ere
‘able to hold their in te r e st, regard less of the u sefu ln ess of the subject
m atter content to them personally as ad m in istrators.
The subjects w ere asked to "make a general com m ent about the
p resen tation-esthetic quality of the program (i. e. , quality of photo
graphy, ease of reading print, quality of sound, a rtistic m erit)." The
i
[comments which follow have been put into p ositive and negative groups.
Com m ents which w ere repetitive or nearly identical have been
om itted.
80
Table 9
Attention Value of the Two P rogram s
Prog ram I P rogram II
Attention Value No. % No. %
(N = 24) (N » 24)
E xcellen t 10 41. 6 6 2 5 .0
High 6 25. 0 12 50.0
M oderate 7 29. 1 6 25. 0
L ittle 1 4. 1 - -
None --
- -
O ther --
i I
i !
j
!
i
i
I
i I
81
P rogram I, positive:
In gen eral, the quality of photography and sound w as high.
I could not su ggest im provem ent.
High quality.
Good.
Photography and e a se of reading print satisfactory.
D oes what it is planned to do.
P rogram I, negative:
W ell presented, but m aterials and ideas ob solete.
Sound and picture good, but m achine n o ise startling and |
in terfered with audio.
E xcellen t except for m alfunction of m achine.
Not particularly artistic but highly functional and for m e,
effective.
A verage. M usic could be im proved.
P rogram II, positive:
E xcellent audio. Photography too dark but adequate.
Reading of print excellen t.
E xcellent quality in both se n se m od alities.
B etter than the first.
Audio excellent. V isuals not n e c e ssa r y .
Elim ination of charts and graphs h elp s.
Audio w as excellent . . . Photography was fair in quality.
P rogram II, negative:
Photography not as good as fir st section . P acing could be
im proved.
Photography poor. Print ea sy to read. Sound OK. A r t is
tic m erit nil*
Too fast.
Photo indifferent.
V isuals not clear (m ay be m achine).
N arration not as good as P art I.
Very functional, not particularly a r tistic . j
The com m ents by the sam ple reflect the ratings given the p ro
82
gram s in previous resp o n ses. A program producer m ust be able to
accept c r itic ism s and adjust his program s accordingly w here p ossib le.
The lack of glaring cr itic ism s of th ese two program s is probably due
I
to the exten sive validation of them in the script and storyboard stage.
B y the tim e the program s w ere relea sed to the sam ple, the obvious
err o rs and m isleading or unclear segm ents had been corrected . Very
; i
I
few su r p r ise s turned up regarding the presentation qualities of the j
program during the experim ent.
The P rogram as an Inform ation Source
One of the im portant aspects of this study w as to determ ine if
the school adm inistrator would accept this audiovisual program ed s y s
tem as a m eans of com m unication. W as it an acceptable sou rce of in
form ation to him , and how would he rank it in com parison with existing
form s of com m unication?
When asked the question, "Given only one choice for a source of
inform ation, and taking into account the tim e, effort, etc. required of
: J
you, which sou rce would you p refer?" the subjects responded as
shown in T ables 10 and 11.
i
Both P rogram I and P rogram II w ere p referred as a sou rce of
i i
j |
inform ation by the m ajority of the sam ple. Regarding P rogram I, j
eight (33. 3%) would take the program as presented, without any
ichanges. If certain changes w ere m ade (such as slow ing down or
83
dealing with the subject in m ore depth), seven teen (62.4%) would p r e
fer to rec e iv e the inform ation in this form . P ro g ra m II received a l-
i
m o st sim ila r ratings, a total of fourteen (58. 3%) would prefer to
i
jreceive the inform ation in program form . P ro g ra m II as presented by
a larger percentage than P rogram I, this in spite of the le s s than
perfect photography and unfam iliar subject m atter.
It is im portant to note that the traditional channels of com m unica
tion w ere out-ranked by the audiovisual program . F or the subject
m atter of th ese two program s at le a st, an audiovisual presentation was
preferred by the m ajority of the sam ple.
T ab les 10 and 11 a lso show the p referred choices by each of the
three groups of school ad m in istrators. It is interesting to note that it
w as the superintendents who w ere m ost w illing to accept the program s
as presented without any changes. Of that group, four (50. 0%) for
1
program I, five (62. 5% ) for P rogram II would take the program s as
presented. Speculation could be m ade that superintendents are the
ibusiest group and thus appreciated this type of easy, cap su le-form
com m unication. But anyone who is fam iliar with the everyday c r is e s
|of a school principal would be hard p ressed to find a b u sier individual, j
! i
I :
j An obmervation m ade by the r e se a r c h e r m ay account for one of
the reason s the principals did not accept this form of com m unication
j
as readily as the superintendents. It was noted that in at le a st three
I
I
c a s e s , the principal could not, or would not, leave the m achine on his j
Table 10
P re ferred Source of Information Contained in P rogram I
Source of Information
Superintendent
N o. % .
A ssistan t
Supe rintendent
n o . ~ i r
P rincipal
No. %
T otal
No. %
(N = 8 ) N * 8 ) (N = 8 ) (N * 24)
The program as presented 4 50. 0 2 2 5 .0 2 25. 0 8 33. 3
P rogram with changes
3 37. 5 2 25. 0 2 25. 0 7 29. 1
Journals or texts 2 25. 0 2 8 . 3
C la ss, m eeting or sem inar 1 12. 5 -- 2 25. 0 3 1 2 . 5
T elev isio n or film
-- - -
Inform al d iscu ssion with
colleagues
- - 2 25. 0 2 2 5 .0 4 16. 6
D iscu ssio n s with teach ers
- - -- - - --
Other
-- --
oo
Table 11
P re ferred Source of Information Contained in P rogram II
Source of Information
Supe rintendent
N o. %
A ssista n t
Superintendent
No. %
Principal
N o. %
T otal
No. %
(N = 8 ) (N * 8 ) (N « 8 ) (N * 24)
The program as presented 5 62. 5 2 25. 0 3 37. 5 10 41. 6
P rogram with changes 1 12. 5 1 12. 5 2 2 5 .0 4 16 .6
Journals or texts 1 12. 5 1 12. 5 1 12. 5 3 12. 5
C la ss, m eeting or sem inar - - 2 25. 0 1 12. 5 3 12. 5
T elevision or film 2 2 5 .0 1 12. 5 3 12.5
Informal d iscu ssion with
colleagues
1 12. 5 -
.
-- 1 4. 1
i D iscu ssio n with teach ers -- -- - - -- -- --
Other -- -- - - - - -- --
o o
u i
86
desk as it was designed to be used. F or secu rity, the m achine was
i
Hocked up in a c lo se t and taken out when tim e perm itted viewing of the
program s. The s y ste m w as designed to be part of the everyday com -
I
munication pattern of the adm inistrator and locking the m achine in j
another room , then taking it out to be u sed , defeated part of the d e- !
sign. This situation w as not true of ev ery principal, of cou rse, but it
w as apparent when the m achines w ere d elivered that m ost superinten
dents had offices spacious enough to accom m odate the m achine with
little disruption.
It would a lso appear from the resp o n ses of the sam ple when
asked for one choice of an inform ation so u rce, the audiovisual form at
was m ost readily accepted by the superintendents, six (75. 0%) would
prefer the audiovisual form at for the inform ation in P ro g ra m II, seven
I
(87. 5%) would prefer the audiovisual form at for the inform ation in
P rogram I.
Table 12 contains the m ean rating of p referred so u rces of in
form ation, in term s of the topic of each program . The rating w as on
i
a sca le of one to seven , with one being low and seven high. The s a m
ple could rate m ore than one source the sam e. A s a sou rce of i
I j
I inform ation, the two program s w ere the preferred choice by the
i !
superintendents by a wide m argin. In both c a s e s , "inform al d isc u s- I
] I
sion with colleagues" w as rated as the second sou rce of inform ation.
j i
The superintendents obviously p r e fe r r e d the audiovisual presentation j
Table 12
Mean Ratings of P re ferred Sources of Information in the
Two P rogram s on a Scale of 1 (Low) to 7 (High)
Source
P rogram I Mean Rating
Supt. A sst. Supt. Principal
P rogram II Mean Rating
.Supt. A sst. Supt. Principal
P rogram 6 . 2 5.2 4. 9 6 . 3 5 .4 5.2
Journal 3 .9 5. 1 5. 0 3. 9 4 .6 4 .4
C lass or sem inar 3. 6 5. 1 4 .4 3 .9 4. 5 3. 6
F ilm or television 4. 5 5. 1 5. 4 4. 0 5. 3 4. 7
Inform al d iscu ssion with
colleagues
5. 3 4. 5 4. 5 4. 9 4 .0 4 .4
D iscu ssio n with teachers 4 .0 4 .7 4. 6 4 .4 4. 3 4 .2
Other
......................................—
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
oo
88
of the m aterial to any other listed form of com m unication. The t r a
ditional m ethods of continuing education, "journals" and " c la sse s or
i
; i
sem in ars" received low ratings.
