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This paper describes the personalized system of instruction (PSI), a teaching method based on a high student involvement in the learning process, immediate feedback, mastery learning, and careful planning and instructional design of the course content. With PSI, students proceed through the course at their own pace and are required to demonstrate mastery of each component before proceeding to the next; teaching materials are largely text-based; proctors provide tutorial support; and lectures and demonstrations are intended to motivate students rather than deliver course content. PSI is deemed especially useful in courses where content is primarily skill development or cognitive information and for courses with large enrollments and limited resources. This paper describes use of the PSI method in a computing course at Texas Tech University. Reported difficulties include: procrastination; difficulty in recruiting proctors; cheating on tests; organizing the course so that the modules are well-articulated and based on a logical hierarchy; complaints that learning small isolated bits of information inhibited synthesis of information; appropriateness of the PSI model for the course; a greater-than-normal instructor time commitment; changed teaching role; keeping module materials current; and varied student learning styles. (Contains 11 references.) (CH)

Telelearning, Project Outreach, a Louisiana school for Mathematics, Science, and the Arts distance education program has been in operation for 7 years. An incomplete evaluation conducted in 1990-91 was compared to a completed 1991-92 evaluation to demonstrate that evaluations of the same program from different approaches can yield similar results. In 1990-91, 81 schools received 10 subjects, and in 1991-92, 113 schools received 13 high school courses, serving 942 students. The program uses audiographics, a distance education technology that includes a personal computer, an electronic penpad, an audio convener, a modem, and a high resolution monitor. The 1990-91 study was student-focused and student-outcome oriented. The 1991-92 study was teacher-focused and process oriented. The 1990-91 evaluation focused on the effectiveness of the project as perceived by students, who evaluated the delivery system, perceptions of course quality, and teacher effectiveness. The 1991-92 study focused on 15 full-time and 8 part-time teachers and the teaching processes. Both studies used a student attitudinal survey, incorporated on-site student interviews, and emphasized the key role of local proctors. In the second evaluation, teachers were also interviewed. Both studies indicate that students were very positive about the system and comfortable with the technology. Student outcomes and teacher processes highlight the Telelearning project's advantages. (SLD)

This study compared external proctoring and student self-grading in a personalized child development course. The experiment used a counterbalanced experimental design and two traditional control groups. Survey data and objective preferences indicated that students preferred self-grading to proctor-grading. However, students reported that proctor-grading prepared them better for major review exams. Although this belief was not supported by hour exam data from the two counterbalanced groups, results from the traditional control groups indicated that self-grading produced performance that was 10 percentage points lower than proctor-grading. These results are discussed in terms of the use of self-grading procedures in self-paced, individualized courses. (Author)

A comparison of oral interviewing and written proctoring procedures is described. Students were required to present units orally or in writing from unit study guides. Final exam scores were positively correlated with the number of oral interviews one student interviewer gave to another student, and negatively correlated with the number of proctored materials a student proctored. Self-paced performances differed for individuals. Implications drawn were that presenting oral interviews may be more effective for learning than presenting written material and that a student's learning may be further facilitated by his administering of oral interviews. (Author)

The importance of several causes of examination outcomes prior to and after taking a course exam were rated by undergraduate freshmen and advanced psychology students serving as proctors. Freshmen rated proctor characteristics as more important than their own as determinants of exam outcomes. Positivity, rather than egotism, biases were operative. (Author/DWH)

Questions that can be posed concerning the present state of affairs in limiting or preventing disciplinary problems include: Have there been significant changes in disciplinary problems over the past three decades? Are problems more or less severe than reported in the recent past? Are there patterns of discipline problems related to demographic variables such as size, geographic location, and minority percentage? and Do principals and assistant principals view various problems in different ways? A random sample of 500 secondary school administrators in Georgia was sent a list of 27 disciplinary problems and a questionnaire about problems in their school. Each of the 292 respondents ranked the five most common and five most serious disciplinary problems. With several exceptions, the most common problems (disruptive behavior, tardiness, defiance of authority, problem behavior on busses, and fighting) were also the most serious. Administrators view some problems as more common and more serious than drug or alcohol abuse. A large percentage of assistant principals viewed problems such as alcohol and drug abuse as more serious than principals did. Schools having minority percentages above and below 50 percent differed little in their levels of discipline problems. The results suggest that the nature of disciplinary problems has been changing over the past three decades. There is a shift in the direction of a greater concern over direct physical or verbal expressions of aggression than in earlier surveys. Two tables of discipline problem rankings are included. (7 References) (EJS)

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) project developed 17 courses in various fields at the University of Texas from January 1, 1973 through December 31, 1975. Data collected on comparisons between PSI students and control students indicated that: (1) PSI students learned as much or more than others; (2) Higher PSI grades in this study were not justified; (3) PSI students did not do better in subsequent courses; (4) The majority of PSI students improved their study habits; and (5) Knowledgable teachers can utilize well-developed PSI material in other locales. It was also found that if proctors were paid, PSI course costs were higher than for conventional instruction. If proctors were not paid, only the first units cost more. Further cost studies were recommended. An easy first unit, weekly reinforcement, and rapid course revision were recommended to minimize student procrastination. (Author/NR)

Literature on individualized learning appearing in the past three years includes many reports which are rewritings from the same data; however, generalizable results do exist for the practitioner. Individualized instruction systems work as well or better than traditional, conventional instruction. Students learn more, make higher grades, save time, perform better on examinations, and feel improvement in self-concept and self-confidence. Withdrawals appear to be about the same as in traditional courses, but great variability is suggested. Student attitudes are favorable; they like self-pacing, although lack of discipline and motivation cause difficulties. Learning modules and study guides are helpful and well liked; the value of lectures is uncertain. Learning objectives produce significant increases in learning, while proctors can improve the rate of student progress. Retention of learning is improved by individualized instruction and mastery learning reduces forgetting. Students like self-grading but feel more is learned with proctor-grading. Test anxiety and grade pressure are reduced with individualized learning, and increased student-staff interaction results in higher student appraisals of staff. Cost benefit studies are infrequent and assessments are imprecise. As materials used in individualized instruction increase in number, researchers continue to investigate their effectiveness and benefits. (CWM)

This article describes an in-class suspension program in a junior high school, designed by the Turn Around Program (TAP) committee of the Myron J. Michael School (Kingston, New York). The committee developed a specific model to fit their needs, emphasizing reform rather than punishment. Suspended students received tutoring, remediation, and individual and group counseling daily in a restricted environment. Goals included helping students return to the mainstream population quickly and permanently, reducing contagious disruptive behavior, increasing self-awareness, and enhancing self-esteem. Other objectives included improving attitudes toward authority, recognizing personal strengths, improving personal deficits, taking responsibility for individual actions, and working out specific home problems. The brief program brought immediate overall benefits, though no systematic research was done and there were no experimental or control groups involved. The program has been re-funded, and presently two classes in two junior high schools are in operation. (Author/TE)

The proctorial system of instruction requires the administration of frequent quizzes that measure the student's readiness to proceed to the next unit of instruction. With the support of Project C-BE, a computer program was written which permits students to take quizzes using on-line conversational commands, or to answer the questions at another location and return to the computer terminal at a later time. The system allows the proctor to accomodate twice as many quiz takers, and it provides him with more release time for tutoring students. Students have been receptive to the use of the system. This document details the features of the system, describes the computer files and it provides sample routines used by the quiz takers. (EMH)