The audiovisual program s w ere also the p referred inform ation i
Isource of the a ssista n t superintendents, but by a very narrow m argin.
The ratings of all so u rces of inform ation w ere gen erally so c lo se by
|the assistan t superintendents that the only clea r trend se e m s that they I
I |
do not put too much faith in their co llea g u es, who w ere ranked low est
jas a source of the inform ation in both program s.
The principals rated both "journals" and "film or television" as
p referred sou rces of inform ation for P rogram I, with the audiovisual
program a m id d le-o f-th e-ro a d choice. H ow ever, they preferred
P ro g ra m II as a sou rce of inform ation by a substantial m argin. In
i
iboth c a se s " cla sses or sem inar" w as rated low est as a source of infor-
jmation.
T able 13 contains the resp on se of the adm inistrators when asked
(to rate the program s on an overall b a sis. Eighteen (75.0%) rated
i
P ro g r a m I as "very good", two (8 . 3% ) as "excellent" and fo u r (16. 6 % )
as "fair". P rogram II received generally sim ila r ratings,
i To perm it a non-structured resp on se, the adm inistrators w ere
asked to com m ent on what they thought of the program and why. The
com m ents that follow are listed by program , and are com plete except !
w here repetitious:___________________ ______ _______
Table 13
O verall Rating of the P rogram s in M eeting the School
A dm in istrators P erso n a l Inform ation N eeds
Rating
P ro g ra m I Prog ram II
No. % No.
%
(N = 24) (N = 24)
E xcellent 2 8 . 3 5 20. 3
V ery good 18 7 5.0 14 58. 3
F air 4 16. 6 4
1
16 .6 !
Poor
_ ^
1 4. 1
90
P rogram I
1 . I liked the method of presentation. H ow ever, I saw nothing
new in the content of the program . (Superintendent)
I
2. The program was w ell presented, co n cise and m eaningful.
It presented much m aterial at a cost of little tim e.(Superin ten
dent)
3 . Content good for fir st introduction. Too much concern
with vocabulary describing various position s. N eeds m ore em - j
phasis on function of various people. (A ssistan t Superintendent) |
i
4 . V ery inform ative, tim ely and of great value to a d m in istra
tors and tea ch ers. Important concept in trod u ced --to shift from
tea ch er-cen tered to lea rn er-cen tere d instruction and its im p lica
tions for individualizing instruction. (Principal)
5. Subject m atter not particularly of in tere st to m e. ( A s s is t
ant Superintendent)
6 . It is interesting, very inform ative, and obviously could be
a m ajor source of id ea s. Even if paced m ore le isu r e ly , (HellJ
u se both sid es of the record) it would be a great tim e saver.
(Principal)
i
7. Poor presen tation -soun d -film quality, need im provem ent.
A fter 3 d a y s--I do not think this is 'g o o d '--F o r su c c e ss the p r e
sentation m ust be m ore d y n a m ic--a m ovie perhaps. (Principal) '
8 . I think program s of this kind are im portant to school
execu tives. Too often we have too many things to do and find it
too difficult to keep up with la test developm ents in Education.
This type of program could help. (A ssistan t Superintendent)
9. This topic requires the opportunity for verbal com m unica
tion with th ose who have direct knowledge of the p rogram 's many!
fa cets. (A ssistan t Superintendent) !
10. It would be useful for a b asis of involving teach ers in plan-'
ning and decision making. (Principal)
11. This program was excellent b ecau se of the effective m an- :
ner it introduced the learning center concept. I am not certain !
that a person with lim ited background in this area would get as j
91
much out of it. If the narration and id eas introduced could be at
a slow er rate it would be of greater value. (Principal)
12. I am delighted that USC is apparently attempting a new
approach to get the m e ssa g e to ad m inistrators. (A ssistan t Super
intendent)
13. C oncise and thought provoking. (Superintendent)
14. V ery good. D eals with a vital problem for m u lti-sen so ry
im pact. M ore detail needed for com plete understanding and to*
tal conviction. (Superintendent)
15. A good review of what I was already fam iliar with. Not too
applicable as presented for secondary sch ools. Did no m ore
than 'skin' the topic. (Principal) j
16. This program se r v e s to give an overview of the potential of
a child-cen tered m u lti-m ed ia approach. You can get an a w a r e
n ess of the potential of such an approach. (Superintendent)
P rogram II
1. The program presented new inform ation to m e. It w as
valuable in the sen se that it w as new and appropriate to m y con
cerns as a school superintendent. T im e required to rec e iv e i
inform ation w as m inim al. (Superintendent)
2. O f in terest but of lim ited value. (A ssistant Superintendent) |
l
3. E xcellen t program , tim ely and tim e saving, a thumb-nail
sk etch--highlights only are presen ted . (Principal)
4. In com parison with P rogram I, this w as poor. P ictu res j
w ere dull, poorly balanced, dark. (A ssistan t Superintendent)
5. Held in terest better than the first lesson ; I would want
som ething that m oved faster if I w as to spend m ore tim e on this
form of com m unication. (T hree days la ter). A fter som e r e fle c
tion, I do not think that this m eans of presentation is adequate -
problem s - not in te r e stin g --v e r y poor equipment. (Principal)
6 . P ro g ra m very good in presentation. Quality of film strip
could be im proved in color quality. (Principal)
92
7. E xcellen t program except it is an 'im p ossib le d rea m 1 for
this d istrict at this tim e. (A ssistan t Superintendent)
8 . In general the explanation of a new concept in teaching was
good. Som e of m y questions w ere left unansw ered. (A ssistan t
Superintendent)
| 9 . P re se n te d a fairly novel idea in a rather unique way that
contained som e im plication s for curricular change. (A ssistant
Superintendent)
10. Interesting but not n e c e s sa r y to m y situation. (Principal)
I
i 11. Inform ative but not new. (Principal)
1 12. Very good, provided m e with inform ation on a p ossible in
structional m ethod for which I had little background. Has much
potential for public school as w ell as high education. (Superin- j
; tendent) |
1 i
; I
; 13. Good feelin g as it presented a new u se of som e concepts
I'm fam iliar with in individualizing instruction. (Principal)
R equests for Additional Inform ation
I
One m easu re of the im portance of inform ation is the amount of
| effort a person w ill put forth to obtain the inform ation. Both program s
i contained a post card (Appendix E) which could be sen t to the producer !
:
I if m ore inform ation w as wanted on the topic of the p rogram . Eight
j
(33. 3%) of the adm in istrators wanted additional inform ation on P r o
gram I, five (20. 8 % ) requested additional inform ation on P ro g ra m H.
T his would su ggest that the inform ation in the program s w as tan taliz
ing enough to a portion of the sam ple to m otivate th e m to s e e k m ore
in-depth inform ation on the program s topic.
93
Production C osts
W hile the production costs of the two program s used in this study
w ere not typical of the co sts for program s produced in larger quantity,
jsome indication of co sts can be projected fro m the figures available.
i
The costs of a production of this type a r e gen erally figured on an
I
"above the line" and "below the line" b a s is . "Above the line" are the
i
sa la r ie s of the producers and w riters and cost of script rights. "Bel'owj
the line" are the production co sts, such as crew , equipment, m a ter-
i :
;ials and s e ts . The costs of producing one program for the School A d-
Im inistrators Information P roject are shown in Table 14.
It can be assu m ed that the "above the line" costs would vary
little reg a rd less of the number of program s produced; "below the line"
costs shown h ere w ere for producing only 24 copies of the program s. [
I ;
frhe m inim um number of records that RCA could p ress was 25; the cost!
! |
jper pressin g drops considerably at production runs of 1 0 0 or m ore,
i
(drastically low ering the co st per program . The costs shown above do
hot reflect any cam era rental or depreciation, but they do give an over-j
ja.ll indication of the relatively low production costs for the sound film - ;
I !
[strip m edium used in this study. I
i
!
Chapter Sum m ary j
This chapter has dealt with the r e sp o n se s of a sam ple of twenty-
four school adm inistrators to the suitability of a program ed audio-
94
Table 14
P rogram Production C osts
A. Above the line costs:
P rod u cers salary $ 1 , 0 0 0 . 0 0 (e s t.)
Script consultant 2 0 0 . 0 0 ( e s t . )
W riter/photographer 2 0 0 . 0 0 ( e s t . )
Total $ 1 ,4 0 0 .0 0
B . B elow the line costs:
R ecordings
N arrator, 1 hr. $ 9 0 . 0 0
Studio tim e, 1 hr. 4 0 .0 0
Tape 1 0 . 0 0
Editing, 1 hr. 2 5 .0 0
T r a n sfe r s, 2 ea. 7. 50
P r o c e ssin g , 2 ea., 12" L P
M asters
60.00
R e le a se rec o rd s, 12" L P s ,
25 at $ 1. 63 ea.
F ilm strip s
40. 75
F ilm original $ 14.75
i M aster negative 6 . 0 0 j
i R elea se print, 100 ft. 15.50
F ilm cans, 24 at $0. 06 1.50
Packaging at $0. 50 ea. 1 2 . 0 0
Total $ 323.00
|
Above the line total cost $ 1 ,4 0 0 .0 0
B elow the line total cost 323.00
j
i
Production total $1, 723.00
95
visual com m unication device as a source of p rofession al inform ation.
'The findings are su m m arized as follows:
1. R esp on ses from all the tw enty-four school adm inistrators
(eight superintendents, eight a ssista n t superintendents and eight p rin
cipals) indicated that the audiovisual program s fulfilled a selected
portion of their com m unication n eed s. M ore than three-fou rth s of the
school ad m in istrators replied that the inform ation in the program s was
im portant and useful to them in their p rofessional w ork. j
j
2. T h ree-fou rth s of the tw enty-four school adm inistrators
replied that the inform ation w as im portant to them p erson ally and also
to the profession as a group.
3. O n e-h alf of the tw enty-four school adm inistrators found
the program s e a sy to follow and understand. A lm ost all found the in-
i
form ation fairly ea sy to follow and understand. None of the sam ple
found it extrem ely difficult to understand the inform ation, even when
j
the inform ation presented w as new to them .
4. O ver th ree-fou rth s of the tw enty-four school ad m in istra- :
tors rated the audio and visual explanations as good or excellent.
W here rated le s s than good or excellent, it was generally blam ed (by j
| I
|the adm inistrator) on the audiovisual d evice, not the program design.
j
5. M ore than tw o-thirds of the twenty-four school adm in is-
jtrators replied that P rogram I kept their attention w e ll. T h ree-fou rth s
|
jof the adm inistrators replied that P rogram II kept th eir attention w ell.
96
N one of the sam ple felt like turning off the program and doing s o m e
thing e ls e .
6 . N early tw o-thirds of the twenty-four school adm inistrators
j would prefer to rec eiv e the inform ation contained in the two program s
i j
'in the audiovisual form at used in this study. O ver tw o-thirds of the I
!
| superintendents would prefer the program as a sou rce of inform ation, i
I
jAlm ost half of the eight a ssista n t superintendents and eight principals
i
would prefer the inform ation from som e other sou rce, but no alterna- :
tive received a large number of recom m endations.
j :
7. The program s w ere rated significantly higher than other
so u rces of inform ation by the eight superintendents, slightly higher by
the eight a ssista n t superintendents, and equal to other sou rces of in
form ation by the eight principals.
I
8 . A review of the com m ents on the program s by the tw enty- j
jfour school adm inistrators indicates that the equipment m ust work
! f
I
perfectly or the audience w ill tend to reject the com m unication format.!
jSome m em b ers of the sam ple w ere extrem ely eager to have this sort j
!of a com m unication sy ste m on a perm anent b a s is , others w ere unable J
to utilize it as it w as designed to be used due to secu rity and lack of |
office space. |
j
9. The content learned from both program s was significant
when m easu red by the m odified gain sc o r e s of the tw enty-four school
ad m in istrators.
CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
j The effects of the "knowledge explosion" have been felt by the
I
school adm inistration as acutely as other p ro fessio n a ls. T here is a
i
w ell known com m unications gap betw een r e se a r c h e r s and practicing
m em b ers of profession s who are con sum ers but do not produce re- j
jsearch. Efforts to c lo se the gap in com m unication between the inno-
i
vator in education and the im plem en tor, the school adm inistrator have
I
Ibeen and are being attempted. Journals, sem in ars telev isio n , n e w s
le tte r s , and many other channels have been used. Yet the gaprem ainsj
I
I
The P ro b lem
" i
The main intent of this study w as to evaluate the suitability of
using an individualized audiovisual d evice, with program s designed |
sp ecifica lly for u se in the d evice, as a m eans of in -s e r v ic e continuing j
education of school ad m in istrators. This study attem pted to answ er
sev era l sp ecific questions:
1. A re self-con tain ed , individualized audiovisual program s
effective teaching devices for school adm inistrators as m easu red by
.. 97_____________________________________
98
content tests?
2. Is this type of com m unication s y ste m acceptable to school
adm inistrators ?
3. Is there an interrelationship of p rogram design and pro-
igram content?
4. Is there an interrelationship of content te st sc o r e s and a c
ceptability?
5. Is the project econom ically fe a sib le , based on cost per
program analysis?
T h ese questions w ere treated in term s of content te st s c o r e s , i
; i
evaluations by the school ad m in istrators, and program production
data.
P rocedure
— — .......— ■ I
| I
| The sam ple used in this study co n sisted of tw enty-four school j
J adm inistrators from school d istricts within L os A ngeles County. The
jsubjects included eight superintendents, eight assistan t superinten
dents and eight elem entary or secondary p rin cip als.
A stratified random sam ple disproportionately representative
was drawn to in su re an adequate representation of la rg e, m edium and
sm all s iz e schools and d istric ts. An initial total of tw enty-seven
school ad m in istrators w ere contacted, tw enty-four agreed to p a r t i c
ipate in the study.
i 99
Two program s w ere produced after a review of the inform ation
needs of the school adm in istrators in L os A ngeles County. This in
form ation was obtained from a su rvey of superintendents and p r in ci
pals. T here w ere 429 r e s p o n se s, each suggesting three or m ore
I
topics on which they would like inform ation.
The audiovisual inform ation sy stem was evaluated by the tw enty-
four school adm inistrators on subject m atter content, program design,
and the sy ste m as an inform ation sou rce. The data w as recorded and '
i
converted into percentages w here applicable and arranged into ta b les.
The data w ere analyzed for possible recom m endations co n cern
ing the use of an indivudualized audiovisual program in the continuing
education of school ad m inistrators .
I
Findings
The m ajor findings of this study m ay be sum m arized as follows:
1. R esults of m odified gain sc o r e s of the school a d m in istra
tors indicates that the two program s did achieve the objective of te a c h
ing sp ecific content from the program . The gains, as m easu red by
I
p r e -te s t and p o st-te st sc o r e s and converted to m odified gain sco res
w e r e highly significant for the school adm inistrators as a group.
i I
I I
2. N early tw o-thirds of the tw enty-four school adm inistrators
Iwould prefer to rec eiv e the inform ation contained in the two program s
!in the individualized audiovisual form at u sed in this study. Superin-
j 100
i
tendents p referred the program as an inform ation source tw ice as
much as a ssista n t superintendents and prin cipals.
3. The design of the program did not affect the amount of
content learned or the acceptability of the program to the m ajority of
the school ad m in istrators. L e s s than perfect visu als and sound was
likely to be blam ed on the audiovisual m achine, not the program .
4. The content learned did not cor relate with the acceptability
of the program to the school ad m in istrators. Individuals who learned
relatively little fro m the program s as m easu red by the content tests
w ere as likely to rate them highly as a sou rce of inform ation as those
who learned a great deal.
5. F or the superintendents, the p referred source of the in
form ation contained in the two p rogram s, when com pared to all other
so u rces of com m unication, w as the audiovisual program . A ssista n t
jsuperintendents showed no clear preferen ce for any one source, with
the p rogram s, journals, c la s s e s and film s or tele v isio n all m entioned
nearly as often as a preferred sou rce of inform ation. P rin cip als p r e
ferred film s or television as a source of the inform ation in P ro g ra m 1,
the audiovisual program as a source for P ro g ra m II.
i
6 . The co st of producing a s e r ie s of program s for school ad
m in istrators in the form at used in this study, a sound film strip , would
jnot be co m m ercia lly prohibitive. The cost of furnishing a m achine, c a
pable of individual projection and autom atically synchronizing the audio
101
■with the visual w as not within the p aram eters of this study.
7. C om m ents from the sam ple indicate that the apparent
s
j prestige of the U niversity of Southern C alifornia as the sponsor of
i
Jthese program s provided ethos of source that enhanced the program s
i
iand their acceptan ce by the school ad m in istrators.
I
i
Conclusions
The b a sic hypothesis for this study--that a self-con tain ed , audio
visual program can be effectively used to bridge the inform ation gap in
i
public school a d m in istra tio n --is accepted, with conditions.
School adm inistrators did learn from the two program s as m e a
sured by the content te sts . The subject m atter w as judged by the m a-
I
jority of the adm inistrators to be both im portant and useful to them
personally and to the p rofession as a group. New inform ation w as
! rated as clear and understandable as inform ation they w ere already
i
fam iliar with. Any possible confusion w as apparently am eliorated by
the combination of audio and visual inform ation.
I While the m ajority of the school adm in istrators accepted or
! preferred the audiovisual program s as a so u rce of inform ation, su p er-
i
intendents p referred the sy ste m much m ore than either a ssista n t
I superintendents or principals. P rin cip als p referred the sy ste m the
ileast of the th ree groups, but on e-h alf would still prefer the audio-
i
visual program s as presented or with m od est changes.
102
| The program s w ere exten sively validated prior to final produc
tion. N e v erth eless, a significant portion of the sam ple suggested som e
J
changes in audio or visu al content. A m ore "in-depth" presentation
i
Was d esired by one-fourth of the sam p le.
! The subject m atter of P ro g r a m I w as in teresting and im portant
i
j enough for one-third of the school adm inistrators to request additional
inform ation.
The use of individual audiovisual program s in the continuing edu
cation of school ad m inistrators would se e m to be b est suited to d istrict
superintendents. Though som e a ssista n t superintendents and p rin ci
p als, as individuals w e r e recep tive to the p rogram s, it would appear
that a m ore consisten tly recep tive target audience is the school su p e r
intendent.
|
! In a study such as th is, consideration m ust be given to the in ter-
I
I
| vening variables that influence the findings when drawing con clusions.
j
i This study w as conducted at a tim e when school bonds and tax o v e r
rides w ere being defeated at the polls in alm ost every lo ca l election.
|
j School adm inistrators had m any p ressin g assign m en ts outside their
i
S norm al duties; at a different tim e the resu lts of this study might be
different. The nature and siz e of the sam ple w as as broad as
j econom ically p o ssib le for this study. R epetition with a sam ple from
i
l
{ a broader geographical a rea , including rural as w ell as urban schools,
and even other sta tes, m ight w ell resu lt in different con clusion s.
103
R ecom m endations
The knowledge explosion has not spared the school adm inistrator
any m ore than any other p rofession . The school adm inistrator's role
is changing in a changing so cia l atm osphere, and the techniques of his
I
'trade a re changing in a changing technological w orld. The school ad-
j
jm inistrator today m ust know m ore about m o re, and he has le s s and
I
jless tim e for "keeping up" in his field. The proliferation of education
al resea r ch , innovative p rogram s, new m anagem ent techniques are
;well documented in a wide variety of rep orts. P rofession al journals,
!
n ew sletters, sem in a rs, and the m a ss m edia have all attempted to
clo se the inform ation gap betw een the r e se a r c h and the man who m ust
: im plem ent the resea rch , the school adm inistrator. "Change" in the
j public schools has been the object of a great deal of research , and
|findings have shown that it is the adm inistrator who is instrum ental in
I
J stifling or initiating and encouraging change. It would follow that a
w ell inform ed adm inistrator w ill be m ore lik ely to encourage p rod u c
t i v e change than an uninformed adm inistrator, since the status quo is
I
le s s threatening than change.
A s pointed out in this report, much has been written about the
n e c e ss ity of good com m unication both horizontally on an inter sch ool
and in traschool b a sis as w ell as v ertica lly , from adm inistrator to
teach er and from resea r ch er to ad m inistrator. The "newer" m ed ia
104
jhave been serio u sly underestim ated as an agent of change in many
su ggestions for accelerating inform ation tr a n sm issio n . "N ew sletters"
or "monthly m eetings" are often the su ggestions that are offered as a
way to c lo se the inform ation gap. W hile m ethods such as these have
their value, the em p hasis on the print m edia and the town m eeting
| syndrom e needs to be reexam ined in light of p resen t day technology.
McLuhan (1968) has said that for the first tim e in h istory the in form a
tion le v e l in sid e the schools is low er than the inform ation level outside
the sch o o ls, chiefly caused by the u se of Nineteenth Century teaching
m a teria l, and the lack of media in the sch o o ls. The sam e charge .
could be applied to the inform ation channels of the school ad m in istra
tor.
The purpose of this pilot study was to test the suitability of pro-
I
j gram ed, individualized, audiovisual presentations as a method for the
! com m unication of inform ation to school ad m in istrators. The purpose
I
h ere is to indicate sev era l problem s related to, or as a result of, this
study which need further investigation. T h ese recom m endations are:
1. A further study using school adm inistrators from a la rg er
geographical a rea , and lim ited to superintendents.
2. Initially future program s should be designed sp ecifically
Ifor superintendents, the group m ost recep tive to the device and p r e
sentation used in this study.
I 3. A further study of the relative effectiv en ess of one channel
105
of com m unication com pared to the audiovisual form at u sed in this in -
j
; vestigation.
[
j 4. A thorough study of the professional com m unication pat
t e r n s of school ad m inistrators needs to be undertaken. T h ere is
i
! little resea rch at this tim e on how school ad m inistrators "keep up"
I
[with changes in th eir p rofession .
! 5. Future studies using program s sim ila r to th ose u sed in
this study should validate the program s prior to production, at least
as exten sively as those produced for this study, to in su re content e f
fectiv en ess.
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APPENDIX A
L etter and Return P ostcard
R equesting P rogram Topics
114
115
U N IV ERSITY O F S O U T H E R N C A L IF O R N IA
U N IV ER SITY FARK
L O S A N 0E L E 9 C A L IF O R N IA 9 0 0 0 7
SC H O O L O F EDUCATION
A p r il, 1969
Dear School A d m in is tra to r:
As you a r e w e ll aware, th e sch o o l a d m in is tr a to r o f today faces
th e alm o st im p o ssib le ta s k of h aving t o know more about more,
y e t most would ag ree t h a t th e re i s f a r to o l i t t l e time to read
the many p r o f e s s io n a l jo u rn a ls and a tte n d th e p ro f e s s io n a l
m eetings which m ight h e lp him k eep a b r e a s t o f developm ents.
The U n iv e rs ity o f Southern C a l i f o r n i a 's School o f E ducation i s
about t o embark on a p i l o t p r o j e c t to d e sig n , produce and
e v a lu a te an a u d io v is u a l system o f in d iv id u a l communication fo r
th e c o n tin u in g ed u c a tio n of sc h o o l a d m in is tr a to r s . The p r o je c t
w i l l c e n te r around a d ev ice t h a t can be p laced on an adm inis
t r a t o r ' s desk, p r e s e n tin g six t o tw enty m inute v is u a l and sound
programs d e a lin g w ith re c e n t p r a c t i c e s ; tre n d s and in n o v atio n s
in sch o o l a d m in is tr a tio n and c u rric u lu m ; r e s u l t s o f new
in v e s tig a tio n s in to le a rn in g ; th e new i n s t r u c t i o n a l technology
and o th e r e d u c a tio n a l problems and i s s u e s .
We are ask in g f o r your h e lp in o rd e r to narrow th e wide s e le c tio n
o f p o s s ib le t o p i c s . W ill you l i s t on th e en c lo se d c a rd th re e
s u b je c ts t h a t you would lik e t o see developed i n t o programs;
areas where you see a need fo r new in fo rm a tio n . You need not
lim it y o u r t o p i c s to item s d e a lin g d i r e c t l y w ith your jo b , sin c e
we p lan t o d e s ig n programs c o v erin g th e e d u c a tio n a l spectrum .
What i s i t you would r e a l l y l i k e to know about?
This method o f c lo s in g th e "communication gap" h as proven
e f f e c t i v e w ith o th e r p r o f e s s io n a l g ro u p s, such a s the m edical
p r o f e s s io n . We now want to see i f i t i s f e a s i b le w ith th e school
a d m in is tr a to r .
Jamais D. Finn
Chsfirman, Department o f
I n s t r u c ti o n a l Technology
E n c l o s u r e
J D F r p a f
116
G. x'UbTiVOx-
Dr. James D. Finn, Chairman
Department of Instructional Technology
School of Education
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California 90007
I suggest these topics could be developed into programs:
1. ____________________________________
2. ____________________________________
3 . ________________________________________
□ Yes, I would be interested in taking part in this research and develop'
ment project. My name is:
APPENDIX B
T eleg ra m to School
A dm inistrators
117
118
TELEGRAM
The U niversity of Southern California is about to launch a non
com m ercial resea r ch porject designed to aid School A dm inistrators
in obtaining inform ation about educational innovations. Your name
w as selected in a random sam ple of School A d m in istrators. You w ill
soon receiv e a letter inviting you to participate. We hope you will
answ er "yes. "
l
H erbert M iller
Instructional T echnology, USC
APPENDIX C
L etter R equesting Participation
and Return P ostcard
119
120
UNIV ERSITY O F S O U T H E R N C A LIFO R N IA
UN IV ER SITY PARK
L O S A N O ELES. CA LIFO R N IA SOOOT
SCH O O L O F EDU CATION
By now you have re c e iv e d our teleg ram which a d v ised you
t h a t we would soon be w ritin g you to re q u e s t your co o p e r
a tio n in th e School A d m in is tr a to r 's In fo rm atio n P r o j e c t .
As one o f th e school a d m in is tr a to rs s e le c te d a t random to
r e p r e s e n t th e 1800 sch o o l a d m in is tr a to r s in Los A ngeles
County, your c o o p e ra tio n i s extrem ely im p o rtan t to the
su ccess o f th e p r o j e c t .
The School A d m in is tr a to r 's In fo rm atio n P r o je c t i s , v ery
sim ply, an atte m p t to d esig n and t e s t a new means of com
m u n icatin g in fo rm a tio n on re c e n t developm ents in educa
tio n . We w ish to em phasize th a t t h i s is n o t in any way
a com m ercial e n t e r p r i s e , b u t a re s e a rc h and developm ent
p r o je c t o f th e Department o f I n s t r u c ti o n a l Technology o f
th e U n iv e r s ity of Southern C a l i f o r n i a . T here w i l l be no
fe e s o r c h a rg e s to you w h atso ev er.
We propose to send you two programs on s e p a r a te to p ic s of
c u r r e n t e d u c a tio n a l developm ents. These program s are d e
sig n ed to be used on an in d iv id u a liz e d a u d io v is u a l d ev ice
which we w i l l p la c e w ith you, and can be p la y e d in your
o f f i c e a t your convenience. The program w i l l be accompan
ie d by a s h o r t (no more th an ten m inutes) c o n te n t t e s t and
e v a lu a tio n form to h e lp us measure th e program s e f f e c t i v e
n ess.
The o n ly o th e r a c t i v i t y w i l l be a s h o r t q u e s tio n n a ir e a t
th e b e g in n in g and end of th e p r o je c t re g a rd in g your com
m u n icatio n a c t i v i t i e s . P a r t i c i p a t i o n in th e p r o j e c t should
n o t r e q u ir e more th an twenty m inutes o f your tim e fo r each
program . You w i l l a c q u ire in fo rm atio n on im p o rtan t changes
in e d u c a tio n , and you w i l l a ls o c o n tr ib u te to a r e s e a r c h
121
J a n u a ry , 1970 page 2
p r o j e c t In e d u c a tio n a l com m unication. Of c o u rs e , a l l p a r
t i c i p a t i o n w i l l be s t r i c t l y c o n f id e n t ia l and your name w i l l
n o t be used in any way.
We hope t h a t you w i l l f in d th e p ro s p e c t o f q u ick and con
v e n ie n t communication o f in fo rm atio n on Im p o rtan t, c u r r e n t
t o p ic s in e d u c a tio n i n t r i g u in g enough to p a r t i c i p a t e .
P le a s e sig n th e en c lo se d p o s tc a r d , in d ic a tin g your d e c is io n
and r e tu r n i t to us as soon as p o s s ib le . I f you d ecid e to
p a r t i c i p a t e , your machine and f i r s t program w i l l be d e liv e re d
to you w ith in two weeks. Thank you very much.
Acting Chairman
Department of Instructional Technology
o r d l a l l y
HRM/ld
E nc.
Or. H e r b e r t Mi I l e r
O ept, o f I n s t r u c t i o n a l T echnology
801 W PH Jy
u n i v e r s i t y of S o u th e rn C a l i f o r n i a
Los A n g e le s , Ca 90007
PLEASE CHECK ONE
YES, I'LL BE GLAD TO PARTICIPATE IN THE
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS INFORMATION PROJECT.
SORRY, I'L L BE UNABLE TO PARTICIPATE.
I WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION. CALL ME AT:
A PPENDIX D
F ollow -u p L etter
123
124
U N IV ER SITY O F S O U T H E R N C A L IFO R N IA
UNIVCIW ITY PARK
> 0 007
•C M O O C O p ID U C A T IO N
A s h o rt tim e ago we s e n t you a teleg ram and a l e t t e r
ask in g I f you would l i k e to p a r t i c i p a t e In th e School
A d m in is tr a to r s ' In fo rm a tio n P r o je c t.
We would v ery much l i k e to In clu d e you In our sam ple,
a s a r e p r e s e n t a ti v e o f th e sch o o l a d m in is tr a to r s in
Los A ngeles County, b u t as y e t we have n o t h ea rd from
you.
I t I s Im portant In t h i s type o f r e s e a rc h d esig n to have
an answ er, e i t h e r a f f ir m a tiv e o r n e g a tiv e , from each
a d m in is tr a to r asked to p a r t i c i p a t e . We have In clu d ed
a n o th er r e tu r n p o s tc a r d and would a p p r e c ia te h e a rin g
from you In the n e a r f u tu r e . Thank you.
Departm ent o f I n s t r u c t i o n a l Technology
P .S . I f you have a lre a d y re tu r n e d th e p o s tc a r d , p le a s e
a c c e p t our a p o lo g ie s .
\ ( o r d i a l l y ,
INJr. H e r b e r t * . I-- M i l le r , A cting Chairman
HRM/ld
APPENDIX E
P o stca rd Accom panying
P ro g r a m s
125
Dr. H e r b e r t M i l l e r
D ept, o f I n s t r u c t i o n a l Technology
801 W P H
U n i v e r s i t y o f S o u th e rn C a l i f o r n i a
Los A n g e le s , Ca 90007
ST FO K ADDITIONAL IfiFORNATION
Id lik e more i n f o r m a t i o n on program no.
APPENDIX F
P ro g r a m Booklet
127
Program I
In d iv id u a l I n s tr u c tio n
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR’S INFORMATION PROJECT
a j o i n t re se a rc h p r o je c t o f the
School o f E ducation
UNIVERSITY OF SO UTHERN CALIFORNIA
INTRODUCTION TO THE PR O G R A M BOO K LET
T his b o o k le t c o n ta in s fo u r b a s ic p a r ts :
(1)
A P re-T e st (pages 2-3)
(2)
Program Q uestions (pages 4.5)
(3)
An E v a lu a tio n Form (pages 6-13)
(4)
A S e lf-S c o rin g P o st-T e st
(pages 15-16)
The program q u e stio n s a re to be used in c o n ju n ctio n w ith th e program i t s e l f .
W hile view ing th e program , you w ill be re fe r r e d to th e b o o k le t a t v a rio u s
tim es to answer th e se q u e s tio n s .
A fte r you have com pleted th e program , f i l l out th e e v a lu a tio n form immed
i a t e l y . F in a lly , we ask th a t you tak e th e s e lf - s c o r in g t e s t , b ein g su re to
fo llo w d ir e c tio n s . Score your t e s t by checking your answ ers a g a in s t th e
answer key which i s lo c a te d a t th e end of th e t e s t .
When you have f in is h e d , t e a r out and re tu rn to us both th e e v a lu a tio n form
and t e s t p ag es. A p re p a id envelope is provided f o r your convenience in
m a ilin g th e se back to th e SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR’S INFORMATION PROJECT.
1
PRE-TEST QUESTIONS
The purpose o f t h i s p r e - t e s t i s to e v a lu a te the e f fe c tiv e n e s s o f th e
program , n o t th e view er o f th e program . P lease ta k e t h i s t e s t b e fo re
view ing th e program . Remember, i t is th e program we are e v a lu a tin g , not
your knowledge o f th e s u b je c t m a tte r c o n te n t from program s you have n o t y e t
se en . A nother c o n te n t t e s t w ill be given a f t e r view ing th e program .
P lease atte m p t to answer every q u e s tio n . I f you do not know th e answ er,
w rite " d o n 't know", b u t p le a se do n o t leav e th e spaces b la n k .
Take t h i s P re -T e st now, and th en view th e program . . .
130
2
TEST QUESTIONS____________________________________________ ___________________ _
X. Two key elem ents in S h a ro n 's sch o o l f o r p ro v id in g p e rso n a liz e d
in s tr u c tio n are th e classroom te a c h e r and the
2 . P lease l i s t fo u r d u tie s o f th e le a rn in g c o o rd in a to r.
3 . By fre e in g te a c h e rs to work w ith sm all groups and allo w in g th e s tu d e n t
to work w ith m edia, p e rso n a liz e d in s tr u c tio n has proven l e s s expensive
th an co n v e n tio n a l classroom te a c h in g .
/ / True
/ / F alse
/ ___ / Don’ t know
131
The s tu d e n t alone p la n s h is o r h e r own p la n o f stu d y under th e
p e rso n a liz e d le a rn in g approach.
/ / True
/ / F a lse
/ / Don’ t Know
Media and m a te ria ls are a v a ila b le in th e le a rn in g c e n te r by
re s e r v a tio n and on re q u e s t.
/ / True
/ / F alse
/ / Don’ t Know
To lo c a te media o r m a te r ia ls a v a ila b le in th e le a rn in g c e n te r , a
s tu d e n t (o r te a c h e r) goes to the
Teacher a id s a re a ls o c a lle d p a re n t v o lu n te e rs a t t h i s sc h o o l.
/ / True
/ / F alse
/ / Don’ t Know
P lease tu rn th e page and s t a r t th e
r r o - r r a m a f t e r .-eading th e in s tr u c tio n s ----
PR O G R A M QUESTIONS
G eneral I n s tr u c tio n s
These program q u e stio n s are designed to a c tiv e ly in v o lv e you w ith th e
s u b je c t m a tte r. In t h i s program th e q u e stio n s a re e i t h e r on m a te ria l
a lre a d y covered in th e program o r th ey assume you have some p r io r knowledge
o f th e c o n te n t. In ev ery case th e n e x t frame w ill e x p l i c i t l y p ro v id e th e
in fo rm a tio n needed to c o r r e c tly answer th e q u e s tio n . P lease w rite th e
answer whenever w ritin g is c a lle d f o r . You may be tem pted to answer some
o f th e q u e stio n s m e n ta lly , b u t t h i s weakens th e re in fo rc em e n t p a tte r n
which is an im p o rtan t f e a tu re o f t h i s form o f in s tr u c tio n . When a q u e s tio n
c a l l s f o r a one- o r two-word answ er, th e re i s u s u a lly only one c o r r e c t word
o r p h ra se . When th e answer i s lo n g e r, th e re may be more th a n one way to
p h rase i t . The w ording i s u n im p o rtan t as lo n g as th e p o in ts o f inform a
tio n re q u e ste d have been in c lu d e d . O c c a sio n a lly , a q u e s tio n may ask you
to l i s t s e v e ra l item s o r s te p s . Your resp o n se (in w ritin g !) may be in any
o rd e r, u n le ss a p a r t ic u la r o rd e r i s re q u e ste d . P lea se do n o t w rite any
answer u n t i l th e program r e f e r s you to a q u e stio n in th e b o o k le t.
PR O G R A M QUESTIONS
1 , How w ill Sharon*s classroom te a c h e r lo c a te h e r i f she needs to ?
2 . In your own w ords, l i s t fo u r o f th e d u tie s o f th e le a rn in g c o o rd in a to r
3 . The s h i f t in e d u ca tio n is from
in s tr u c tio n t o ________
___________________-c e n te re d
-c e n te re d in s tr u c tio n .
P lease l i s t fo u r o f th e s p e c i a l i s t s found in th e le a rn in g c e n te r .
PR O G R A M EVALUATION FO R M
Program Number I . INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION
S u b je ct M atter C ontent
1 . How im p o rtan t to you was th e in fo rm atio n in th e program?
As a sch o o l a d m in is tr a to r, th e in fo rm atio n i t co n tain ed was:
_______ Very im p o rtan t
______ Im portant
Not p a r t ic u la r l y im p o rtan t
Of no im portance w hatsoever
O ther ( s ta te )
2. How im p o rtan t would you say th e in fo rm atio n in th e program would be
to sch o o l a d m in is tra to rs as a group?
I f e e l th a t th e in fo rm atio n in t h i s program i s
Very im p o rtan t
Important
Not particulary important
Cf no in p c -ta r.c s w ha^-tever
The p ro g ram w h ich I h av e j u s t s e e n :
P resen ted new and u s e fu l in fo rm a tio n .
P resen ted in fo rm a tio n w hich, w hile n o t co m p letely new, was
im p o rtan t and u s e f u l.
P resen ted new in fo rm a tio n which was in te r e s tin g b u t n o t
p a r t ic u la r l y u s e fu l.
P resen ted in fo rm a tio n which was new b u t n e ith e r in te r e s tin g
nor u s e f u l.
- O ther ( s ta te )
I f you f e l t th e in fo rm atio n p re se n te d was u s e f u l, f o r what s p e c if ic
purposes was i t u s e fu l ( e .g ., b u ild in g , p la n n in g , b u d g et, in fo rm a tio n
f o r d is c u s s io n , e t c . ) ?
P rogram D e s ig n
W e a re concerned h ere w ith how w ell th e program was o rg an ized to h e lp you
d e a l w ith th e in fo rm a tio n i t c o n ta in e d .
5 . In g e n e ra l, I found th e program ;
Easy to fo llo w and u nderstand
F a ir ly easy to fo llo w and u n d erstan d
Somewhat confused and d i f f i c u l t to u n d erstan d
Im possible to fo llo w and u n d erstan d
O ther ( s ta te ) _ _ _ _ _ _ _
6 . A nother elem ent o f good program d e sig n i s c l a r i t y . How c le a r were
th e e x p la n a tio n s? S ince we are u sin g two sen se m o d a litie s , in t h i s
q u e s tio n we ask you to e v a lu a te both th e audio and v is u a l as to
c l a r i t y .
Audio Visuals
(language! foic1:ures. charts, etc.!
Very clear;
explanations excellent
Reasonably clear;
explanations good
Clarity of program
was iust adequate
Not very clear; explanations
need improvement
Unclear; confusing
Other comments on audio?
Othpr comments on visuals?
7 . A nother way to e v a lu a te a program is to a s se s s i t s a b i l i t y to keep your
a tte n tio n . In th e case o f th e program you have j u s t seen and h e a rd ,
would you a s s e s s t h i s q u a lity by checking th e sta te m e n t t h a t most
n e a rly r e f l e c t s your o p in io n .
_______ E x c e lle n t a tte n tio n v a lu e ; my i n t e r e s t nev er w aiv ered .
High a tte n tio n v a lu e ; i t was f a i r l y easy to s ta y w ith th e program .
M oderate a tte n tio n v a lu e ; I could tak e i t o r lea v e i t .
L i t t l e a tte n tio n v a lu e ; th e program dragged.
No a tte n tio n v a lu e ; I f e l t lik e tu rn in g o f f th e machine o r
d o in g som ething e ls e .
O ther (S ta te ) ____________________________________
8 . Would you make a g e n e ra l comment as to th e p r e s e n ta tio n - e s th e tic
q u a lity o f th e program ( i . e . , q u a lity o f photography, e a se o f re a d in g
p r i n t , q u a lity o f sound, a r t i s t i c m e r it) .
The P rogram a s In f o r m a tio n S o u rce
9 . Given only one choice f o r a source o f in fo rm a tio n , and ta k in g in to
account th e tim e , e f f o r t , e tc . re q u ire d o f you, check o n ly one answer
in term s o f th e to p ic o f t h i s s p e c if ic program .
I would ta k e t h i s program as p re se n te d .
I would tak e t h i s program in f h is form at i f c e r ta in changes
were made, (sp e c ify changes)
I would p r e f e r to read about t h i s to p ic in jo u rn a ls o r t e x t s .
I would p r e f e r to a tte n d a c o n tin u in g e d u c atio n c la s s , m eeting
o r sem inar on t h i s to p ic .
I would p r e f e r to watch o r view a te le v is io n program on t h i s
to p ic .
I would p r e f e r to d is c u s s t h i s to p ic in fo rm a lly w ith a
c o llea g u e o r c o lle a g u e s .
I would p r e f e r to d isc u s s t h i s to p ic w ith a te a c h e r.
O ther ( s ta te ) ______________________________________________
10 . W e would now li k e to have you r a te th e se same seven p o s s ib le
so u rc es— a g a in , in term s o f th e to p ic o f t h i s program o n ly . In th e
space p ro v id e d , r a te each source o f in fo rm a tio n on a 7 -p o in t s c a le .
Seven i s h ig h and one i s low . Two o r more so u rces can be ra te d th e
same.
High Low
Source 7 6 5 4 " 3 " 2 1
The program you have j u s t seen
Reading in jo u rn a ls and te x ts
C la ss, s o c ie ty m eetings o r sem inar
Film o r te le v is io n
Inform al d is c u s s io n w ith c o lle a g u e s
D iscu ssio n w ith te a c h e rs
O ther ( s t a t e - )
1 1 . C o n sid erin g th e to p ic and g e n e ra l q u a lity o f th e program and my
p e rso n a l in fo rm a tio n n eed s, I would r a t e t h i s program on an o v e r a ll
b a s is a s:
E x c e lle n t
Very good
F a ir
Not v ery good
140
13
12. In th e space below , p le a se w rite your comments to th e q u e stio n :
W H A T DID Y O U THINK OF THIS PR O G R A M A N D W H Y ?
Now please take the content test. Remember that both the evaluation
form and the test will be mailed back to the School Administrator^
Information Pro.iect in the envelope provided.
141
TEST QUESTIONS l
1„ The two key elem en ts in S h a ro n 's sch o o l f o r p ro v id in g p e rso n a liz e d
in s tr u c tio n a re th e classroom te a c h e r and th e
2 , P lea se l i s t fo u r d u tie s o f th e le a rn in g c o o rd in a to r.
3 , By fre e in g te a c h e rs to work w ith sm all groups and allo w in g th e s tu d e n t
to work w ith media* p e rso n a liz e d in s tr u c tio n has proven l e s s expensive
th an c o n v e n tio n a l classroom te a c h in g .
/ / True
/ / F a lse
/~~ 7 D o n 't Know
The s tu d e n t alone p la n s h is o r h e r own p la n o f stu d y u nder th e
p e rso n a liz e d le a rn in g approach.
/ / True
/ / F alse
/ / D o n 't Know
Media and m a te ria ls are a v a ila b le in th e le a rn in g c e n te r by
r e s e r v a tio n and on re q u e s t.
/ / True
/ / F alse
/ / Don’ t Know
To lo c a te media o r m a te ria l a v a ila b le in th e le a r n in g c e n te r , a
s tu d e n t (o r te a c h e r) goes to th e
T eacher a id s a re a ls o oaULcd p a re n t v o lu n te e rs a t t h i s sc h o o l.
/ / True
f ? F alse
/ / Don’ t Know
A N IM PORTANT REM INDER
17
The School A d m in istra to r’ s In fo rm atio n P ro je c t i s two-way com m unication.
The su ccess o f th e P ro je c t i s dependent on th e r e tu r n o f th e E v a lu a tio n
Form and th e T e st which you have j u s t com pleted. W e must have your
resp o n se to determ ine how e f f e c tiv e and e f f i c i e n t t h i s new method o f
com m unication w i l l b e . MAIL THIS BOO K LET IMMEDIATELY in th e p re p a id
ad d ressed envelope en clo sed w ith th e program . I f th e envelope has been
m is la id , th e ad d ress i s :
H erb ert M ille r, A ctin g Chairman
D epartm ent o f I n s tr u c tio n a l Technology
School o f E ducation
U n iv e rsity o f S outhern C a lif o rn ia
U n iv e rsity Park
Los A ngeles, C a lifo rn ia 90007o
Turn page f o r t e s t answer key—
A N SW ER K EY
18
Follow ing a re answ ers to th e t e s t you have j u s t com pleted. P lease grade
your own t e s t and e n te r th e number o f c o r r e c t answers on th e f i r s t page
o f th e t e s t in th e space provided f o r your s c o re . (Count every c o r r e c t
answ er; 10 p o s s ib le ) .
1 . L earning C en ter (o r L earn in g C oo rd in ato r)
2. (Any f o u r, in your own words)
Manage L earn in g C en ter
A s s is t in s tu d e n t d ia g n o s is , placem ent & e v a lu a tio n
Conduct in -s e r v ic e program f o r te a c h e rs
S u p erv ise te a c h e r a id s
A s s is t te a c h e rs in th e in s tr u c tio n a l program
3. F a ls e . In d iv id u a liz e d I n s tr u c tio n c o s ts more th an c u rre n t p r a c tic e s ,
t*. F a ls e . The classro o m te a c h e r and th e s tu d e n t p la n th e stu d y to g e th e r.
5. T rue.
6. Card c a ta lo g .
7. F a ls e . P a re n t v o lu n te e rs are u n -p aid h e lp e rs .
145
19
P R O G R A M CREDITS
Program I .
INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION
■ )
C o n su lta n t: M iss, P at Whiskeman
L earning C o o rd in ato r
F u lto n School
F ountain V alley School D i s t r i c t
F ountain V a lle y , C a lifo rn ia
W ritte n and Produced by: Ronald J . Sparks
N a rra tio n by: George Walsh
146
20
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
W e do have a v a ila b le a b ib lio g ra p h y on t h i s to p ic and a r e p r i n t s e le c te d
by o u r m ajor c o n s u lta n t on t h i s program . I f you are in te r e s te d in t h i s
a d d itio n a l in fo rm a tio n , p le a se f i l l o u t th e p rep aid ad d ressed p o stc a rd
en closed w ith th e program . D O N O T m ail th e p o stc a rd w ith th e E v a lu a tio n
Form and T e st as i t w i l l , o f c o u rse , id e n tif y them. I f th e card has been
m is la id , th e ad d ress is:*
School o f E ducation
U n iv e rsity o f S outhern C a lifo rn ia
U n iv e rsity Park
Lbs A ngeles, C a lifo rn ia 90007
APPENDIX G
Script of P ro g ra m I and II
148
149
i PROGRAM I
I 1. This is Sharon, an average eighth grade student,
i 2. and this is her sch ool. It, how ever, is not an average school
1 3. W hile Sharon is typical of hundreds of thousands of eighth g ra d
ers a c r o ss the nation, she has an advantage many do not have.
Her instruction, her learning is different from all other students,
even students in her own school. Sharon's school b eliev es in . .
4. Individual Instruction. This program w ill illu stra te how one
school has person alized the instructional program . Automated
instruction, program ed learning, I . P . I . , all are form s of
I
individual instruction.
I
j 5. A m ost im portant elem ent in this sch o o l's individual instruction
is the learning center and the people and m a teria ls in it.
6 . The cla ssro o m s are average s iz e , but in groups of four without
conventional w alls betw een them . Sharon's cla ssr o o m is seen in
I
I
the background.
I 7. Sharon and her c la ss r o o m teacher plan a strategy of study for a
unit on C alifornia h isto ry . Each student w orks out a plan with
I
|
I the c la ss r o o m teach er which clea rly sp ells out ob jectives,
j 150
j m ethods of resea r ch , and what perform ance lev el should be
reached.
8 . The c la ssr o o m teacher w ill work with the entire c la s s , or sm all
groups, or with individual students. H ere, while other students
i work independently in the background the c la ssr o o m teacher
i
works with a sm all group.
9. The learning center is a m u lti-r e so u r c e cen ter, an extension of
the c la ssr o o m filled with m aterials and s p e c ia lists.
10. The learning center, as seen in this m od el, is in the center of
the c la ssr o o m s clu stered around it.
11. To begin her resea r ch , b ased on the plan w orked out with her
cla ssro o m teach er, Sharon signs out to the learning center.
112. Her first stop is the card catalog which lis ts the m aterials avail
able.
13. Sharon se le c ts a film str ip on C alifornia h istory . . .
I
14. and threads it into an available projector.
t
I
| 15. P rojectors are available on a r e se r v e and first-co m e b a sis to
provide for student planning, and student im p u lse.
| 16. Sharon w ill also u se som e of the 10, 000 library books in the
learning center
A librarian is in charge of the learning cen ters m ultim edia r e
so u r c e s, a s sis te d by library aides who p ro cess the m a teria ls.
Sharon w ill do a great deal of h er work independently in the
learning center.
P le a s e turn to Q uestion 1 in your program booklet.
The cla ssr o o m teach er w ill know Sharon is in the learning ce n
ter b ecau se she signed out when leaving the cla ssro o m .
Important elem ents of the learning center are the two learning
coordinators. H ere Sharon d isc u sse s her p ro g ress with one of
the learning coordinators, who m ay su ggest additional resou rce
m aterial.
H ere the second learning coordinator works with a sm all group
of children who need extra help in Math. A ssistin g the c l a s s
room teacher in the instructional program is one of their ro les.
A second task is to work with the cla ssr o o m teacher in diagno
s is , placem ent and evaluation of students.
A third task of the learning coordinator is to conduct an in -
serv ic e training program , such as the dem onstration of new
152
m a teria ls. Som e of the m aterials here w ere made for the school
by unpaid parent volunteers.
A fourth task is to manage and schedule activ ities in the learning
center.
The learning coordinator is also in charge of the teach er aides
who help in the learning center. T each er aides are paid to a s
sis t in non-teaching duties, such as p rocessin g audio-visual
m a teria ls.
P le a s e turn to Q uestion 2 in your program booklet.
L isted h ere are the duties of the learning coordinators. They
are m a ster teach ers who receiv e additional pay for this work.
Compare this picture with the a ctiv ities you have just seen .
H ere the teach er w as the center of the learning exp erien ce.
T eacher centered instruction could be diagram ed like th is. All
the inform ation funnels through the in terpreter of knowledge,
the c la ssr o o m teach er.
Sharon's school s e e s the teacher as part of a sy ste m of learning,
with the student in the center and in direct contact with learning
m a teria ls.
153
32. This is the great shift that is taking p lace, from teach er c e n
tered to learn er centered instruction.
I
|
i
I
i 33. A sy ste m approach to education m eans new stra teg ies for the
!
teach er and learn er.
i
34. Instead of the teacher as so le dissem inator of inform ation . . .
3 5 . much of what is learned in school can be learned as it w ill be
acquired in later life such as in d iscu ssion with p eers and
opinion lea d ers.
36. The students can use self-in stru ction al d evices which perm it
I
them . . .
I 37. to se le c t from a variety of m edia and then to. . .
| 38. use it without help, alone or . . .
I
39. in sm all groups.
40. H ere is an exam ple of one of the payoffs of individual instruction.
I
Som e of these earphones w ere louder than o th ers. The students
solved the problem independently, but effectiv ely . The m om en
tary distraction was not used as an excu se for confusion, but as
I a problem that needed to be solved so that the resea r ch could
go on.
154
41. P le a s e turn to Question 3 in your program booklet.
143. The great shift is from a teach er cen ter education to a lea rn er
I
center sy stem .
I
i
|44. The cla ssr o o m teach ers also have s p e c ia lists in the learning
! center who will work individually with their students who need
sp ecia lized help. T hese sp e c ia lists include a psych ologist and
a disability grouping teach er.
44. The disability grouping teacher w orks with handicapped children
• • .
I
45. who can ob serve their p rogress through the use of video tape
recording.
j
j
i46. T h ere is a prescription teach er, who has a background as both
!
an EMR and EH teacher, to work with the m entally retarded
child.
47. A lso to a s s is t the c la ssr o o m teach er is a reading sp e c ia list and
• • •
48. a sp eech th erapist. A ll th ese sp e c ia lis ts are backed up by . . .
i
i
|49. sp ecia lized equipment. The learning center thus extends the
c la ssr o o m in both instruction and sp ecia lists for u se by the
155
!
c la ssr o o m teach er and student.
i
50. P le a se turn to Q uestion 4 in your program booklet.
I
i51. The learning center has a psychologist, a d isab ility grouping
i
teach er, a prescription teach er, a reading sp ecia list and a
i speech therapist.
52. Individualizing instruction is not without co st. It has been e s
tim ated that individual instruction costs from 37 to 115 dollars
m ore per pupil per year than m ost current instruction.
53. With the current explosion of knowledge, a person 's education
w ill not stop with graduation, at any le v e l. T his school is d e
veloping the individual learning habits which w ill be needed in
|
j tom orrow 's w orld.
j
54. This program has shown how one school has broken the tradition
of lockstep instruction with an . . .
55. individual and person alized instruction that is p ossible with
today's technology.
j
j
56. On this sch ool's stage it is not the teach er who perform s, it is
the lea rn er.
j This ends this program . P le a s e fill out the evaluation form and
take the p o st-test as soon as p o ssib le. R em em b er, the School
A dm inistrator's Information P ro ject is two way com m unication
and w e m ust have your resp on se.
157
PROGRAM II
i 1. The fir st segm en t of the School A dm inistrator's Inform ation
P ro ject illu strated how one school had individualized instruction
through the u se of a learning center as an extension of the c l a s s
room . Now le t us look at an entirely different approach to in
dividualizing instruction.
2. The A udio-tutorial system .
3. The setting for this experim ent is a freshm an biology cou rse at
Purdue U n iv ersity . P r o fe sso r Sam uel Postlethw ait developed
the audio-tutorial approach to m eet a sudden jump in enrollm ent
I in his c la s s . Som e of his innovations m ay be applicable to
I
public school instruction.
I
i
4. B a sica lly , the cou rse is m ade up of three distinct se ssio n s: the
Independent Study S essio n , the G eneral A ssem b ly S essio n , and
the Integrated Quiz S essio n .
I
5. The heart of the program is the independent study s e s sio n , or
I
j ISS as it is called .
6 . Each student is p ersonally guided through each w eek 's m aterial
by a p re-reco rd ed tape.
1 7. The tape is available in the laboratory at each of 32 c a rr els or
1 1
three sided booths. In the cou rse of work the student m ay be
asked to read from a text book, study guide or journal.
8 . Som etim es he w ill be asked to use appropriate instrum ents in the
i
laboratory to carry out exp erim en ts.
!
19. When entering the laboratory of the independent study s e ssio n ,
the student picks up a sh eet of objectives for the w eek's work.
!
j
10. The core of the instruction is on p re-record ed tape. Eight m m .
film loops are also used to illu strate certain aspects of the work.
11. The loops m ay illu stra te how to perform an experim ent the
student w ill be called on to do.
I
I
12. O r they m ay illu str a te, through tim e lapse photography, bio-
I logical phenomena such as the opening of a bud.
13. The film loops can show the motion that m ay be n e c e s s a r y for
understanding of som e experim ents.
14. The independent study s e ssio n s m aterials and p re-reco rd ed
tapes are changed each w eek. The student is free to attend
w henever he w ish es during the w eek. Thus the ISS is a c o m
bination of w eekly lock step instruction coupled with fr e e -fo r -a ll
i
I ______student se lf-p a c in g . __________________________________________________
159
15. Within the w eek, the student may com e to the laboratory w hen
ever and as often as he w ish e s, or he need not com e at all if he
feels confident enough. T he tapes are available for only a week;
a student cannot review or repeat m aterial from previous w eek s.
16. The laboratory is open ev er y w eek day from 7:30 a. m . to 10:30
p .m . , a schedule that would be revolutionary in m ost sch o o ls.
B ecau se the setups are changed each w eek, pile-ups tend to
occur as F riday afternoon approaches, but the lo g istica l night
m are of having to supply any le s s o n in the course to any of the
600 students is avoided.
17. P le a se turn to Question 1 in your program booklet.
18. The laboratory p re-reco rd ed tape setups are available for only
one w eek in the ISS. To augment the tapes, 8 m m . film loops
are used.
19. Purdue graduate students serve as lab a s sista n ts, and are alw ays
available in the ISS to help students when needed.
20. The graduate students set up the lab each w eek. This is an ob-
j
vious difference betw een a public school and a U niversity such
as Purdue, with its ready availability of graduate help.
I
| 21. M easures are taken to encourage individuality. Students can r e -
160
serv e ca rr els by advance sign-up, but 16 ca r r e ls are always
left available on a first com e fir st se r v e b asis to balance plan
ning with im p u lse. Much of the Independent Study S ession d e
pends on certain assum ptions about student m aturity that may
not be tenable in the public sch o o ls.
22. P le a se turn to Q uestion 2 in your program booklet.
23. The use of graduate students for lab a s sista n ts, lab hours from
7:30 a .m . to 10:00 p .m . , and students m ature enough to plan
their own pace are all n e c e s s a r y ingredients of the audio
tutorial syBtem.
24. The independent study s e s sio n s are supplem ented by a second
elem ent, the "general a sse m b ly sessio n s" or GAS, an unfortun
ate acronym .
25. T h ese G eneral A ssem b ly S e ssio n s se r v e three purposes: (1.)
visiting le c tu r e r s, (2.) general announcem ents, and (3.) special
film s and the like.
26. The third elem ent of the audio-tutorial approach is an integrated
I
! quiz se s sio n (IQS) which is scheduled each w eek.
I 27. IQS is a w eekly m eeting of eight students with an instru ctor.
!
I
I
I 27A The students are asked to d eliver an oral explanatio n of som e
asp ects of the w eek 's laboratory work.
28. A w ritten quiz is also given during the Integrated Quiz S essio n .
29. P le a se turn to Question 3 in your program booklet.
30. A student presentation, or explanation of a portion of the la b o r
atory work is part of the Integrated Quiz S essio n .
31. This then, is the A udio-tutorial sy ste m , an attem pt to tailor a
program to individual students. Tailoring is done by lo c k -ste p
instruction on a w eekly b a sis and fr e e -fo r -a ll self-p acin g by the
student.
32. P le a s e turn to Question 4 in your program booklet.
33. The three elem en ts of the audio-tutorial s y ste m are the Indepen
dent Study S e ssio n , the G eneral A ssem b ly S e ssio n and the
Integrated Q uiz S ession .
34. The heart of the program is the Independent Study S essio n and
its laboratory w ork.
35. Each student is guided individually by 8 m m . film loop s, printed
ob jectives, and audio tap es. The setups are changed each w eek.
36. The tapes are personally recorded by Dr. P o stleth w a it. He p r e
pares his tapes as if he w ere talking to one student and in sists
______ that the tapes be erased at the end of each w eek to avoid o b so l-
162
| esc e n c e .
37. The G eneral A ssem b ly S essio n is called only when needed.
38. Students are photographed at the fir st c la ss m eeting.
39. T h ese photos are u sed for GAS seating charts and ISS and IQS
c la ss card s.
40. The Integrated Quiz S essio n brings eight students and an in s tr u c
tor together once a w eek for student presentations and student
' evaluation. T his se ssio n also provides im portant feedback for
the staff on the effectiven ess of their com m unication. Communi
cation ex p erts, W ilber Schram and David B erio have pointed out
the im portance of feedback in com m unication and learning s y s
te m s.
141. F ew college settings can com pare with the A udio-tutorial a p
proach; m ost public schools are on another planet by com parison.
|42. The K eystone to the su c c e ss of this program is Dr. Postlethw ait
j
j and h is enth usiastic crew . W here com parable talents can be
I
i m ustered , com parable resu lts m ay be expected.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Sparks, Ronald James (author)

Core Title A Pilot Study Of The Suitability Of An Individualized Audio-Visual Program In The Continuing Education Of School Administrators

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Communication

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education, administration,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Allen, William H. (committee chair), Abrahamson, Stephen (committee member), Miller, Herbert R. (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-430659

Unique identifier UC11362490

Identifier 7025063.pdf (filename),usctheses-c18-430659 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 7025063

Dmrecord 430659

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Sparks, Ronald James

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA