RESEARCH INTO

TEACHING METHODS IN
HIGHER EDUCATION
4th edition
ABOUT THE SOCIETY FOR RESEARCH INTO HIGHER EDUCATION

The aim of the Society for Research into Higher Education is to encourage and co-ordinate
research into all aspects of higher education. Its corporate members are universities,
polytechnics, colleges of education, educational organizations, research institutes and
government bodies. Its individual members are teachers and researchers, administrators and
students. Its membership extends to all parts of the world.

It brings together people working on similar problems who are able to discuss their research
objectives, methods and findings at regional or national meetings and conferences. Working
parties of members discuss and develop research which is then published by the Society.

Research reports and monographs are published, providing a good circulation of specialized
information and discussion. These are available to members at a reduced rate. Special
introductory offers are available to new members.

An important source of information is the quarterly RESEARCH INTO HIGHER EDUCATION

ABSTRACTS, provided free to all members. Through this members are kept up to date with
recent research results. The REGISTER OF RESEARCH INTO HIGHER EDUCATION IN
WESTERN EUROPE keeps members informed of the location and progress of current research
on the Continent, while an arrangement with the NFER brings members a discount on their
Register of Educational Research which provides a similar service in the UK. The Society's
annual conference papers are also available ft t · ~~~ _~ bers.

Annual subscriptions are:

Corporate: I .00 for L!t:. "..-1'1 " 'lth fewer tj '1 1 000 s~r dl"nts
, ..,

"Ou for insiitu 1, . Wi> . ' .~ V1~"'O(\ ~tuden1

~' 00,00 for in~... tli a , with mOIl la. ? d .:nts
Indivi( l la1 £ 18.00
Stude' 000

Further infomlati, "ship ...no ttle ,,'u k .)1 tne Socif' ty m, y 1. Jned from
the Administrative publicatil'l ') from the Publica, ions Of' , Society for
Research into Hig' e Ulh ;sitv ofSurey, Guildfc rd, SUIl !U25XH.
RESEARCH INTO TEACHING METHODS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
MAINLY IN BllITISH UNIVERSITIES
Fourth edition

by

Ruth M. Beard MSc MA PhD

Donald A. Bligh BA PhD
and
Alan G. Harding MA PhD AIM Al Ceram

TArE m.':;a;c :';:.1. ,~,_,~.: ~,~_. ,; ... '1

BfSWlCtl & DEVfUIPMflllI

Society for Research into Higher Education Ltd

at the University of Surrey, Guildford.
Surrey, GU 2 5HX
NOTES ON AUTHORS

Dr Ruth Beard is the holder of two degrees in mathematics and two in educa-
tion. She has taught in secondary schools, a college of education, and three
universities. Between 1965 and 1973 she was Senior Lecturer in charge of
the University Teaching Methods Unit of the University of London Institute of
Education. She became Professor of Educational Studies at the University of
Bradford in 1973.

Dr Donald Bligh, after studying at a teachers! training college, took degrees

in geography, philosophy, and psychology. He has taught in universities, a
polytechnic, art and technical colleges, and in non-vocational adult education.
He has conducted courses for university teachers in Asia, Africa, Europe,
and North America under the aegis of bodies such as UNESCO, the Inter-
University Council, the British Council, and WHO. While at London's
University Teaching Methods Unit he became known for his books and broad-
casts on higher education. He is now Director of Teaching Services at the
University of Exeter.

Dr Alan Harding qualified initially as a metallurgist. Mter five years in

industry and a further five years as n. research metallurgist with the Atomic
Energy Authority at Harwell he took up a teaching post at the College of
Technology, Bristol. While in his subsequent post as Lecturer in Materials
Science at the University of Bath he centred his interests on teaching methods,
particularly project work in science and engineering, and read for a MA (Ed)
degree at the University of Exeter. From 1971 to 1974 he held the post of
Principal Lecturer in Education at Sheffield Polytechnic where he was
responsible for teaching methods training courses. While at Sheffield he
initiated informal meetings of staff in polytechnics lnvolved in staff training
and development, resulting in the setting-up of the Standing Conference on
Educational Development Services in Polytechnics. He is currently a Senior
Lecturer at the University of Bradford. His recent publications are in the
area of philosophy and practice of professional development.

First published September 1967

Second edition September 1968
Third edition July 1971
Fourth edltion April 1978, reprinted 1979

Cover design by Jennie Webb

@Ruth M. Beard, Donald A. Bligh, and Alan G. Harding, April 1978

 iii

CONTENTS

PREFACE T;.:~~ r"'~~"'''',''' -'-".-~~"::: Full v

INTRODUCTION fiE~~.AI~~d L iJ~V~i.a;pr:t~ENr I

CHAPTER 1: AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 5

Nature of aims and objectives 5
Purpose for the educational experience 5
Desired characteristics of educational output 5
Selected process and content 5
Purpose 5
Output 6
Process and content 7
Specification of aims and objectives 8
The behavioural approach 8
Interpretation of aims 9
Determination of aims and objectives 12
Context 13

CHAPTER 2: ECONOl'iIY AND EFFICIENCY 14

CHAPTER 3: RECALL AND RETENTION OF INFORMATION 22

Experiments based on the finding"s of psychologists 22
Feedback in learning 23
Activity in learning 26
Structure in teaching and learning 28
Programmed learning 29
Comparisons with other methods 29
Brunching programmes 30
Programmed learning and individual differences 31
Reservations with regard to the principles of
programmed learning 32
Programmes with other methods 34
The lecture 35
Function 35
Place and length 38
Delivery 39
Evaluation 40
Audio-visual aids
Audio-tapes
Television
'ID
48
 iv

CONTENTS (Continued)

CHAPTER 4: SKILLS AND ABILITIES 54

Mechanical and manual skills 54
Laboratory skills 56
Study skills 56
Oral skills and group discussion 63
Higher mental skills 66
Critical thinking 66
Making diagnoses or decisions and solving 70
familiar problems
Solving unfamiliar problems; creative thinking 74
Projects and problems 75

CHAPTER 5: TEACHING FOR CHANGE OF ATTITUDES 80

Attitudes and higher abilities 80
Motivation 82

CHAPTER 6: EVALUATION OF STUDENTS, TEACHERS,

AND TEACHING METHODS 84
Methods of assessment and teaching 84
Evaluation of teachers 87
Assessment of teaching 88
Students' opinions of teaching methods 90
Assessment of courses 94

CONCLUSIONS 100
REFERENCES 103
INDEX
 v

PREFACE

The first edition of this monograph which appeared in September 1967, sold
out in eight months. Because there were already sixty additional references
which justified one new section and several substantial amplifications of
existing sections, it was followed by a second edition, rather than a reprint,
in September 1968.

This too sold quickly. I therefore decided to prepare a third edition with the
aid of my colleague Donald Bligh at the University Teaching Methods Unit,
University of London Institute of Education. It appeared, much enlarged, in
1971. Because demand continued we promised to prepare a fourth edition in
1973/4, but it has taken much longer than expected owing to pressure of work
in our new posts at Bradford and Exeter.

During the six-year interval from 1971 to 1977 reorganization of the Colleges
of Education, involving introduction of new courses and validation of many of
them by CNAA, or by universities, has done much to promote interest in
course design and in efficiency of courses and teaching methods.

An area of maximum activity has occurred in applying some elements of

educational technology to course design, mainly in polytechnics and colleges
of education. This involves specifying aims of courses and relating methods
in teaching and assessment to them. In most instances, this in no way equates
with the detailed analysis of objectives (or specification of steps in learning)
which is required in preparing a programmed text and some other courses
similarly designed in a systematic way for individual study. Alan Harding has
joined the authors to write a section on aims and objectives. Various kinds of
systematically designed courses, mostly based on the ideas of Postlethwait
(1964) and Keller (1968) in America, are dealt with in Chapter 6 under the
heading Assessment of Courses, since one of their features is that progress
in each successive task is assessed continuously.

Other sections of notable growth, which have also been rewritten, include:
use of computers to assist teaching, programmed learning, teaching by
television, study methods, oral skills and group discussion, simulation and
games.

References have been dropped for a number of reasons. Some have been super-
seded by new findings or by more thorough and extensive investigations. If so,
they may feature as one item in a survey. Others are omitted for the sake of
brevity; these apply only to specialized fields, or are concerned with selection
of students which seems not strictly relevant to the subject of the text. In
addition, reference to Courses and Services for Teachers in Higher Education
no longer appear here because this area has grown sufficiently to justify
separate publication in two monographs: The growth of poliCies in staff
 vi

development by Alan Harding and Harriet Greenaway, and Professional

development in higher education: philosophy and practice by Alan Harding
and Susan Sayer, are in preparation.

Ruth M. Beard
 1

INTRODUCTION

The last ten years have seen considerable increase of both interest in, and
contributions to, educational research by teachers in higher education. This
activity was in part initiated by formation of the Society for Research into
Higher Education in 1964. The Society IS Abstracts and Register of Research
enabled research workers in the field to contact each other more readily and
to keep abreast of developments.

Introduction of journals concerned with research and development in teaching

methods in higher education began a little earlier, with the International
Journal of Electrical Engineering Education in 1963 and the Bulletin of
Mechanical Engineering Education in 1962. The Association for the Study of
Medical Education which was set up in the early 60s began publication of the
British Journal of Medical Education in 1966. The Centre for Information on
Language Teaching kept a register of current research from its inception in
1966. Only seven years luter this included more than one hundred references
to research into the teaching and learning of students and adults (Lunt, 1973).
In the latter half of the decade, physicists, chemists, biologists, and
mathematicians commenced publication of journals containing articles on
research and developments in teaching, course design and assessment.

The Society for Research into Higher Education served mainly universities,
polytechnics, and a small but growing membership from colleges of education,
whilst the National Foundation of Educational Research provided services for
teachers, publishing many books and papers related to research on teacher
education. More recently, The British Educational Research Association,
formed in 1973, has brough together research workers from all areas of
educational studies including philosophers, historians, psychologists,
sociologists, economists, administrators, and statisticians. This should
promote interdisciplina1"Y discussion, so leading to improvement in the
quality of educational research and to growth of interdisciplinary investiga-
tions.

In discussing the growing involvement of teachers in educational research

(which is not confined to teachers in higher education), a sociologist suggests
that transition to a rapidly changing society forces teachers to playa more
dynamiC and self-conscious role, re-examining the content and underlying
assumptions of the curriculum at all levels. He suggests, further, that we
need to generate a new model of teacher education and educational practice,
the basic aim being to produce self-critical researching teachers who will
constantly monitor the effects of their own and their colleagues' activities,
modifying their behaviour accordingly. Teaching itself should become a
self-critical research act, and educational research, far from being the
remote preserve of a few specialists, should be part of the normal activity
in schools and colleges (Gorbutt, 1974).
 2

Although this change is certainly under way in higher education, there are
many university teachers still unaffected by it. In some cases they are
simply unaware of the changes that are in progress. To some of these
teachers, students' failure is simply a consequence of their being poor
students, or of schools failing to prepare them adequately. It is not perceived
as in part a consequence of teaching which does not meet students I needs or
of failure to marle work informatively.

A quite different cause of avoidance of educational research is that some

scientists whose subjects have a sound theoretical foundation do not feel at
home with a subject which lacks a theory. For not only is there no theory of
teaching to turn to when problems arise, but theories of learning are too
numerous and too little concerned with academic learning to provide a frame-
work for action. Teachers cannot design courses taldng into account the
numerous variables in learning and personal interaction~, but must introduce
innovations largely on the basis of induction from their observations.
Nevertheless, we should expect that scientists, if not other university
teachers, would appreciate the need for experiment to determine the effective-
ness of innovations introduced in teaching.

On the wbole such an attitude has been less prevalent among biolOgists,
doctors, dentists, psychologists, and specialists in education, all of whom
are accustomed to experimenting with variable, living organisms, than among
mathematiCians, physicists, chemists, and engineers, who handle or observe
more predictable inanimate materials and symbols. What differences there
are probably arise from basic differences in experience; some physical
scientists consider experiments non-scientific if the conclusions can be
stated only in terms of probabilities. Since, in addition, by no means all edu-
cational experiments are rigorously designed, some tend to reject the results
altogether. But, in doing so, they discard the few sound beginnings in
scientific method which have so far been made in the educational field and
revert to attitudes and subjective judgements appropriate to a pre-scientific
era. The remedies lie in more widespread use of good designs in educational
experiments as well as appreciation on the part of teachers that results of
experiments which are stated only in terms of probabilities may yet have
value in guiding poliCies or in the selection of teaching methods.

Until comparatively recently all changes in university teaching were due to

outstanding innovators in the universities, or followed on recommendations
of committees and professional bodies. Few of these have been directly
influenced by findings in the psychology of learning or experiments into the
effectiveness of teaching methods; they were based almost exclUSively on
teachers' views as to how the subject should develop. their experience of
learning and teaching and knowledge of methods used elsewhere. The findings
of psychologists are unlikely to supersede sucll recommendations by experts
but should contribute to them increasingly. For example, in the case of
preparing programmed books, or setting up television as an aid to teaching,
expenditure of time or money may be conSiderable. Consequently there has
 3

been a fairly large munber of experiments to determine their value compared

with traditional teaching. It is also the psychologists, and lecturers who
have taken part in teaching experiments, who have made us aware that some
innovations in teaching prove to be stimulating for a time, like fashions, but
may soon produce no more response than their predecessors. Consequently
any conscientious attempt to devise ways of teaching which are essentially
more effective must involve the teacher in specifying his aims, devising
methods to achieve them, and undertaking, or allowing, an evaluation of their
success in terms of students' achievements and attitudes over a period of time.

The experimental work mentioned in the ensuing pages is mostly restricted to

British sources up to early 1976. American work is more extensive (see
Eckert and Neale, 1965: McKeachie, 1966; Trent and Cohen, 1973) but this
will be referred to only where it is more pertinent than any British source.
 5

CHAPTER I: AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

I: l\ATURE OF AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Education in the formal, institutional sense requires 'intent' on the part of

society, educational institutions, teachers and students. Intentions may be
looked at in a number of ways:

u. PUl]?OSe for the educational experience

Although there are internal differences in the attitudes of any interest group,
and among the viewpoints of students, teachers, administration, and govern-
ment (Tropp, 1969). some common points of focus are;
(i) to provide opportunities for the intellectual and social
development of each individual;
(U) to contribute to national development in terms of professional
competence and social and economic values; and
(iii) to extend knowledge and develop a stockpile of expertise while
passing on knowledge and characteristics of the culture.

b. Desired characteristics of educational output

These may range from general to specific competencies and include the
familiar areas of attitudes, knowledge and skills.

c. Selected process and content

This involves the experiences and teaching methods a student will encotulter,
and the specific course, subject matter and syllabus with which the student
is expected to deal.

It is sometimes forgotten that !aims and objectives! may refer to different

aspects of intention on different occasions; but the three aspects of
intention listed above are, broadly speaking, what we mean when we use the
term. They are discussed more fully below.

d. Purpose
It is difficult to determine the extent to which the recent focus on defining aims
and objectives has had an effect on the practice and effectiveness of education.
Demands have been made for more effective and systematic approaches to
teaching and learning, and for changes in teaching methods (University
Grants Committee 1964, 1965). But the last two decades have also witnessed
major social, economic and technical developments which themselves have
affected the aims and objectives of higher education.
 6

The period 1956-1970 saw the establishment of many new institutions. Intended
both to keep pace with the growth in demand for higher education and to offer
alternative resources through up-dated philosophies, polytechnics, 'newt
universities and technological universities sought, by developing their new
aims, to establish a distinct identity while confirming their comparability in
terms of academic status (Crossland 1967). There were calls for 'relevance'
and for correspondence to the needs of society (Ministry of Education 1956);
calls for greater choice in study options; and movements in the level of
support for courses as student interests fluctuated. Robbins (Committee on
Higher Education, 1963) recommended that a greater proportion of under-
graduates should receive a broader education and that whenever possible the
decision between general or special courses should be deferred to the end of
the first year. Both the Swann (1968) and McCarthy (1968) reports concluded
that only 40 per cent of scientists would be required to have highly specialised
knowledge and recommended that the majority of students should take a two-
year course in science to provide a knowledge of basic' principles. Under-
lying both these potential and realised changes was the dramatic growth in
student numbers and a matching dynamiC within institutions due to the collec-
tive aspirations of individual members of staff (Ollerenshaw 1972).

e. Output
In considering research into the general aims of education and the specific
objectives of courses, one is faced with a dynamic situation comprising so
many variables that modelling, or even simple description, is very difficult.
In a factorial study in Australia (Katz and Katz, 1968), three clusters of
objectives were identified by students: the first emphasising general and
liberalising effects desired from a university education, the second concerned
with development of expertise in a special field, and the third with training
for a specific vocation.

In a study of the purpose and structure of higher education, Entwistle, Percy

and Nisbet (1971) sought to analyse the many diffuse viewpoints in order to
construct a logical framework of concepts within which agreement on the
objectives of higher education could be sought. Through a literature review
and analysis of the stated aims and subsequent actions of institutions, they
concluded that "writers in British universities subscribe to a myth - they
believe in the existence of the 'idea of the university' but, while the idea
inspires respect, pride and affection, there is no stable, readily agreed-
upon idea with clear implications for practice". Comparing universities,
polYtechnics, and colleges of education they found no simple connection
between declared institutional objectives and what happened within these
institutions. In fact they noted that the status disparity between institutions,
the resultant 'academiC process' of low status institutions towards degree
work, and increased dependence on government finance, were key factors in
shaping the daily aims and actions of an institution.
 7

f. Process and Content

Another factor which has contributed a great deal to the demand for clearer
aims and objectives is the move towards interdisciplinary courses and
modular programmes (Group for Research and Innovation in Higher Education,
1976). Since academics responsible for developing such courses were
generally educated in a single discipline, they found it difficult to modify
aims, to understand what other specialists were talldng about, to sacrifice
valued areas of their original discipline or to seek connection and inter-
relatedness with associated or contrasting studies.

Interdisciplinarity appears in many forms (Group for Research into Higher

Education, 1974a, 1975). A study of the prospectuses for universities and
polytechnics reveals considerable variety. Universities such as Sussex and
Lancaster have sought to introduce options, some of which complement the
major subject, others which contrast with the central theme. Keele has a
foundation year which emphasises the scope, methods and inter-connectedness
of many branches of university studies.

Elkins (1974) identified four general clusters in interdisciplinary studies:

1. Social SCiences;
2. Cultural and Cognitive Studies;
3. Science, Technology and Society;
4. Design of Human Environments.

In general there are two ways of broadening professional degrees, one

reflecting the aims of a liberal education and the other stressing development
of social responsibility (Group for Research into Higher Education, 1974b).
But in many cases, the aims of interdisciplinary studies become complex and
difficult to evaluate. Piaget (1972) attempted to alleviate some of the existing
confusion by devising an epistomology of interdisciplinary relationships. He
sought to differentiate between multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and trans-
disciplinary programmes in terms of the degree of interaction between their
components. With a clearer framework it may be possible in fuiure to
examine how so-called interdisciplinary courses are meeting their aims.

One further major development in the broadening of aims and related practices
in higher education should also be included: the move towards problem-
oriented and project-oriented studies. In such courses the authority role of
staff is moderated as they begin to function more as 'facilitators', guides and
providers of resources (Adderley et al., 1975). In a problem-oriented course
leading to a graduate certificate in education, the students construc·t their
own course programme on the basis of their own needs and interests, having
an opportunity to propose, formulate and select course objectives (Chadwick,
1974). At Lancaster, a system of Independent Studies allows students to spend
most of the last four terms on a single project of their own choosing (Wilby,
1976). In various European countries the aims and processes of project-
oriented studies have been deemed of such major importance that a number of
 8

their universities have been wholly or largely devoted to a project approach

(University of Bremen, 1976).

II: SPECIFICATION OF AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

u. The Behavioural Approach

Proponents of a comprehensive and systematic approach to teaching and
learning (Eraut, 1970) argue that in any learning process it is necessary to
first describe, in behavioural terms, what students will be able to do at the
end of a course (Bloom, 1954; Mager, 1971). Five'logical reasons are
advanced for specifying objectives at the outset (Bligh et a1. 1975).

Unless we know what we want the students to achieve:

(i) we cannot assess whether they have achieved it;
(U) we cannot select students most likely to achieve it;
(iii) we cannot decide what content to teach so that they achieve it;
(iv) we cannot choose the best methods to use in order to achieve it;
(v) we will be limited in testing the effectiveness of our own teaching.

Other reasons given are that the analysis of objectives can reveal hidden
assumptions in one's teaching and omissions in coverage; that the statement
of objectives makes it easier for students to monitor their progress towards
a goal: and that clear objectives focus the teacher's attention on results and
on the student's attainments rather than on his/her own role.

Many opinions and studies support such views. The Postlethwait (1964) and
Keller (1968) Plans have been followed with success in the United States,
Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Improvement in examination
performance and better retention of anatomical knowledge was observed by
giving 'proper' attention to clear objectives, and allowing active participation
of students and prompt feedback (Blizard and Blunt, 1975). Students given
behavioural objectives in anatomy were found to have a better score on recall
and problem-solving, and greater retention, than students who were not made
aware of the objectives (Varaguman, 1971). Baume and Jones (1974) have
achieved positive results in engineering courses and have recommended
specific procedures for starting with general aims and systematically making
them more precise.

But although the behavioural objectives approach is intrinsically logical and

attractive, it is not universally acclaimed. Its tendency towards prescription
of ways in which student success may be promoted and evaluated are seen by
some as untenable. They ask, for example, who determines the objectives,
and why those particular objectives are chosen (Rowntree, 1973). The idea
of logically prescribing a learning system is also questioned, since learners
 9

favour different paths (pask and Scott, 1971; Lewis, 1974). It is suggested
that there may be two fundamental errors in a behavioural approach:
(i) that subject matter, knowledge, and skills cannot be adequately
represented by a list of items since it is the inter-connectedness
of knowledge that matters most;
(ii) that concepts cannot be adequately represented by a list of
behaviours since advanced learning depends upon valuing and
being willing to recognise hypotheses as the growth points of
personal knowledge (McDonald Ross, 1972).

At the Advisory Centre for University Education at Adelaide, an attempt is

being made to avoid what are seen as 'errors I inherent in a classical Unear
model of curriculum development through the use of a more open model (Hall,
1975). As a result of experience with the Inter-University Biology Project,
Dowdeswell (1972) suggested that an interactive model was more appropriate
since formal statements of objectives in operational terms were usually not
possible until the development of relevant materials was at least partly
completed. Further arguments against seeking to describe objectives in rigid
behavioural terms are that the task is time-consuming, that the results arc
frequently inadequate, that there is little consistent or repeatable evidence to
show that it produces a substantial improvement in the quality of graduates or
in the effectiveness of learning. These latter paints are extremely difficult to
assess due to the progressive nature of educational developments and the
dynamic interaction of education and society (parlett and Hamilton, 1972).

Adding to such objections, Woolfenden (1969) suggested on a more practical

level that the widespread use of objectives in medical education is prevented
by a number of factors; there is no agreed set of objectives; the system
works now, so why change?; there is not enough evidence of what a doctor is
required to do; there is a problem of uncertainty in terms of cause and effect;
interpersonal sitills are difficult to specify: and a set of specified objectives
would not, in any case, be a prescription for successful teaching.

In teaching law, however, similar objections were made to development of

postgraduate courses specifying objectives and relating these with planned
activities, materials or equipment, and method of evaluation: but Ross (1972-6)
has developed courses of this kind. Before he did so, some colleagues
considered the task impossible; afterwards they described his method as
'obvious'.

b. Interpretation of Aims
Perhaps in an avoidance of some of the problems imputed to an extreme
behavioural approach, many people tend to concentrate on what are referred
to as 'intermediate' goals - factors that constitute professional competence
in a given field, appropriate professional attitudes and requisite intellectual
skills. Such intermediate aims are believed to be of great importance in
 10

giving direction to learning and in promoting confidence and motivation by their

specific achievement. Beard, Healey, and Holloway (1969) examined the
relationship between such objectives and the nature of the teaching process.
Comprehensive analysis of intermediate objectives in an Art College (Burke,
1967; Piper, 1967) led to the complete re-organisation of a course for
designers by discarding the traditional subject-based course in favour of a
project-oriented approach.

Sample intermediate aims and their accompanying objectives are provided by

E.A.H. Martin (Department of Botany, Glasgow University, unpublished):

"A. Aim: 'To understand the Hardy-Weinberg Law'

Objectives: 1. The student will be able to give a written
definition of the law.
2. The student will be able to derive the Hardy-
Weinberg formula.
3. The student will be able to list four conditions
described in a population before the gene
frequencies given by the formula will be valid.

B. Aim: 'To understand sex-linked inheritance'

Objectives: 1. Given several family trees, the student will be
able to select those in which there is a sex-
linked trait.
2. The student will be able to forecast the percent-
age of affected individuals of a mating, given
the genotype of the parents. II

A similar example from an electrical engineering course is provided by J • B.

Thomas (BruneI University. unpublished):

BAirn: 'To understand magnetohydrodynamic power generation (MHD) I

Objectives: 1. To give a brief but accurate account, in descriptive
terms of the basic physical principles of MHD
generation.
2. To draw a sketch which illustrates unambiguously
the reasons for the MHD power generation, in terms
of the movement of hot ionised gases through a
magnetic field, etc.
3. To list the practical problems arising from the high
temperature required for MHD generation.
4. To list, compare and contrast, the advantages and
disadvantages of the open and closed cycles for
MIlD generation.
 11

5. To discuss the forecast of the economics of MHD

generation in terms of:-
5.1 capital expenditure and running costs of MHD
plant;
5.2 1topping up! conventional steam plant. I!

But such a tidy and informative approach continues to invite criticism. Many
established teachers argue that such items as listed in the biology and elec-
trical engineering examples are obvious, traditional, and require no special
study or extensive analysis. More importantly, many question whether there
is general agreement about the meaning of their common aim - Ilto under-
stand ... "

This query should not be dismissed as mere semantic bickering. In two

inquiries into the aims and choices of teaching methods among 21 teachers in
a department of psychiatry, Walton and Drewery (1964, 1966) found that every
teacher stated as one of his objectives the provision of systematic information.
This was the exclusive goal of three of them, six others taught with a psycho-
dynamic orientation, seven shared these goals but also aimed to teach
behavioural science, while the remaining five aimed, in addition, to modify
the behaviour of students. Discussion would undoubtedly show that members
of staff had different interpretations of 'systematic information', or that they
were likely to disagree about methods of determining whether this objective
had been attained.

Differences of interpretation are not limited to terminology but may also

involve application of teaching methods. In a pilot inquiry into the use of
small group discussion in Departments of Mathematics, Electrical Engineering,
and Biology in London University, Beard (1967a) found that lecturers in any
one subject had many different aims in using discussion, and also observed
some differentiation between subjects.

In searching for objectives in introductory courses in English Law, Power

(1972) classified intermediate level examinations in English Law in accord-
ance with Bloom's Taxonomy and discussed his observations with the three
examining bodies. He found that examiners were not consistent in the objec-
tives they wished students to achieve and, further, that regardless of the
aims stated, in most papers success was possible with no more than
memorised information.

At Surrey, Boud (1973) studied differences between the aims e}"-pressed by

staff and students in connection with laboratory work, and between the
'intended' and 'actual' aims perceived by staff conducting laboratory classes.

Entwistle, Percy, and Nisbet (1971) also examined the differences in objec-
tives and actual teaching. While acknowledging that their conclusions were
impressions rather than the results of a substantial study, they found that
 12

general teaching objectives are much the same in all institutions of higher
education. Staff tended to believe that the sort of person lproduced 1 mattered
more than the absorption of factual information. However, there was also a
lack of relation between intention and performance; only a tenuous connection
could be fOWld between tteaching objectives' (what the lecturers say they want
to achieve) and the 'teaching activity' (what they actually do).

III, DETERMINATION OF AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Eggleston (1969) suggested six methods for identifying teaching objectives:

1. reference to the literatUre;

2. seeking justification for the introduction of new elements in a
course, or a revision of existing elemC'nts;
3. examination of the demands made on students during the learning
process;
4. study of demands made on students in examination or other assess-
ment procedures;
5. through the introduction of new forms of test items;
6. reference to lists of objectives in relevant or related disciplines.

Of the many studies concerning educational aims, relatively few have specified
objectives as a basis for direct action in modifying or remediating COurses; a
larger number have concentrated on trying to identify the actual ainls and
objectives which are in force in various disciplines. However, in the former
category there are some useful examples.

Dudley (1970) made an attempt to translate the general aims o[ the Royal
Commission on Medical Education into explicit educational objectives which
would relate to the details of curriculum design. The Royal College of
General Practitioners (1969) derived a statement of the crucial elements of
being a competent general practitioner for the 70s from a study of existing
knowledge, experience and research. Freeman and Byrne (1973) analysed
these aims at the departmental level, then expanded and reclassified the
departmental objectives into behavioural objectives using the critical inCident
technique to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behaviours. As
a prelude to introducing fundamental changes in the education of teachers, the
UniverSity of Leeds Institute of Education (1973) undertook a major study of
the objectives of teacher education.

Attempts to elicit existing objectives are more numerous. Cope (1969) inter-
viewed students, college staff and teachers involved in school practice to
obtain a statement of the objectives of school practice. Tutors, students of
the colleges, and school teachers in the colleges of education at the
Birmingham University Institute of Education, were surveyed to determine
 13

the objectives of teaching psychology to student teachers. Beard and Pole

(1971) discussed examination papers with internal examiners, to determine
their objectives in examining biochemistry in ten colleges of the University
of London. At the University of Bath all staff contributing to the engineering
courses were invited to specify their course objectives and the information
was made available as a student handbook (Black, 1974). Staff in engineering
departments at Scottish universities are being interviewed in an attempt to
determine and collate objectives in engineering education (Boud 1976).

A number of other studies show slightly different approaches. Through staff

surveys, analysIs of the literature and study of the teaching process,
Harding (1973a) and Cornwall (1975) identified aims and objectives required
in profeSSional roles as scientists and engineers which were not normally
specified in undergraduate courses. By similar means Harding and Sayer
(1975) derived aims and objectives for emerging staff training and profes-
.sional development programmes in universities.

A number of people have also solicited views and information outside the
educational institution. Hopkins (1967) drew up a user classification: a
scale of importance for subjects encountered in metallurgy courses. Jones
(1969) determined ratings of the professional sldlls required of physicists
and chemists and compared the requirements to actual instruction received.
The most systematic study of the relationship between professional needs
and objectives in professional education has been made in the field of
engineering (Heywood, Youngman, Monk. and Oxtoby, 1973; Heywood, 1975).
Training objectives were derived from task-analyses and studies of attitudes
and organisational factors in an industrial engineering enterprise.

IV, CONTEXT

Whatever the form or nature of particular specification of aims and objec-

tives, in the long run it is what the teacher does that counts. Admiration for
the teaching role and genuine concern for students may count more heavily in
the teacher's contribution than any particular set of aims or attitudes thereto
(Sayer and Harding, 1974). tTUndeclared or unconscious attitudes of staff
and of an institution may be a much larger influence, over-riding the influence
that the formal syllabuses may be supposed to have in forming students It
(Lane, 1974).
 14

CHAPTER 2: ECONOMY AND EFFICIENCY

Under this heading we shall conSider experiments in which one important

criterion was either cost, or the time spent by students or staff. Efficiency
is normally the effectiveness of the teaching methods in terms of student
learning in relation to one or more of these factors. The factors may also be
combined to produce composite measures such as the cost per student hour
or the ratio of staff time to student time.

In the third edition of this volume we observed that economists were beginning
to investigate the efficiency and productivity of university eduation (eg Blaug,
1968). The Current financial crisis makes such studies more urgent and a
few are already published. Layard and Oatey (1973) attempt to assess the
cost-effectiveness of each kind of new media in higher education. For example
they contrast the costs per student hour of teaching by television with that of
live lectures. Since there appears to be little difference in their effectiveness
(Chu and Scramm, 1967) they believe mechanical methods of presentation
should be encouraged.

Hoos (1975) warns that industrial style 'efficiency' may prove more costly
than beneficial in education. It depends on the criterion of 'efficiency!.
If the cost of graduates produced is related to staff-student ratios, there
could appear to be a case for increasing the size of classes. Pickford (1975)
has suggested that the need for university resources should not rise propor-
tionately with student munbers and the larger universities do not make optimal
use of resou:,ces. A report by Layard and Verry (1975) implies that as
departments in the arts and social sciences become larger, research time is
sacrificed to teaching. This does not appear to happen amongst physical and
biological scientists. Although their figures may now be out of date, they
have also calculated that the average postgraduate costs three times as much
to educate as the average undergraduate and six times as much in mathematics
and the physical sciences. The ratio assumed by the UGC is normally 2: 1-
VVhen Laidlaw and Layard (1975) compared the costs of Open University
courses with those of traditional universities, with one exception they found
the former cheaper. Foundation courses proved much cheaper than the
equivalent provision de novo in campus universities.

Only two experiments described in British journals are specifically concerned

with class size: de Cecco (1964) assigned 682 students randomly to three Idnds
of groups, two large experimental ones conSisting of 97 and 127 subjects, six
small experimental groups ranging in size from 18 to 34 subjects and 10 small
control groups ranging from 22 to 35. All courses in the experimental groups
followed the same outline including major assignments, instructional
materials and a common grading system but, in the control group, instructors
proceeded as normal, selecting their own materials and creating their own
assignments. In the four tests given subsequently, no significant differences
 15

were found in acquisition of information or understanding but the students

greatly preferred smaller groups.

Cottrell (1962) used groups of 3, 12 and 24 members in an attempt to

discover how large a discussion group could be in physical chemistry without
loss of efficiency. A short answer-paper was set on matters of fact and
simple problems following weekly discussions throughout one term. Groups
as large as 24 proved unpopular and inefficient. The success ratio (calculated
by dividing each student's score by his mean marks in class examinations in
chemistry the previous year) was consistently higher for the groups of 12.

Extensive studies on the class size made in the United States, having conflict-
ing results, are reported by McKeachie (1966) who concludes that the import-
ance of size depends on educational goals: "In general, large classes are
simply not as effective as small classes for retention, critical thinking and
attitude change1!.

Yet surveying a similar literature, Bligh (1972a) came to a different conclu-

sion in the case of lectures. Although the majority of e}"-periments show no
significant difference in the effectiveness of large and small classes, the
direction of the small differences obtained usually favours larger classes.
The popular opinion among teachers and students is the reverse when asked
directly, but not when indirect evidence on students' attitudes is obtained.
Possibly public discussion about cluss sizes in schools has established a
'right' answer in their minds. The students' role in lectures is not greatly
changed by increases in class Size, but skills required by the lecturers are.

However, a recent finding by Wood, Linsky, and Strauss (1975) shows that
students rate small and large classes higher than those of the 'medium' size
of 250. The reasons for this have not been explored.

A different approach to study of efficiency has been made in Moscow where

students' times of optimal work performance have been studied in relation
to demands of the academic time-table (Doskin and Laurent'eva, 1974).
The results showed that for a sample of 108 students, periods of maximum
physiological alertness and optimal work performance coincided; these
occurred between 9 am and 2 pm for 55 percent of the sample (the morning
type), between 3 pm and midnight for 35 percent (the evening type), but
fluctuated randomly for the remaining 10 percent. They conclude that
'morning type' students are best adapted to the existing teaching arrangements,
while 'evening type' students are most disadvantaged; but this seems to assume
that alertness is more beneficial in class than in independent study, while
Bligh (1974) has shown the reverse to be true.

Experiments in which an important objective is to reduce time occupied in

teaching have been conducted with a variety of methods. Tubbs (1968)
reports that he works with groups of about eight students to help them to learn
more about experimentation. A problem is outlined by the tutor, suggestions
 16

are invited from students, and these are discussed in some detail. The
students then choose apparatus and spend three or four hours in making
measurements, each in a different way. Finally they discuss reasons for
differences in their results and sources of experimental error. The method
proves economical of staff time and, usually, of apparatus. Tubbs considers
that first year students can usefully spend up to twenty percent of laboratory
time in this way. However, there is no experimental evaluation of the method.

Programmed learning is another development which offers the tutor an oppor-

tunity to reduce instruction time. A series of experiments to compare pro-
grammed learning" in science using one teacher, with conventional teaching using
two, has been made very successfully in the Navy (Stavert and Wingate, 1966).
Ten pairs of classes were taught by conventional methods or by programmed
learning in basic electronics, basic radiO and in associated laboratory work.
While one group followed the programme and illustrative films with the aid
of a junior technician, the other received conventional teaching from an
Instruction Officer. Since in every case results from programmed learning
equalled or excelled those of conventional teaching it was clearly possible,
and indeed even beneficial, to cut instruction time by half. Failure rates were
14 percent and 3 percent less, and final average marks were 62 in each case
as compared with 55 and 54, in electronics and radio respectively. In addition,
time taken by programmed learning in radio was 25 percent less, on average,
than that for conventional instruction. E}qJeriments in the RAF confirm that,
over a period of weeks, students using programmed learning took conSider-
ably less time, particularly in the case of those using a programme reduced
to essentials, but achieved results similar to those of apprentices studying by
conventional methods (Wallis et aI, 1966). This has been confirmed in a
course for medical science personnel who attempted programmes having five
differing amounts of redundancy (Valverdi and Morgan, 1970). The leanest
programme proved most economical and efficient. Statistics programmes
seem to be less successful, however. J .R. Hartley (1968) reports a study
with 138 univerSity students in which a programme exerted greater control
over students! work habits and led to a higher overall mean mark on tests of
retention, application and transfer; but 47 percent of the students completed
less than three-quarters of the programme compared with only 19 percent of
the control group who failed to read the book. Thus in this case the programme
achieved a better result at the e).-pense of greater effort which was unaccept-
able to many students; but the possibility of cutting the programme is not
discussed.

It may be that findings in the Forces and in industry are irrelevant at univer-
sity level. Only e).-periments with carefully prepared programmes can show
whether this is so, but experiments in universities also show savings in time.
Moore (1967) found in an experiment with university students that group teach-
ing by a method of pacing, setting a time limit for each frame, resulted in a
considerably better speed for slow workers. Times for the machine grol.lP
were of the order of 30 percent less than that of slower workers using self-
 17

paced books. This saving was effected wi thout significantly affecting the test
scores. Biran and Pickering (1968) found that 'unscrambling! a branching
programme in genetics and presenting it in linear form decreased learning
time without affecting gain in scores. Teather (1968), in listing programmes
for teaching biology, notes the saving in time and the possibility of using
programmes for ex-periments with alternative teaching sequences.

Comparisons of different conventional methods of teaching show that the lecture

is more economical of time than other methods if each is used independently.
Joyce and Weatherall (1957), in comparing different methods of teaching
(lectures, discussion groups, practical classes and unsupervised reading) in a
carefully designed experiment, concluded that lecturing was the most efficient
method of teaching since it used least of the students r and staff's time: "For
tutors the size of classes is rei event to the economics of teaching, and the
figures amount to 0.05 hours per session per student for lectures (assuming
an audience of 60); 0.3 hours per session per student for discussion groups
of 12 students, and 0.33 hours per session per student for practical classes
on the same scale. .. these estimates are probably reliable enough to
emphasise the economy, both to students and staff, of lecturing compared
with practical classes and discussion groups ... II But they commented that a
simple comparison of the four methods might not have shown all of them to the
best advantage: for example, discussion groups might have been more
efficient when used to develop material already presented by other methods.

In a second experiment (1959) they used a more complex but equally carefully
chosen design, to compare methods in which the contribution of teachers! time
was small with others in which the teachers were more fully involved. Sixty-
two clinical students were taught by four initial lectures and either three
demonstrations or three practical classes in conjunction with either three
conventional seminars or three discussion meetings initiated by playing back
recorded material. Gain in knowledge did not differ significantly from one
group to another, but demonstrations were much more economical of time
than practical classes for teachers, technicians and students (practicals
taking about 20 percent mOl'e time for students and teachers); discussion
required less time of teachers than seminars, but the corresponding difference
for students was slight.

MacManaway (1968) confirmed the efficiency of lectures in comparing recall of

lecture material and the same material learned by reading lecture scripts and
note-taking. Reading and note:-taking took considerably longer, but, in a test
given a week later, students in both groups did about equally \vell. A third
group who attended the lecture and made notes subsequently took still more
time but did no better.

One experiment, however, shows that combination of methods, using some

discussion but no lectures, may be highly efficient. To Erskine and Tomkin
(1963), reduction of time spent on a course was a major consideration. They
substituted two periods of group discussion for nine lectures during a period
 18

of three weeks spent in studying the anatomy of the pelvis. Following an

introductory demonstration using specially prepared specimens and models,
practical work was done in the usual way, hut with access to practical
materials at any time during the day and with informal demonstrations on
request. The discussion groups were introduced at the ends of the second and
third weeks. On each occasion lists were displayed which drew attention to a
number of points in the course of practical work, and a central theme was
agreed on for discussion between the four instructors in order to organise the
facts into a pattern. Consequently the students arrived well prepared at the
discussions, in which there was a free exchange of views resulting in
synthesis at the end of each section.

The experiment was not a controlled one in which parallel groups were
treated differently, but an attempt was made to assess its success by com-
paring results of students in two successive years, and each group of students
with themselves in anatomy of the pelvis and of the thorax. Objective tests,
essays and oral examinations were all used in the assessment. It appeared
reasonably clear that there was no loss of information as a result of the change
in method, but rather the contrary, and students who attended discussion
groups were far more successful in oral examinations. But the chief gain was
of seven hours time in the case of each student and one hour to each member
of staff.

In this last experiment we have evidence not only of reduction in time spent
but also of better recall of recently learned material. Experiments with pro-
grammed learning have also resulted in gains in both these respects, but at
present there are few programmes suited to Wliversity work. However, where
recall, or retention, is as good as that for lectures or other methods depend-
ing on the presence of teachers, the gain in teaching time is obvious.

Similar gains may be made with more relevant or better planned activities
using audio-visual techniques. In an Australian 'experiment' (Collard et al,
1969) in teaching chemistry, Wliversity students who constructed organic
molecules in plastic and sketched completed models, instead of merely
studying from text-books and copying diagrams, showed a marked improve-
ment in understanding of three-dimensional aspects of molecular structure.
And in medical teaching in Glasgow, where the ratio of staff to students is low,
a collection of programmed tape-slide presentations enables students to work
independently at their own speed (Harden et al, 1969); the experimental group
using this technique did significantly better than the control group who
followed a conventional course, the three overseas students rising from the
lower to the upper half of the class as a whole. Lewinson (1970) reports self-
testing devices in clinical medicine using a quiz board displaying pictures,
slides or X-rays together with questions as to diagnosis etc. A lift-up card
displays answers and a folder supplies references. The advantage of the
method is that it can be used during spare intervals and a third of the students
say that they find it valuable.
 19

Since the last publication of this book the use of computers to assist teaching
in higher education has greatly increased. For example at Napier College the
feasibility of using computers to teach mathematics to engineering and
business studies students is being investigated. Using the techniques of
branching programmes (see page 30) attempts have been made to provide
instruction and correction of errors according to the needs of each individual;
but the time spent in preparation and the cost of computer space makes this
a doubtful investment when the advantages over other methods are marginal.
At the New University of Ulster the computer is used as a Imanager of learning'
by marking tests and prescribing routes for individual students through a
series of course modules (Hooper, 1974).

If computers are used to perform complex mathematical calculations, students

may gain the satisfaction of acquiring and testing new concepts without the
frustration and delay normally experienced through necessary computation.
At the University of Surrey, Cox et al (1974) programmed three types of
computer with material in quantum mechanics based upon a Keller course.
All three methods appeared satisfactory according to students' evaluations.
Computers are used in a similar way at Exeter to test the viability of electri-
cal circuits which cannot be checked directly. Particularly in engineering
there is growing cooperation between institutions in higher education in the
design and testing of computerised learning packages.

There is no compelling evidence at the present time that computer assisted

instruction (CAl) results in better learning than other methods. Its merit lies
in savings of time and effort. Computers can be used to present information,
but they are no more effective at doing this than a programmed text, tape-
recorder, television set, or book. When the initial outlay in time, effort and
money is greater than with conventional teaching, new methods with marginal
benefit are best used on courses unlikely to change from year to year. It is
for this reason, as well as the fact that computers are most useful when
dealing with numbers rather than words and that staff are accustomed to using
them, that CAl has been most popular in physical, mathematical and engineer-
ing sciences.

At the University of Kent the use of computers to search legal texts is being
developed to help students search complete documents such as statutes,
treaties, and law reports (Niblett, 1976). Exeter University Teaching
Services is developing a computerised system by which abstracts of research
and e}'''periments in higher education, or parts of abstracts such as the
experimental aims or methods, may be printed in response to appropriate key-
words. For example a summary of the literature on multiple-choice
questions in medicine included in the system may be obtained by using the key-
words 'multiple-choice I and !medicine!. The National Foundation for Educa-
tional Research has a similar system for current research in higher education
in conjunction with The Council of Europe.
 20

Activities and information designed to enable students to make better use of

facilities or to benefit from a course also add to efficiency. A one-week,
pre-college mathematics wOl'kshop organised by Taylor and Hanson (1969)
led to significantly higher grades for those who attended than for controls who
were initially rated more able, and their attrition rate was considerably lower.
A study by Gardiner, Boddy, and Taylor (1969) shows that in teaching applied
pharmacology, anaesthesiology and hospital procedure, practical e1l.'Perience
in the wards may with advantage be substituted for lectures. Among 74 senior
dental students, the group which spent two days in normal surgical wards -
where teaching was minimal, but practical experience and contact with all
grades of hospital staff were at a maximum - required less time and found it
easier to assimilate information than did the group which attended 22 lectures
during a period of ten weeks (Stuebner and Johnson, 1969). Sandwich courses
have been designed with these advantages in mind but few have been evaluated.
In Canada, at Waterloo (Holmes. 1970) students of engineering who spend
alternate terms in college and in industry are said to have an awareness of,
and confidence in, the opportunities within Canadian industry which has led to
a reduction in the brain drain to the United States. However, satisfaction with
sandwich courses in engineering seems to be limited to some schools and
some courses. Theoretical courses are often overloaded and about half the
students in one inquiry found industrial training unsatisfactory (Heward et al,
1968). Some similar findings have been obtained by Smithers at the University
of Bradford (1976). In further education Jones and Wylie (1976) have concluded
that a scheme of directed private study would be cheaper than either part-time
day release, evening classes, or any other system of training.

Detailed studies of the uses of students! time over a period of a day, or more
probably a week, give a useful indication of the pressure or slackness of work,
attendance at voluntary courses or other activities, etc, and so provide a
basis for changes in the curriculum or, pOSSibly, in teaching methods. In an
early study of this kind Thoday (1957) asked each of over 500 students in
Birmingham University to accolmt in detail for his or her activities on the
previous day. Information was also obtained about main activities during the
previous weekend and a proportion of students were interviewed twice to give
some idea of day-to-day variations. She found that mean time spent in work
per day was six-and-a-quarter hours: three-and-a-half hours in timetable
work and the remaining two-and-three-quarter hours in 1informal work!.
Contrary to belief, female and science students worked no harder than male
or arts students, but the latter did more informal and less set work. Second
year students worked least hard except those studying medicine and modern
languages who had important examinations then. In most subjects students did
more work in the first than in the final year. In an investigation among sixth
formers, students at a college of education Md those at a technical university,
Child (1970) found no difference in their study habits except that sixth formers
worked more at week-ends.

Recent studies are far more detailed. Most agree with Entwistle et al (1971)
that, on the average, students work a 36-39 hour week partly in class and
 21

partly in private study. Students resident in a tower block in the University of

Essex averaged only 33 hours (Clossick, 1968) and an enquiry by the NUS
(Saunders et aI, 1969) including further education reported an average of 42
hours per week. There are, of course, wide individual and subject differences.
The average number of hours spent in class according to Entwistle's survey
was 14 in universities, 19 in colleges of education and 22 in polytechnics.
These figures partly reflect the subjects taught. Engineers and physical
scientists with large amounts of laboratory work averaged 20 hours. In arts
and social sciences class time decreased from 15 hours in the first year to
about 6 in the third. The NUS study suggests that students of art and architec-
ture spend about 30 hours in class owing to the amount of studio work.

\-Vhere class time is high, private study time is correspondingly reduced.

Except [or the study by Cooper and Foy (1969) most enquiries have found a
positive correlation between time spent and subsequent examination success
(see stllUmaries by Miller, 1970; Bligh et aI, 1975).

O[ considerable importance when planning and teaching courses are teachers 1

ex-pectations of student performance both in the time spent and in study
efficiency. Available evidence suggests that teachers usually ex-pect too much.
In one medical school students were asked to aCCOtUlt for time, hourly during
the night and quarter-hourly during the duy, and to fill in their schedule using
code numbers for different activities during one week. Mean times were com-
pared with estimates provided in advance by teachers (Anderson et aI, 1968).
Clinical students proved to be working 40-50 hours per week but preferred to
take more leiSUre throughout the week and to work during part of the weekend;
the first years averaged seven hours per day, while second years averaged
six hours. Teachers 1 estimates corresponded fairly well with average times
given to different activities by students except that they supposed students
talked shop mare than they claimed to do and that they spent far less time in
leisure activities than they did. The authors concluded that the failure of
students to work hard suggested the course could be more challenging.

In an tmpublished study in another clinical department a Similar questionnaire

was completed and a sample of students was also observed throughout a
period of three weeks. Staff supposed that the first year students would spend
some seven to eight hours per day in the wards or in study, but their mean
time in the hospital proved to be 4. 6 hours daily including lunch-hour, with
little evidence of additional work, In the observer's opinion the students felt
insufficiently involved, at least during this period, to work hard in their course.

This chapter uses relatively few criteria of economy and efficiency. Many others
could be developed. For example, an interesting attempt to measure productivity
in a university has been made by an economist in Canada (Huber, 1974) who has
attempted to predict graduate students' grades in economics on the basiS of
certain student characteristics - including average grades in the previous year
- and on the basis of current-year and past-year instructor effects. Current
financial circunlstances should allow exploration for similar new measures.
 22

CHAPTER 3: RECALL AND RETENTION OF INFORMATION

I: EXPERIMENTS BASED ON THE FINDINGS OF PSYCHOLOGISTS

Methods of improving immediate recall, or retention, of subject matter are

based on what is known of remembering and forgetting in learning. It is known
that to assist memory, subject matter should be meaningful, inter-relationships
between topics should be stressed, and frequent short periods should be spent
in study in preference to a few long ones. Forgetting, on the other hand, is
induced by presenting the learner with many unrelated details, or by inter-
ference where a new topic is introduced at the end of a period of study or if two
closely similar topics are learned together. To encourage accurate recall,
correct responses should be rewarded or reinforced immediately (possibly only
by knowing that the response is right) while wrong responses should be
corrected at once. It is commonly said that errors should be avoided as far as
possible. Above all, it is important that the student should make a response,
though it may be a purely mental one; to be efficient, his learning must actively
employ his ability to organise new information into his existing mental schemes.
Where learning takes place by rote, with little understanding, subsequent forget-
ting is rapid. Obviously interest is also important; a student who is interested
is more likely to play an active part in learning.

Studies in which principles are stressed while details are reduced in number
take account of these findings. Erskine and O'Morchoe compared recall follow-
ing a course in anatomy in which prinCiples were stressed and details omitted
with one of the same length in which details were included (Erskine and 0 rMorcho
1961). But although results appear to be consistent with findings in the
psychology of learning, the experiment was performed with groups which were
not strictly comparable, since they were in different years and were, presumably
taught by different teachers.

Adams, Daniel, Herxheimer, and Weatherall (1960) made a controlled study

into the value of emphasis in the elimination of errors, collecting common
errors, testing them on a group of 53 students, and dividing them for the pur-
poses of the experiment into matched groups. For the next few months in the
experimental group each misconception was deliberately discredited whenever
it was relevant to mention it, while misconceptions in the control group
received no special attention. At the end of the course, incidence of misconcep-
tions of the experimental (emphasised) items had decreased by a highly signifi-
cant amount as compared with incidence of misconceptions in control items.
Thus there was no support for the common belief among teachers tliat
emphasising errors leads to their perpetuation.

An unexpected finding in this experiment was that the students who attended
best had the highest incidence of misconceptions initially. The best attenders
showed substantial improvement during the course both on treated and untreated
 23

items; moderate attenders improved only on treated items, and the poor
attenders showed little improvement, what little there was being mainly in
the treated items. Broadly, this provides evidence that the first group of
students were probably the most intelligent, who were sensitive even to slight
emphases. The writers consider it to be of special interest that this group of
students Heutered the experiment with the highest incidence of misconceptions
and finished with the lowest - that is, the best learners went through a phase
of putting forward the selected misconceptions unusually readUyH. They
suggest that this points to a trial and error mechanism of learning, lending
support to the saying IIf you don't make mistakes you won It make anything!.
\
Some light is cast on the seeming contradiction in this e:;.,.-periment (to the
belief that it is unwise to emphasise errors) from the results of an experi-
ment by Elley (1966) who contrasted the effect of errors in rate and logical
tasks. He used multiple-choice questions allowing different rates of error
in the course of learning each task. In rate learning, frequent errors resulted
in inaccurate recall, but in logical tasks the rate of error made no difference,
for, in these cases, studentJ did not tend to repeat errors which they
happened to have made while learning. Elley comments that, in preparing
programmed texts for students on meaningful learning tasks, there is no
need to be restricted by the assumption that errors must be kept to a minimum
due to the interference they occasion in learning. However, in simpler tasks
such as acquisition of vocabulary and elementary use of language, methods
which lead to error-free learning are the most effective.

Avoidance of interference due to the order of presentation of learning tasks

was studied by Leith and McHugh (1967). The questions they wished to answer
were whether it was preferable to present a familiar task first, following it
with an unfamilar one as is usually advised by teachers, or whether the
reverse would result in more effective learning and, in either case, where to
introduce a theoretical passage explaining the subject. Students studying anthro-
pology were given three passages: kinship systems of patrilineal and matri-
lineal tribes and a theoretical passage explaining the significance of kinship
and different patterns of marriage,\ descent and residence. The design of the
experiment allowed eight treatments with 80 students; the passages were
studied during three 45-minute sessions in one day and a test containing items
from all three passages was administered two days later. Analysis of the
results showed that students did equally well in questions relating to the
familiar, patrilineal system whatever the order of presentation, but they
recalled the matrilineal system significantly better if it was presented before
the more familiar system, and theory was helpful only if it came between
these passages or at the end.

II: FEEDBACK IN LEARNING

The value of feedback has been questioned following an American experiment

in which students were given a text to read, a 30 item multiple-choice test,
and then one of four conditions: no feedback, immediate feedback, feedback
 24

after one day, feedback after one week. No differences in subsequent perform-
ance were noted, except that on the basis of questionnaire responses immediate
feedback seemed to stimulate more reading (Newman et al, 1974). But prompt
and frequent feedback is recommended by other psychologists as an aid to
recall and retention of infonnation. The use of continuous feedback (as to the
failure or success of learning) is regarded as an essential feature of pro-
grammed learning.

Asking questions of students during the lecture period to which they must write
the answers, and providing correct answers immediately, proves to be an
extremely effective method of teaching (Beard, 1967b). McCarthy (1970) gave
feedback to his students by using a step-by-step lecture method in which each
of ten or more questions projected on a screen was attempted by the students
and discussed by the lecturer before proceeding. The students were supplied
with a handout of questions for each lecture to provide a complete record and
on which they could write notes. They were generally in favour of the method.
It is interesting that the lecturer underestimated the time needed to discuss
earlier questions and overestimated students' prelmowledge. Thus it seems
that feedback to the lecturer during discussion made him slow down to a pace
appropriate to the students' ease of understanding.

An adaptable and economical form of feedback to the teacher called the

'Cosford Cube r has been used by Taplin with RAF trainees (1969). Students
were each provided with a two-and-a-half inch cube with differently coloured
faces which could be held so that a chosen colour visible only to the instructor
indicated the answer to a multiple-choice question. Taplin recommends its
use both after making critical points and at the end of a lecture; but he found
that lectures took longer and required more preparation. Dunn obtained
similar results with medical students using coloured cards (1969).

The findings of psychologists that correct responses in learning should be

speedily reinforced, or wrong ones as speedily corrected, do not meet with
ready acceptance by all teachers in higher education. There seems to be a
prevalent feeling that students are mature enough to wait for their corrections;
but, although they r.lay be expected to wait with patience, the evidence is that
in any learning prompt feedback leads to greater efficiency.

This is, of course, one of the advantages of programmed learning and of

courses designed systematically on similar prinCiples for individual use by
students. Some of these have been described earlier in the text (eg Blunt
and Blizard, 1973; Brewer, 1974; Witters and Kent, H172; Sullivan, 1974)
or will be mentioned in discussing assessment of courses (page 96).

Various methods have been devised, or arrived at intuitively, which provide

feedback to every student on his recall and understanding of informational
material, or tcst his grasp of principles and how to apply them, and these
hm·e been found extremely effective (Beard, 1967b). Such methods normally
include:
 25

(i) questions for students to answer (eg short answer items, multiple-
choice questions, short problem orbrief essay questions);

(iP immediate provision of correct answers or discussion by students

of their answers and opportunity to look up further information,
putting any outstanding questions to the tutor;

(iii) correction of the students 1 records for use in revision.

The tutor may also set practical work depending on the information gained, or
recommend further related study. These methods have the double merit that
the students can assess their own learning and retain corrected records, whilst
the tutor obtains feedback on the effectiveness of his teaching from the students
failures, questions, or enthusiasm [or further enquiry.

A possible advantage of continuous assessment is that it can provide feedback

which assists students in improving their future performance, but this
depends on the skill of teachers in making informative comments. The Open
Unh'ersity has had to produce books of advice for tutors, illustrating how to
give effective feedbac}c on essays (Grugeon et aI, 1972).

There are few published accounts of continuous assessment so far. Carpenter

(1975) reports that when continuous assessment was used throughout the year
in industrial studies, mechanical engineering students put more time and
effort into their exercises, making regular and frequent visits to staff for
enlargement and discussion of various topiCS. However, where only a third of
the assessment was continuous, for the electrical engineers, this made little
impression on motivation. Generally students put greatest effort into aspects
of assessment carrying the greatest weight. It is the view of Bailey, Beynon,
and Sims (1975) that continuous assessment is particularly appropriate in the
fi rst year undergraduate course.

Elton, too (Elton et aI, 1970) reports the value to students of receiving lecture
notes and self-testing devices. Students read and revised more and could
follow lectures better. Provision of full lecture notes in a basic science course
for first year undergraduates brought benefits to staff as well, for they saw
for the first time what their colleagues were teaching and were able to
integrate courses. Although notes were provided in advance, lectures were
well attendec1 and students expected their I ecturers to talk around the subject.

The difficulty with large classes is to establish an efficient organisation which

maintains close personal contact between staff and students (cf Donaldson,
1974). Bent (1974) tried to solve this problem in physical chemistry by intro-
ducing the Keller Method while retaining lectures for one aspect of the course.
IvIacManaway (1970) discarded lectures, substituting lecture scripts and giving
questions and assignments designed to test students' comprehension and to
extend their thinking in sociology. Feedback was first obtained by substituting
discussion in seven or eight groups of three or four students during the first
 26

half-hour of lecture time, and then by general discussion and elucidation

when leaders reported their groupsl findings. Ninety percent of the students
found the method stimulating and enjoyable, 93 percent commented on the
value of discussions, 64 percent said they had learned to use sociological
ideas and terminology and only 13 percent preferred some kind of lecture;
but 58 percent still said they felt uncertain what information was important.

Television seems all unlikely medium for the use of audience participation
arid feedback to the student, but Gane (1969), having presented his objectives
on the screen, gave information and then asked a question or posed a problem.
A carefully-judged length of time was allowed for each viewer to work out his
response before the answer was given on the screen and discussed. If the
problems are carefully chosen - as in a programmed sequence - the
student's answer book should provide a valuable record of key issues. This
technique may also be used in a lecture, but in both cases subsequent discus-
sion to remove misconceptions is advisable.

Teather and Marchant (1974) claim that an experiment designed to test effects
of cueing, questioning and providing knowledge of results, shows that the
last of these is most effective. That cueing - by alerting students in adv,lllce
to questions they should be able to answer - may be effective only under
some conditions was shown in an experiment by Coombs (1974): cueing made
a significant difference only when students were already fairly knowledgeable.
Possibly, expectancies promote learning only after a critical level of back-
groWld knowledge has been reached.

Applying information is also an aid to retention. McLeish found that students

recalled only 42 percent of the content of a lecture immediately afterwards
but, if they received a copy of the lecture and applied its contents soon after
hearing the lecture, they retained three-quarters of what they had learned
after one month (McLeish, 1968).

III, ACTIVITY IN LEARNING

The importance of activity on the part of the learner is a principle of learning

as it is described by the field psychologists. They describe learning in terms
of the individual sizing up, or interpreting, his world in a way that is meaning-
ful to him, integrating experiences into existing organisations of knowledge
and using the environment in ways advantageous to him. It follows that what
the individual perceives is selective. In teaching, therefore, field psycholo-
gists are concerned with motivation, stress the importance of arranging that
learning experiences are organised into meaningful wholes, and favour the
use of problem situations which enable the learner to gain 'insight r as he
suddenly realises how to use information or how to interpret it meaningfully.
In addition, the learner may develop and follow his own goals. Their more
self-directed, problem-centred approach may be thought of as most suited to
practical laboratory work or in teaching students to work independently by
 27

providing problems or topicS for them to study alone; but it also aids recall
and retention of information, probably because in the course of the student's
activities he integrates information meaningfully into what he already knows.
This makes it easier to retrieve when it is needed since many bonds have
been formed with other knowledge. Holland et a1 (1968) used practical
experience to make clinical students aware of social and emotional aspects of
medical care by assigning each student in the experimental group a patient
from the ante-natal clinic to visit and attend during the following seven months.
These students also prepared reports on such topics as family size by social
class within the area, etc, while the control group followed a conventional
course. In a multiple-choice test given unexpectedly, both groups did about
equally well in clinical obstetrics but the experimental group was significantly
superior in knowledge of social medicine.

It is relevant here that one of the main criticisms of the lecture by medical
students is that it is a passive method of learning (British Medical Students
Association, 1965). Many of them wish a large proportion of lectures to be
replaced by teaching methods allowing more student participation, and, in
the lectures that remain, they advocate a more extensive use of audio-visual
techniques so providing for simultaneolls auditory and visual learning.

Mental activity is normally associ:ated with high arousal. The hypothesis that
high arousal during the acquisition phase of learning results in good long-
term memory was supported in an investigation by Lavach (1973) using five
groups of students who listened to a 20-minute taped lecture, where in some
cases 'arousing' words were used preceding selected passages. Recall
scores supported the arousal/retention hypothesis. According to this
hypothesis performance may be impaired either by over-arousal. as in the
case of over-anxiety, or by low arousal associated with sleep or fatigue.
Fatigue can be of many kinds (Miles and Bramley. 1974). Local fatigue
should be distinguished from general fatigue because the student should apply
different strategies to deal with them. Cumulative fatigue, possibly resulting
from overwork, is more serious and tal.;:es longer to remedy. Conversely, in
one e},"periment anxious students performed better in a test-like situation
when music was played as they entered than when there was either silence or
music throughout the test (Stanton, 1975). Music may have been beneficially
relaxing at first, but an interruption later.

In contrast, there is some evidence of the value of relaxation in learning.

Repin and Orlov (1967), reporting experiments in an Australian journal,
claimed that when 2-3 hours were allowed for conventional learning some
70-80 percent of 50 new English words were recalled on the average immedi-
ately afterwards, with a range of 40-100 percent; but, in a state of relaxation,
20 minutes sufficed for students to attain scores of 80-88 percent, and after a
further five minutes of visual rehearsal this rose to 92-92 percent. Three
months later 90-94 percent of words learned in relaxation, but only 50-60
percent of words learned conventionally, could be recalled by the students.
Special suggestion to memorise improved performance further. The editors
 28

comment, however, that it is difficult to assess the experiment as full infor-

mation is lacking and there were no statistical tests.

The importance of activity on the part of the student is also one of the tenets
of those who design programmes for machines and programmed books.
Influenced by the behaviourist school of psychology they concentrate their
attention on changes in overt performance and describe learning as built up
by reinforcement of responses to stimuli from the environment, though these
may, of course, be consequent upon the learner's activity. The learner
should therefore be encouraged to follow a logically organised sequence of
stimuli, including questions, with feedback as to his success serving to
reinforce correct responses.

IV, STRUCTURE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING

Although it is commonly believed that it is easier to follow and to learn from

well-structured lessons and courses, especially in sciences, few investiga-
tions have becn made to compare differcnt ways of structuring subject matter
in teaching.

Diggins (1974) outlines a sequential presentation of the properties of

haemoglobin in the form of a 'concept map!. He has attempted to arrange the
concepts into a hierarchy after the manner of Gagne (1965). This leads to a
consideration of prerequisite knowledge in biochemistry and raises the
question as to what is relevant for the understanding of advanced concepts by
medical and para-medical students. He summarises some evidence pertain-
ing to the use of AusubePs 'advance organisers', suggesting ways in which
their value might be investigated. He also suggests original papers which
would be suitable [or discussion with students and so could be used to test
Epstein's method of teaching (1970, 1972).

Levine (1974) discusses the use of models in teaching concepts in chemistry:

for instance the Rutherford, Bohr, and Schrodillger models to teach atomic
structure. He considers that a logical step-by-step sequence is needed,
avoiding models for which students are not ready, those which may interfere
with what they already know, and those that will clash with subsequent teach-
ing. Since this and Epstein's approach are radically different there seems to
be a case for exploring their relative success, taking into account stl..lctents'
past knowledge and their preferences for different modes of learning.

In an eJ..-periment in Canada, Sullivan (1974) found that the performance of

students learning for a highly structured course was Significantly superior to
that of students attending lectures and various kinds of group discussion;
students on the structured course gained twice as many As and Bs, and
correlation with final results proved to be high. However, he rightly points
out that generalisation from one experiment is dangerous, for the specific
method of instruction which is most effective depends on the nature of the
 29

subject matter and the charaoteristics of the learners. Other findings in the
effectiveness of structured courses will be mentioned later in discussing
assessment (Chapter 6).

V, PROGRAMMED LEARNING

a. Comparisons ,,,ith other methods

A number of studies show that programmed learning is at least as effective as
traditional teaching. When Orr (1968) tested sailors for the retention of
information about atomic structure one day, ODe week, and two weeks after
tuition, there was no significant difference between those taught by programmed
learning and those taught by conventional lectures. Farrell (1965) found a
notable increase in retention of information, giving a 49 percent lower failure
rate for the programmed learning group, in an examination in the Royal
Canadian Air Force.

In these cases the topics were fairly elementary; yet at degree level, pro-
grammed learning appears to be almost as successful. Hoare and Inglis (1965)
used programmes in chemistry with first year MB students who reported that
they found them 'useful', or 'very useful', for increasing comprehension,
revision and answering problems. The class as a whole did exceptionally well
in the organic chemistry examination. In a further study with first year MB
and dental students, Hoare and Revans (1969) used objective tests based on
Bloom's (1956) First Three Levels of Objectives. Compared with a pre-test
they found that students' knowledge of facts, theories and formulae increased
70 percent, their ability to use them increased 50 percent and their ability to
apply them in new or unfamiliar situations increased by 43 percent.~
Performance of individual students at the different levels indicated that ability
to recall knowledge and power to apply it were relatively distinct abilities.
Using 268 university students, Pikas (1969) compared programmed learning
with traditional teaching in which the students had to ask the questions, and for
additional teaching where the students were passive listeners. By immediately
testing some students on their factual knowledge and its application, and test-
ing the others on its application the next day, he found that programmed learn-
ing was superior for immediate tests of factual knowledge, while traditional
teaching was superior where the students had to answer questions of applica-
tion; but there was little difference where the traditional teaching required the
student to be a passive listener. Both kinds of traditional teaching were
superior on tests of application given the next day when compared with pro-
grammed learning. Unlike Hoare and Revan's Programme, the one used by
Pikas did not require students to apply the knowledge they had learned. Pikas
argues that the greater the dissimilarity between the learning and task situa-
tions, the greater the superiority of traditional teaching. We may conclude
that if one wishes students to apply the information they learn one must teach
them to do so.
 30

Guild (1966) has reported the successful use of a programme for individual
teaching in dentistry. Jamieson, James, and Leytham (1969) compare pro-
grammed learning, lectures well augmented with visual aids, and 'straight
lectures I given to 184 postgraduate students in educational psychology. Post-
tests showed that significant differences in learning were still apparent on a
test five months later when there was no apparent difference in the effect of
the two styles of lecture. At no stage was there a significant correlation
with the students' intelligence, sex, estimated teaching ability. or arts/
science background. Buckley-Sharp et al (1969) found programmed learning
groups significantly superior to a group given introductory notes in a test of
biochemistry administered three weeks later. In another enquiry in chemistry
(Hogg, 1973), a majority of students found programmed texts very useful;
those who did not complained that they were 'dull and boring' or 'too time-
consuming' •

b. Branching programmes
A linear programme is a single ordered succession of frames - usually
statements with a word missing - and proceeds by very easy stages. The
answer to each frame is provided either at the beginning of the next one or
overleaf. Since there is no pro\rision for the correction of errors the pro-
gramme must necessarily consist of short steps which are easy to answer
correctly. A branching programme offers a choice of answers and students
proceed to different frames according to the answer they select. They are
told whether they were right or wrong, and why. Thus they proceed by
different paths and at different speeds. In branching programmes frames
may be fairly long.

The advantage claimed for branching programmes is that they provide feed-
back specific to the needs of individual students. But Stones (1967) has
argued that since Ilall the branches and remedial sequences are related to a
hypotheSised best linear path Il, and feedback in linear programmes can be
amplified beyond mere confirmation of a correct response, there is no
important difference between the two forms of programme. Senter et al (1966)
found that only six percent of the possible 'wrong' branches were used with
Crowder's original programme, 'Arithmetic of Computers r. Kaufman
(1963/4) found no significant difference in the amount of remedial material
between the two kinds of programme. When Biran (1966) and Biran and
Pickering (1968) 'unscrambled' a branching programme, it took less time to
do with no decrease in learning. The answers to questionnaires showed that
sixth form and adult students prefer a straightforward presentation. Biran
suggests that searching through a scrambled book may hinder learning, while
this is avoided if a machine is used; but three out of four studies reviewed by
Tobin (1968) showed no significant advantage in machine presentation of
branching programmes. Tobin concludes that the major variable affecting the
success of the programme is the quality of the original cluster analysis and,
while the machine can act as an attention-focussing device for younger and
less able students, machines are no better than a programmed text for the
f
!

31

average student. It is possible that branching progranlmes have a particular

role where the objective is to improve students! powers of judgement (peel,
1968). Tobin!s conclusion is confirmed by Owen et al (1965), who, in a
carefully designed experiment, compared a branching programme in electro-
cardiography with a course of lectures specially prepared to correspond with
the programmed material. They found no interaction between method and
academic ability, nor between method and sex. Less able students profited
most from using teaching machines, but the women in this group did better
when taught by lectures. Overall, the two groups spent about equal times in
study, but the majority of students preferred machines to lectures.

c. Programmed learning and individual differences

In a survey of the available literature on programmed learning and personality,
Dallos (1975) found that high IQ level was related to lower error rate, higher
attention level, and less time to complete tasks. Whereas in children high
anxiety correlates positively with achievement, the opposite seems to be the
case for adults and students. Students with low anxiety scores do best
(Shadbolt and Leith, 1967; Knight and Sassenrath, 1967). Leith and Wisdom
(1970) found that adults scoring low on neuroticism achieved more overall on
a 'reception ' programme (one with maximum structure and guidance) than on
a 'discovery! programme. Introverts also performed better on structural
linear programmes but extroverts did better on discovery programmes
(Leith and Trown, 1970; Rasheed, 1967).

Contrary to the majority of findings, Dallos (1975) reported a positive correla-

tion between success in programmed texts and creativity. Madill (1975)
classified a group of engineering students according to the degree of concrete/
abstract thinking they employed. The students were assigned to three groups
with different motivational conditions to study a programmed text. Abstract
thinkers responded differently according to the kind of motivation employed.
The academic behaviour of students midway on the abstract/conrete continuum
was like the behaviour of concrete thinkers. In an experiment by Knight and
Sassenrath (1966) students having high Ineed for achievement' performed better
than others on linear programmes; but Morris et al (1970) found that although
undergraduates having 'high need for achievement' \vol'ked faster than other
students, they made more errors. Apter and Murgatroyd (1975) have also
studied the speed at which students work through a programme. Of the many
patterns of pacing, the most frequent invol ved working more slowly at the
beginning and end than in the middle. There was no overall correlation between
speed and error rate. Extroverts worlced slightly more quickly, but there
were no differences between the sexes or in other individual variables.

As one might expect, there is some evidence that programmed learning is a

good 'leveller'. Castle and Davidson (1969) found it useful with overseas
students who may have had language difficulties and concluded that programmed
learning was "effective to bring groups of people varying widely in social,
ethnic and backgrounds in a new medical faculty, to the same high level of
 32

attainment" at the beginning of a course. Using linear and branching pro-

grrulllUes in an HNe course in chemistry. Glynn (1965) found that they liked
the method and did well on compulsory questions in their examinations. The
weakest students made the greatest gains.

d. Reservations with regard to the principles of programmed learning

When the effectiveness of a teaching method has been shown to vary with such
a wide range of individual factors it is not surprising that any all-embracing
principles on which the method is based can only be held with reservations.
In recent years several authors have written on the decline and fall of the
principles of programmed learning (Leith, 1969; Bligh et al, 1975). In
particular Hartley (1974a) has summarised findings of the previous 20 years
relating to these principles.

Available evidence seems to sustain the principle of feedback, but while the
principle of small steps has had some early support and seems to be
suitable in subjects with an in-built logical structure or a difficult language,
it is less important at university level and is best with students or children
who are beginners at a subject or who are low in confidence.

The principle of employing a planned sequence of instruction may be theoret-

ically important, but randomness in periods under two hours seems to make
little difference, perhaps because students can manipulate this quantity of
subject matter and thus individual preferences and background knowledge are
more influential. Hartley suggests that surprise sequences are more motiva-
ting than logical ones, and if the sequencing of information is important we
might have expected more differences to appear in comparisons of branching
and linear programmes.

The principle of self-paCing does not seem to be supported in all cases.

Students do not always know what pace is appropriate and there can be admin-
istrative problems resulting from contrasting speeds of worldng. On the
other hand group pacing is difficult to set up. There appears to be conflicting
evidence on whether programmes are best studied individually, in pairs, or
in larger groups. James Hartley (1968) has argued that although self-pacing
is an important principle, individual warl>: is sometimes not as effective as
worldng in pairs. Dick (1963) used a programme on algebra 3,500 frames
long with 34 university students, and found that individuals worked more
quickly and, although there was no difference when tested at first, students
who worl>:ed in pairs scored better on a test one year later. Since, apart
from uvo experiments (Amaria et al, 1969; Amaria and Leith, 1969), work
with schoolchildren does not show the same results, it is tempting to
speculate whether age, intellect, or co-operative abilities are important
variables. James (1970) used a branching programme on management with
individuals and with unpaced groups of three or four apprentices or managers
and, although the short term results favoured individual learning, the differ-
ence was much less after four weeks. There is sorne evidence that diSCUSSion
 f
I,
33

methods favour long-term retention compared with presentational methods of

teaching, and this may eJ..."plain the findings of both Dick and James in the
context of progrrunmed learning. There appears to be little difference between
working individually and in a group larger than three, perhaps because the
usual method of displaying the frames for a group by projection onto a screen
does not easily permit discussion of each resp~e by the students. Thus it
may be the opportunity for discussion that is important, rather than the size
of the co-operative group.

In spite of the principle of self-pacing, a number of experiments in which pro-

grammes have been presented to a whole group requiring students to l{cep
pace with its other members do not show any significant deterioration in learn-
ing. When Moore (1967) used a programme on 53 students of physiological
psychology, there was no difference in test results between those who learned
in a group and those who worked individually with booklets. Moore argues
that although the average time taken by individuals was 77 lllinutes and by the
group 87 minutes, group presentation has advantages if programmed learning
is used in class where all must wait for the slowest. James Hartley (1968)
reviews a number of studies, comparing individual usage of a booklet with
film strip or tv projection of an algebra programme to a group. Most showed
no significant difference between the two methods. But Gallegos (1968) found
that both high- and low-ability students learned better if they did progr3l11llles
at their own speed, or were paced at a speed lower than the class average,
than if they 'were made to go faster than usual. Stones (1966), who experi-
mented with programmed learning to see whether supervision, working in a
group, or working to a set time influenced results or attitudes, found no
differences between five groups except that students working independently
took more time.

The importance of activity when learning has already been mentioned in a

previous section. Leith and Buckle (1966) cast an interesting light on this
principle when they studied the effect of overt and covert responses to frames
in relation to the difficulty of their subject matter. Following the use of a
programme in electronics with three student groups formed on the basis of
prior Imowledge (A level physics at least, 0 level at least, or little lmowledge
of physics), they concluded that the more difficult the task was to the learner,
the greater was the need for overt responses. But, in line with the well-
known finding that rote learning is more efficient when it takes place vocally
than only mentally, they found that overt responses were in general more
effective th;:m covert oneS. The traditional reason for this is that overt
responses are more strongly reinforced than covert ones, but this has usually
been tested by requiring some subjects to make overt responses and not others.
When Sime and Boyce (1969) in an important and well-design experiment only
required overt responses on some of the material subsequently tested, they
concluded that the questions in a programme raised the level of students'
attention, because non-reinforced concepts were also learned better when
questions were asked about something else~
 34

An interesting experiment by Wright (1967) challenges the principles of activity

and small steps. She designed an experiment in which undergraduates worked
through a section of a programmed text on psychology prepared in one of four
ways; short frames with blanks, paragraphs followed by questions, and these
two conditions again with the answers filled in. Completed frames proved
significantly more effective than those with blanl;:s, and paragraphs were sig-
nificantly more effective than frames, paragraphs with questions being by far
the most effective. She suggested that the structure of the material was more
clear in paragraphs. Williams (1963) confirmed the importance of maldng a
written response, but Krumboltz (19?4) found no significant difference between
students using a conventional programme with written responses and those
reading prose, in either immediate or a delayed test. In an earlier experi-
ment (Krumboltz and Weisman, 1962) he found superior recall in the response
group after two weeks.

e. Programmes with other methods

Stavert (1969), Stavert and Wingate (1966), found that a course based exclusively
on programmes resulted in ten percent lower test scores and unpopularity of
the method compared with conventional teaching; but popularity, test scores
and motivation improved when a variety of techniques including tutorials and
laboratory work were used. He concludes that programmed learning must be
part of a system of instruction which allows for human interaction. Croxton
and Martin (1965, 1968) replaced courses in strength of materials and theory
of structures by two series of short programmes together with problems and
tests to follow each programme. The programmes were progressively modi-
fied according to difficulties recorded by students on a standard form. Their
students preferred being taught bo th subjects this way, finding them fairly
easy whereas formerly they were amongst the most difficult; but they wished
contact with their tutors to be maintained, and wanted some competition from
other students. Problems and difficulties were therefore considered in
tutorials six days after receiving the programmes, and lectures were replaced
by tests on which the student had to score 90 percent before receiving the next
programme. The time spent on thesf' courses, as compared with others,
suggests that the tests, the pressure to be ready for tutorials, and the inclu-
sion of test results in their final assessment increased motivation.

A number of studies have compared different methods of programme presenta-

tion. Using Owen's programme, Stretton, Hall, and Owen (1967) compared
the use of teaching machines and programmed textbooks. and found that the
machines took insignificantly longer and there was no difference in their
effectiveness. Conner (1968), teaching engineers, also fOlmd no difference,
but groups using machines and programmed texts both did better than controls
in the annual examination. Tobin (1968) summarised 19 studies comparing
machine and textbook presentation of linear programmes and found one to the
advantage of each, and seventeen where there was no significant difference.
Using pairs of matched students, Poppleton and Aushvick (1964) compared a
programme in elementary statistics with reading and note-taking and found
>

35

no difference in learning by either method. Moore (1967) compared the use of

an individual programmed booklet with a programme presented frame by frame
onto a screen for a longer time than it took 60 percent of the class to respond.
He concluded that the group method can save time in conventional teaching
situations, requires only one programme, is cheaper than individual machines
and can be used as part of a conventional lesson. However. this requires
the presence of a teacher, whereas individual work with programmes does not.

James (1970) compared a programmed videotape plus a handout with the use of
all instruction booklet. Students preferred the videotape, but their learning
was marginally better with the booklet. Comparing a tape-recorded presenta-
tion of a programme on the operation of machine tools with a similar written
version, Amswych (1967) found the oral presentation both quicker and more
effective.

VI, THE LECTURE

a. Function
Inquiries in connection with the Hale Report (University Grants Committee,
1964) show that the views of university teachers in Britain on lecturing are
more favourable than those in the medical students 1 report (British Medical
Students I Association, 1965). Most of them believe that students are too
immature to study independently and that lectures are the most economical
way of communicating information to them. Scientists, in particular,
regard the lecture as an excellent way to introduce and to open up difficult
topics which students cannot undertake on their own, while it is generally
felt that the lecture is the only solution to a paucity of books or rapid
developments in subject matter which outdate existing books. Nearly all
teachers claim to cover the syllabus in broad scope and prinCiple, using only
sufficient illustration for the principle to be understood. They point out also
that they can respond to the students in a way that teaching aids cannot, that
they are able to show their students how to organise a topic or how to build
up a complex argument or diagram, and that they can share their enthusiasm
for the subject, include discussion of recent developments or indicate
topics [or further inquiry. However, in studying anxieties of new lecturers,
Ellis and Jones (1974) found that giving lectures caused them more anxiety
than any other form of teaching; in consequence, they developed defence
mechanisms such as use of jargon or of a prepared script, distortion to hide
ignorance, being dogmatic, submissive, over-critical or too theoretical,
and relying excessively on empirical evidence or histrionics.

The comments of students consulted in Marris 1s inquiry (1965). that they

desired lectures to be clear, orderly synopses, logically planned,
emphasising baSic principles and with not too many digressions, and that
time should not be wasted in imparting the contents of the text-book, suggest
that lecturers may be less successful than they believe in using lectures to
impart knowledge in these ways. The high percentages of students {over 40
 36

percent) commenting adversely on delivery and clarity of exposition tend to

confirm this. On the other hand, there is evidence that some students share
the lecturers' more favourable view of the lecture. In the study by Joyce
and Weatherall (1959) comparing four methods of teaching, the students
considered lectures outstandingly the most useful, demonstrations following
some way behind, with seminars a close third and practicals a close fourth.
But students of the Royal Dental Hospital School of Dental Surgery in their
opinion poll on lectures showed less agreement (Students' Society Committee,
1966). There was no consistent view as to the value of lectures, nor as to
how courses might be improved. The only conclusion which could be drawn
with confidence from this part of the inquiry was that more lectures would be
unpopular. There was no doubt, however. that students of the School
expected lectures to fulfil three functions: to introduce the subject and set it
in its context. to bring the text-boole up to date, and to provide discussion of
problems and their possible solutions.

In the NUS report of 1969 (Saunders et al). students thought the major functions
of lectures were to impart information (76 percent). to provide a frameworle
for the course (75 percent), to indicate methods of approaching the subject
(64 percent), to indicate sources of reference (47 percent) and to stimulate
independent work (41 per cent). They criticised the hindrance to understand-
ing necessitated by note-taleing, frequent repetition of standard text-books,
and poor preparation and presentation. DistribUtion of duplicated notes by the
lecturer was strongly advocated to overcome the first of these.

Maclaine (1965), in surveying teaching methods in Australian universities,

gro~ped the advantages and disadvantages under these headings: motivational,
organisational, and informational-elucidatory. In addition to listing most of
the points made in the Hale Report he included under the first heading
exploration of desirable by-ways, under the second, guidance in reading and
evaluation of teA"t-books, and, under the third, lito explore and clarify ideas
and techniques!!. But an adverse effect of the comprehensive course of
lectures in an Australi.an university school is mentioned by Schonell. Roe,
and Middleton (1962) who comment that although teachers may sincerely
believe that their lectures serve as a guide to reading they are, in fact, used
by some students as a wholly self-suffiCient course of study; in their survey,
15 percent of Queensland students relied almost entirely on lecture notes and
the majority of students studied primarily from them.

It may be noticed that all these enquiries used expressions of subjective

opinion. With the exception o"f Joyce and Weatherall (who found a conflict
between subjective opinions and objective tests), none conducted controlled
observations to test their opinions. Furthermore, they scarcely distinguish
between what lectures ~ achieve and what they usually do.

Accordingly Bligh (1975b) set out firstly to test the validity of students'
opinions, and found that their judgements of how much they had learned in
lectures bore no consistent relationship with how much they had learned as
p

37

measured by objective tests. Secondly he used objective tests at eight cog-

nitive levels to evaluate lectures in psychology. Tests of terminology, facts,
general principles and Simple comprehension showed comparable gains;
skill in applying knowledge showed varied increases while improvements in
analysis, synthesis and evaluation of information were negligible. FUrther-
more, although it might be c}"'Pected that students with previous knowledge
and comprehension of the subject, as measured by a pre-test, could usc the
occasion to think more deeply about it, they did no better than others in the
post-test on questions requiring higher levels of thinking.

These findings suggest that lectures can best be used to convey information
and that they are not occasions during which much thought occurs, at least
as they are currently organised. However, this inference is open to the
criticism that it confuses cognitive level with cognitive difficulty. The
results of this experiment could have been obtained if the questions at a
high cognitive level happened to use more difficult concepts. Subsequent
e)..'"Periments confirmed that there is a critical level of difficulty, which
varies with the ability of the students, at which the choice of teaching method
may make a big difference; but since difficulty was shown to increase with
cognitive level when the subject matter is kept constant, the criticism is not
a severe one.

Some idea of whether lectures usually do teach higher cognitive objectives

than other methods can be obtained by surveying the comparative literature.
In spite of its resources, this is something the Hale Committee failed to do.

Bligh's survey (1972a) of a large number of studies in which lectures were

compared with other methods - mainly in the United States - suggests that
whilst lectures are as good as other methods of conveying information, they
are less good than group discussion, independent study, or 'student-centred'
teaching in developing thinking or in changing attitudes. A finding which
perhaps lends support to this is that of Houston and Pilliner (1974), who
compared the effects of different teaching styles on the level of thinking
attained by older pupils in schools. They found that teachers who employed
an !open-ended' style (ie allowing discussion, and responding to pupils)
were mOre successful ill promoting complex and higher-level educational
objectives than were dogmatic/c)..'"PosHory teachers. Hornsby-Smith (1973)
e:x-plains unfavourable attitudes towards physical sciences (contrasted with
life sciences) in terms of the teaching styles which predominate. He con-
cludes that e:X'"P0sitory science teaching styles must be replaced to a Signifi-
cant degree by more heuristic teaching styles. An experiment by Morstain
(1973) indicates some benefits of increased self-directed independent study.

Thus the fact of students gaining information without learning to think, can
be partly a consequence of the choice of teaching method; but the presenta-
tion of lectures may be modified in response to students. Zillman and
Cantor (1973), contrasting lectures containing rhetorical questions and their
answers with alternative versions omitting the questions, found that listening
 38

to the questions significantly enhanced learning and recall of facts,

Womersley, Stenhouse, and Dunn (1974) used multipe-choice questions during
the course of each lecture to encourage students to think and to structure the
information they received. Their investigation found that student performance
was better in tests after lectures if they had been questioned in this way. A
number of investigators have used mixed methods rather than a lecture
(Bligh, 1974; Linacre, 1973).

An extensive survey by Costin (1972) or research into lecturing versus other

methods reaches no clear conclusions, owing mainly to poor design of the
experiments, for variables were confounded and little was measured except
information gained.

Whether lectures should be compulsory or not is a matter to be decided in

the context of the aims of the school or department. In some schools
encouragement of independence in students is valued so highly that some
inefficiency is countenanced as a result of absence; but that absentees from
lectures do less well in tests and examinations than those who attend has
been shown in several studies (Adams et al, 1960; Holloway, 1966). Indeed,
one investigation found that attendance at lectures and seminars was by far
the most important correlate of examination success in social science
(preston, 1975). Where it is impossible to majce good the loss of informa-
tion in lectures, comp\usory attendance would generally be recommended.

b. Place and length

The place of the lecture differs in the various faculties. In 1964, at the time
of the Hale Report, arts faculties used mainly lectures and discussion groups,
together with reading, whereas in the science faculties there were more
lectures with practical or laboratory periods but comparatively little
discussion. In arts the average weekly hours spent in lectures were 6.8 from
a total of 10.1 hours of instruction, in pure science 8.3 of 17.3 hours and, in
applied SCiences, both lecture time and total time spent in inslruction were
still higher viz 10.7 and 19.6 hours (University Grants Committee, 1964).
During the last few years, however, there has been a considerable increase
in the use of small discussion groups in departments of science and
mathematics (Beard, 1967a).

In law there is a similar trend. A survey of legal education in 1966 shows that
the majority of lecturers agree that some lectures are essential, but they
would welcome the extension of the tutorial system to at least two tutorials
per week (Wilson, 1966). They also conSider that students should have more
opportunity to sample law in action in courts and solicitors! offices, sub-
sequently discussing their visits.

There is little e}.-perimental work on the lecture from British sources.

Holloway (1966) compared recall of information in dentistry among groups of
first- and third-year students attending lectures at 9 run or 4.30 pm. Analysis
..
39

of scores in two ways, comparing students with themselves on different

occasions, or students with each other in the same test items, showed
significant superiority for classes held in the morning. Bligh (1974) found
lectures at 9.30 am more effective than those at 11.15 am.

McLeish (1968) was interested in the problem of whether students listening to

40 minutes or one hour of a lecture would remember less of it than those who
were present for the first 20 minutes only, due to interferences set up by later
material. He used three experimental groups who attended different lengths
of lecture and a control group who did not attend. Overall the e:1l."perimental
group recalled 42 percent of what they had heard as measured by an objective
test immediately afterwards, but the hypothesis that there would be loss of
recall due to retroactive interference was not borne out. This may perhaps be
e~q)lained by a difference in content of the three parts of the lecture, but further
experiment is needed to determine in what ways later material may vary
before it causes retroactive interference. In theory there should be minimal
retroactive interference with the final part of a lecture, and this receives
some support from an experiment by Johnston and Calhoun (1969). Using a
short tape-recorded talk and multiple-choice questions with 269 students,
they found that material at the beginning and end of a talk was better remem-
bered than the central sections no matter in what order the information was
presented. In the ex-periment by Trenaman, quoted by McLeish, listeners to
a 45-minute talk on astronomy assimilated appreciably less after the first
fifteen minutes and, after thirty minutes, ceased to take in anything additional
or forgot what they had memorised earlier. However, it is impossible to
generalise from the results of a single experiment of this kind even if we
know the subject matter. the manner of presentation, and the difficulty of the
subject to the participants. Lloyd (1968) compared the number of facts noted
by students during each period of ten minutes during a lecture. He concluded
that after an initial increase, there was a steady decline until the last ten
minutes, and that those planning lectures should bear this in mind.

Observation suggests that a lecture given at a suitable speed in mathematics

or certain science topics, in which a logical presentation is written on the
blackboard, provides constant opportunity to the student to obtain feedback on
his understanding of the topic; for, unless the speed is too great, he can
work out the next line just in advance of the lecturer. obtaining confirmation,
or correction, as soon as that line is written. Inability to obtain reinforce-
ment in this way is probably the chief cause of frustration when the lecturer
proceeds too fast or presents material in a disorderly fashion.

c. Delivery
There does not appear to be any British experimental work on techniques of
delivering lectures; but views expressed in inquiries have some interest as
there is often a high level of agreement. Students of the Royal Dental Hospital
School of Dental Surgery comment (Students I Society Committee, 1966):
l!a lecture has to be delivered very very slowly indeed before the speed is
 40

found to be too slow but only a moderate increase in pace will produce com-
plaints of Itoo fast!. It However, they remark on inconsistencies in views as
to suitability of speed in delivering orthodontics lectures: 44 percent of the
fourth year, 7 percent of the fifth year, and 80 percent of the sixth year
found the speed unsuitable; possibly this reflects the anxiety of students at
the approach of an examination, but it may also be affected by the difficulty
of the subject at each level and perhaps suggests that speed should vary
inversely with difficulty of material. This is consistent with an experiment
by Bligh (1974) who gave identical lectures to three groups at different speeds.
Results of multiple choice tests at eight cognitive levels showed significant
interaction between speed and subject matter on questions requiring more
thought, but differences at lower cognitive levels and for speed alone were
not significant. There was a critical speed and level of question difficulty at
which increases in speed made a crucial difference. IntereStingly, he found
that tape-recorded lectures could be taken twice as fast as the same lectures
delivered by a teacher in perSon. Speed may also be a factor which influences
students to say (NUS, 1969; Marris, 1965) that the major criticism of the
lecture method is that 'the opportunity to grasp basic ideas is hindered by the
necessity to take notes'. If so, the finding by Gust and Schumacher (1969)
that writing speeds of female students are significantly faster than those of
their male counterparts has relevance to lectures as well as examinations.

It is generally agreed that a lecture is more effective if it is spoken freely

rather than read, and that repetition is helpful in aiding subsequent recall. It
is also advantageous to supplement the spoken word by visual aids where these
aloe relevant. But lecturing styles tend to be stereotyped despite the case for
variety and enterprise (Bligh(1970a). To help and interest first year students
taking a compulsory 'structure and properties of matter' course, Betts and
Walton (1970) gave lectures together as a dialogue to nearly 400 students at a
time, using television monitors for demonstrations and illustrations in two
lecture theatres. Betts provided the logical outline with Walton interposing
awkward questions and conducting demonstrations or experiments. They
report that although the brighter students might have preferred a more rapid
pres entation, on the whole the students were favourable. The dialogue lecture
merits wider use since differences of opinion can be expressed and contrasting
voices maintain student attention. At the same time one may question the wide-
spread practice of obliging such large audiences to listen to the same content
despite a very wide range in ability and prior knowledge.

d. EValuation
Evaluation of teaching methods in general is dealt with in Chapter 6, but some
comments specific to the lecture are appropriate here. It is not easy to
evaluate a lecture, taking into account all its objectives, and it would probably
be undeSirable to attempt to evaluate each lecture of a series. Nevertheless
some evaluation appears to be worthwhile. Few of the heads of departments
consulted as to the success of lectures in an Australian inquiry were satisfied
that objectives were achieved (Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee, 1963).
5

41

They commented that lectures tended to succeed with certain students but not
with others, or that lectures were more successful in certain subjects than in
others. Whereas these differences seem inevitable, students complain of
basic faults such as poor preparation, that lectures are neither clear nor
systematic, or are so ill-delivered as to be barely audible, or that they are
addressed to the professor's notes or to the blackboard. Others report
lectures delivered so rapidly that they_cannot be followed coherently, consist-
ing of a mass of detail, or presenting a difficult argument in a fashion which
only the most able students can follow.

Despite these varied criticisms it is probably true that almost all lecturers
sincerely desire that their lectures should be well delivered and readily
comprehensible. Failure in these respects is often unconscious and students
of undergraduate age often fail to provide the hints, or outspoken criticisms,
which would result in improved practice on the part of the lecturer. In the
belief that most lecturers would welcome any means of finding out to what
extent they were successful, a group of scientists working in a research
group with the University Teaching Methods Research Unit of the University
of London Institute of Education prepared a questionnaire for use by students.
They invited them to agree with various statements, on a five-point scale,
relating to the lecturer's audibility, speed and quality of delivery, appearance,
manner and rapport with the class, and to aspects of presentation of subject
matter or use of audio-visual aids, as weU as to comment on surroundings and
other factors influencing the success of the lecture. It is of interest that even
among these enthusiasts it was not until nearly a year later that any of the
group agreed to use the questionnaire; for, as one lecturer said: !lIt will only
give the students an opportunity to make satirical comments. II Yet when it
was tried at the beginning of courses enthusiastic reports were sent in. A
veterinary scientist reported that his students 'seemed grateful that something
was being done' and that they combined to give a joint criticism and made use-
ful suggestions. An electrical engineer (McVey, 1967) tried two forms of
questionnaire with small groups. He discovered that there was more
extraneous noise than he had supposed and that on changing from lectures with
notes to lectures Without notes he had not slowed his pace sufficiently. He
received confirmation of information obtained in earlier surveys that his
students liked duplicated notes and coloured diagrams since they found the
latter clearer than the blackboard and the former enabled them to concentrate
better on the lecture. A biologist received approximately 80 percent response
from a large class and felt that it had been particularly valuable to receive
criticisms and comments at the beginning of a course since it enabled her to
adapt her teaching to their needs in the remaining lectures. Although this
technique does not inform the teacher how much the students are learning, it
does establish better rapport and almost certainly results in more efficient
teaching.

This is one satisfactory method to use, but it is not the only One. Among
methods reported within the University of London are the following: taping
a lecture and listening to it subsequently in private; taping a lecture and
 42

observing in the following class while they listen to the recording; inviting
students to provide immediate feedback on the lecturer's success by complaints
as to excessive speed, lack of explanation of difficult points etc; and, in a few
cases, lecturers invite colleagues to attend their lectures and to criticise
them. A number of other methods used in American Schools are outlined in an
article by Simpson (1965). Flood Page (1974) surveys the American experience
in a recent book. Siebring and Schaff (1974) survey more than one hundred
and forty studies. Smithers (1970a) asked 431 university students at the end
of their second year to rate 50 possible characteristics of the ideal lecturer.
Students in all fields of study were agreed that the ideal lecturer is an authority
in his subject and can expound it clearly, that he thoroughly prepares his
lectures, gives them an obvious framework, and is ready to respond to
questions. In other respects there were differences in emphasis according to
field of study: students of applied science and engineering appeared to look
towards lectures for information; social SCientists, for stimulation. These
differences in emphasis suggest that teaching and lecturing abilities may be
more specific than is commonly supposed.

Smithers (1970b) also found that extroverts attached mOre importance to the
lecture as a performance; for them the ideal lecturer is entertaining, confi-
dent and at ease. Those more 'unstable' as measured by the Eysenck
Personality Inventory want the lecturer to be as definite and certain as possible
and to give full notes, whilst dogmatic students are most concerned that the
lecturer should keep to the point, set clear goals and convey the information
lucidly.

In an earlier inquiry by Cooper and Foy (1967), students and staff in a univer-
sity department of pharmacy were asked to put statements describing
lecturers' characteristics in order of importance. The first ten for the
students, in order, were as follows:
1. presents his material clearly and logically;
2. enables the student to understand the baSic principle of the subject;
3. can be clearly heard;
4. makes his material intelligibly meaningful;
5. adequately covers the ground in the lecture course;
6. maintains continuity in the course;
7. is constructive and helpful in his criticism;
8. shows an expert knowledge of his subject;
9. adopts an appropriate pace in his lectures;
10. includes in his lectures materials which are not readily accessible
in text-books.
Staff and student ratings correlated quite highly (0.77); but, whereas students
valued adequate coverage of the COurse, attempts to link theory with laboratory
and practical work, even spacing of requirements for written work, and humour,
staff were much more concerned with avoidance of excess factual detail. Two-
and-a-half years later Fay (1969) repeated the inquiry with a different set of
stuc1ents and found a correlation with the judgements of their predeceSsors of
•
43

0.93 which certainly confirms the reliability. though not necessarily the
validity, of students' jUdgements. Bligh (1974), for instance, has shown that
since an easy lecture may be rated as 'good' by weaker students and 'poor' by
able ones, whereas the reverse holds for a difficult lecture, the correlation
between scores in a test of what they learn and their ratings of the lectures
may vary with their difficulty.

VII, AUDIO-VISUAL AIDS

Considering the widespread use of audio-visual aids in university teaching the
number of investigations to determine their value in British university schools
is rather few. A monograph by Flood Page (1971) reviews the available
literature in greater detail than is possible here and the inquiring reader is
advised to refer to it. It is true that some advances due to new techniques
are so great that experiments are unnecessary to demonstrate them - the
transmission of a lecture to millions instead of hundreds, for example -
but if the value of the aid is in doubt then experiments are desirable. Unfort-
unately, where e}"-periments have been made their results are too little
publicised, so that the complaint that it takes thirty years for the findings of
educational experiments to be put into practice is sometimes fully justified.
In 1937, Seymour showed that a light-coloured board with dark lettering was
more efficient than the familiar black-board and chalk; both children and
adults could read dark blue letters from a pale yellow board some 15 percent
faster than chalk letters from a blackboard, while the children could copy
from it in 10 percent less time. Nevertheless, it was not until 1966 that
manufacturers displayed light boards with dark 'pencils '. Even then they
cannot have eX'Perimented with them in a sample of schools, for the 'pencils'
contained coloured fluids and would have proved irresistible to young artists
and aspiring mechanics alike. These findings should be lrnown in university
departments where boards are in constant use, eg in the mathematics depart-
ments where the new boards would not only save students r time in note-taking
but could avoid the deposit of chalk dust commonly found on lecture-room
floors. More recently Foster (1968) used slides showing lower case letters
and found that the maximum distance for 100 percent correct identification
was Significantly superior with black letters on a white background than with
white on black.

Probably the effect of dark. lines on a light background is one reason for the
popularity of the overhead projector (OHP): this combines the advantage of
the blackboard, that the teacher can construct diagrams or notes as the lesson
proceeds, with the further advantage of facing the class so that contact is not
lost, and adds the possibility of building up complex diagrams by use of
successive, previously-prepared overlays. Apart from an experiment by
Perlberg and Resh (1967), quoted by Flood Page (1971), in which the use of the
OHP was an advantage in geometry but not in hydrology, there has been little
work comparing either its various uses, or its general effectiveness, with
that of other methods of presentation. Likewise, few experiments have been
traced comparing these methods of presentation with each other, or the OHP
 44

with the blackboard. Over a three-year period, Allen (1975) compared three
lecture courses using a blackboard, three using a single OHP, and two using a
two-channel slide presentation. The slide presentation was more popular
with students and Allen appears to infer that it is more beneficial. Certainly
the overhead projector offers opportunity to provide an illustration when it is
most relevant and Without loss of time.

In text-books, proximity of illustrations to the relevant section of the text

seems critical. Whalley and Fleming (1975), in an investigation into the
attention given to diagrams by a sample of students, found that when diagrams
immediately followed the sentence referring to them, students spent thirty-
five percent of their time studying them; if they were elsewhere on the same
page students gave only fifteen percent of their time on average; whilst if
the diagrams were on other pages they were not studied at all. Moreover,
where diagrams and reference to them were consecutive, students perceived
an article as significantly clearer and easier to understand.

a. Audio-tapes
Audio-tapes are comparatively cheap and, like television, have some self-
evident advantages. In medicine (Graves and Graves, 1963) they enable
students to listen to interviews between consultants and their patients which
otherwise could be attended by, at most, one student; in conjunction with
slides they are used to display the symptoms of diseases for the use of
students ov~rseas who lack teachers, or they may be borrowed by general
practitioners at home for revision, to acquaint themselves with new develop-
ments, or to learn to recognise symptoms of rare diseases (Graves and
Graves, 1965, 1967). In all of these cases the increase in efficiency is obvious;
but, in university teaching, where a tape may be used to replace a lecture,
experiments are necessary to determine which method is more successful.

Using 20 multiple-choice questions testing retention of information, de Winter

Hebron (1974) compared groups of students given a traditional library induc-
tion course consisting of a lecture, opportunity for questions, a booklet, and
a guided tour. with groups given two days to use a tape-slide programme and
the opportunity to ask questions. He found no difference. Holloway (1964)
compared a formal lecture demonstration of a practical procedure in con-
servative dentistry with instruction by a tape-recording augmented by colour
transparencies, using matched groups from a class of 22 students. No Signifi-
cant differences were found in capacity of the groups to carry out practical
work or in retention of lnformation after one month. In so small a sample
differences would need to be very great to reach significance even at the five
percent level, but the tape-recorder group scored significantly higher in
immediate recall of information. Possibly this superiority was due to the
conciseness of the tape-recording which enabled students to play it twice
during the time taken for demonstrations.
a
45

Reduction in time for equivalent learning appears to be ~ advantage of tape-

recorded instruction. In a series of experiments (Bligh. 1970b, 1974),
students obtained comparable scores on post-tests although live lectures took
about twice as long as identical tape-recorded talks. Students hearing record-
ings of lectures obtained better scores on multiple choice questions requiring
some thought than those who heard the lecture live, or who had the same tim~
to read the same words in a lecture script. A later experiment using audio-
tape showed that a slower speed of delivery led to better scores on questions
at higher cognitive levels, or near the limits of students' ability.

Fletcher and Watson (1968) provided a tape-recorded commentary to lead four

students simultaneously through an orderly microscopical examination of
histopathological specimens. Their system includes the use of more than one
voice to avoid monotony, sets of slides for each student, and an optional
replay device for the classroom with three channels carrying the same
commentary, but progressively delayed. This enables students to spend
longer viewing one slide and to resume on a later tape. They say the advan-
tages of their system include greater accuracy and clarity of description,
standardisation and imp'rovement of the histological examination, ease of
revision and editing, active student participation and reduction of irregular,
inconvehient teaching of small groups.

One of the advantages of tape-slide teaching is that it can be combined with

other methods, particularly laboratory work. The use of tapes or books with
information and questions, together with slides, has proved very effective in
the teaching of veterinary science (Appleby and Poland, 1968). When Engel
et al (1974) used audio-tapes with other supporting material they were as
efficient as face-to-face teaching, but less popular. Their popularity is
greater when personal contact with others is assured. When Wendlandt et al
(1975) compared traditional lectures with a system in which two lecture
periods per week were devoted to tape-slide teaching and the remaining
period to problem-solving and discussion, two-thirds of the students preferred
the latter.

Use of synchronised tape-slide material in a structured programme to assist

students in problem-solving was a significant improvement for engineering
students (Le Marne, 1972) except for the weakest of them. A package,
including programmed scripts, text-books, films, and cassette tapes proved
effective in teaching students to appreciate the physics underlying an experi-
ment and to recognise errors of observation (Brandt, Ansell, and Cryer, 1974).
Tape-slide teaching has also been used to overcome poor motivation in sub-
Sidiary engineering courses at the University of Salford (Andrew, 1975). They
are used individually or in small groups and allow more informal use of lecture
time.

A chance observation of preference for a tape-recording is mentioned in the

Brynmor Jones Report (University Grants Committee et al, 1965): a professor
of mathematics prepared a lecture on probability theory in such a way that the
 46

mathematics was spol{~n in detail as it was written on the board in order to

tape it for another class; when it was repeated with the other group the
lecture proved 'surprisingly successful', the students finding the absence of
the lecturer to some extent advantageous.

Tape has the further advantage that it is suited to individual use. A student
who finds a topic difficult can repeat it until he know it, so avoiding constant
requests to his teacher for help or interruptions to a class of students who
are already competent. Tapes, with slides, are being prepared for these
reasons in several of London's Dental Schools.

At Newcastle a windowless and otherwise non-functional room has been used

to supplement conventional teaching methods by the provision of a synchro-
nised stereo tape-recorder and slide projector which may be used individually
or in groups. The synchrony is obtained by an impulse on the second channel
of the tape-recorder activating the automatic projector. Carre (1969)
provided audio-tapes in booths to supplement and dovetail with pl'acticals and
CCTV lectures, to promote deeper understanding by more able students,
and to remedy deficiencies of weaker students or those with less background
knowledge. He reports that students were enthusiastic, accepted responsibility
for their own learning, and could progress at their own rate. A similar pro-
vision for up to 500 students of economic geography, made by Woods and
Northcott (1970), included lectures with a linear programme deSign, visual
materials, multiple-choice questions and problems. Nearly all students
preferred carrel learning to lectures. They liked to be able to go back over
a point, felt more involved and, with a more flexible timetable, better com-
munication between staff led to an improvement in the overall course structure.
Compared with controls, fewer students using carrels failed, although slightly
fewer obtained honours; New devices which make individual operation simpler
are being prepared, for example Harden et al (1968) describe a device to
record lectures synchronised with slides in an inexpensive and easily modified
form. In a later experiment they compared a programmed tape-slide presen-
tation with conventional teaching by lectures. Students taught in this way
significantly improved their pOSition in class and reacted favourably. Students
found they were able to concentrate, the work was 'made easy' and the oppor-
tunity to work at their own speed was a particular advantage for those from
overseas. However, they commented that the method was 'antisocial', too
intensive and lacked humour!

Perhaps the most extensive development of tape in teaching is for use in

language laboratories and other language teaChing. Many teachers are now
engaged in experiments applying the lessons and teChniques of modern linguis-
tics to the teaching of languages and to discover the best ways of using techno-
logical aids. These are listed in the Registers compiled at the Centre for
Information on Language Teaching and Research (CILT) (Lunt, 1973, .1976)
and in a survey of Research and Materials Development in Vocational Uses of
Language (Lun!, 1974).
 47

Materials development based on authentic contemporary language and up-to-

date linguistic and pedagogical theory include studies such as that by Biggs
and Blanc (Register Code No. 783) who have recorded spontaneous conver-
sations, discussions, interviews and meetings in Orleans, in such a way as
to provide a body of material suitable for research and stuqy of the living
spoken language, and for applications to the teaching of French at post-
intermediate level. Other notable studies are by Ingamellis (No. 1018) and
by a Working Party of the Scottish Universities (No. 1593).

Teaching of languages for special purposes is usually achieved by use of

language laboratory courses designed for individual study. Some of these
are based on behaviourist theories of stimulus response bonds, the concept
of reinforcement and maximum motivation, together with applied linguistics
and audio-visual equipment. Courses involving research have been prepared
by Smith (No.887), Jelinek (No. 982), Dore (No. 1128), Green (No. 1908) and
Hartley (No. 1917).

Research into materials for the less widely taught languages is normally
based on a structural analysis of the language. Sloss (No. 1028), for
instance, is researching into the development of teaching materials and tech-
niques for modern colloquial Chinese. Other research materials are listed
in CILT Language and Culture Guides.

SELMOUS group (Special English Language Materials for Overseas University

Students) was formed in 1972 to share experience in dealing with common
problems, and to exchange materials and the results of research on English
for overseas students. A collection of papers has been published (Cowie
and Heaton, 1977). Other researches appear in the Registers under Nos.
1509, 1538, 1832, 1916 and 1961.

Whilst references to the use of the language laboratory and other equipment
are distributed throughout the Registers, examples of research projects
are provided by McCarthy (No. 11ll) and Doble (No. 1416). Doble has been
exploring the roles of the language laboratory in the advanced teaching of
modern languages. Particular regard has been paid to aural comprehension
and the remedial aspects of pronunciation and intonation.

CILT Selected Reading List 22 briefly discusses and lists intensive language
courses. These have been developed largely for military personnel and other
services and for businessmen.

The effects of residence abroad are repol.'ted in a study of German language

attainment (Gomes da Costa, Smith, and Whiteley, 1974). Two conclusions
of the authors are that there is a conSiderable disparity between the aims of
degree courses and the students I aims (mainly because students wish to
attain competence in speaking the language), and that time spent abroad is the
most powerful determiner of high-level language attainment. Effects of
experience overseas have also been studied in some depth at the UniverSity
of Bradford (Willis, Doble, Sankarayya and Smithers, 1977).
 48

b. Television
Comparisons of teaching by television with traditional lectures or other con-
ventional methods do not, at the present time, give a complete picture of
their relative advantages. Summaries of American research (Chu and
Schramm, 1967; Dubin and Hedley, 1969) and comparisons in other countries
(Bligb et al, 1975) suggest not only that television is no mOre effective in
teaching information than traditional methods, but that its relative merits for
this objective in higher education are probably lower than in any other sector
or age group. Its merits lie in the circumstances in which it can be used and
the widening of the content of courses which it makes possible. Its existence
changes the objectives that can reasonably be attempted.

Maclaine (1965) describes an experiment at the University of Sydney in which

postgraduate students of education attended lectures, listened to a lecture on
television, or viewed a television demonstration; but no significant differ-
ences were found in the students' ability to recall information or to indicate
how to apply it. The impersonality and pace of the TV lecture were criticised,
the demonstration being considered more interesting.

Using restricted technical equipment with students of electrical engineering,

Craig (1968) obtained satisfactory results when prepared notes were issued
immediately prior to transmission, and followed by tutorials. Presentation
was of a high standard, and the medium waS not over-used.

Macfarlane-Smith (1968) reports of students in 27 Engineering Science Depart-

ments that those who included BBC programmes in a course did better in an
objective test of knowledge, and developed a more favourable attitude to the
subject, than students who followed the conventional courses. He later con-
firmed these findings, obtaining significant positive correlations between
students' attainments in five engineering examinations and attitudes to their
course, and between their examination and intelligence test scores. Students
of above average intelligence, especially as measured by verbal tests,
showed particular benefit from the programmes as compared with controls.

On an immediate multiple choice post-test Sclare and Thomson (1968) found

that a group taught psychiatry by CCTV did significantly better than one
taught be conventional case study demonstration, but no better than one
taught by programmed instruction. Since the first two groups showed a
favourable change of attitude to the subject, CCTV appeared to be the most
valuable of tile three methods.

Experiments in English medical schools in teaching surgery by use of tele-

vision (Smith and Wyllie, 1965; Smith et ai, 1966; Smith, 1974) showed more
benefit from televIsion, particularly to the lower 85 percent of students, and
29 out of 36 students who commented on the value of television as a teaching
method approved of it. Smith notes that all types of students learn reasonably
well from television and that in some circumstances students learn more
s
49

quickly than by orthodox methods. The lecturers who use the method observe
that students benefit more from TV where it is used as an ancilliary visual
aid integrated into teaching, than where it is used as an unaccompanied visual
aid.

This raises an essential point. Television is not a substitute for other methods
but a supplement to them. Consequently, straightforward comparisons of TV
with other teaching methods probably do not have much meaning. Therefore,
instead of comparisons, we will now turn to consider how TV is used and what
it is used for.

Gibb (1968) tested the effectiveness of a commentary superimposed over a

videotape recording of a classroom situation shown to student-teachers. The
commentary seemed essential to enable students to see the structure of the
lesson, but was less effective in demonstraing teaching techniques and the use
of visual aids. Groups who heard the conunentary could not apply what they
had learned to a second lesson which immediately followed the first. Although
this could reflect a limitation of the method, it may be better explained by
fatigue since the difference in tests between those who heard the conunentary
in the first lesson, and controls, grew less significant for items occurring
later in the lesson. Answers to specific questions suggest that viewers have
a limited capacity to process incoming information and that they tend to ignore
auditory information when both auditory and visual information are presented
together. Gibb suggests that unless auditory material is compelling, cues
taking 0.3 seconds, such as 'notice that ... ' are needed to give the vie\"er time
to switch to his auditory channel. In general it is wiser to give important
verbal infonnation when there is little visual competition. However, the work
of Vernon (1953) and Trenaman (1967) indicates that, because visuals hold
attention while the acquisition of information is consolidated by words, visual
and auditory material should be closely integrated. Problems of fatigue and
attention span have been considered by Wood and Hedley (1968), Barrington
(1965), and Mills (1966). The general consensus seems to be that programmes
should last behveen 15 and 25 minutes.

In a comparison of different ways of presenting television programmes,

Barrington (1971) found plain backgrounds with animated diagrams more effec-
tive than sophisticated backgrounds designed to simulate realistic situations.
A method of compressing material using animated diagrams and captions led
to better scores than cine films, particularly with lower-ability students.

We have previously mentioned the importance of feedback for the attention and
recall of information. By using CCTV, James (1970) has shown the value of
feedback in the learning of motor and interpersonal skills by apprentices,
trampoliners, musical conductors and workers in the social sciences.

Within the last few years, Perrott and her colleagues (1975a, b, c) have
developed self-instructional methods for teachers using videotape or film.
For example these are designed to help teachers use better questioning
 50

teclmiques following repeated practise and self-observation of a few minutes r

teaching. Brown (1976a) has reported a similar technique with university
teachers. Ivey (1974) has extended the principle of microteaching to
'micro-counselling'. Trainee teachers were taught selective listening skills
and learned to recognise that their role to facilitate pupil activity comple-
ments expository teaching. Kallenbach and Gall (1969) report that the use of
TV in microteaching saved time and expense, and was administratively
convenient. Furthermore, Edwards (1975) found no difference between super-
vised and unsupervised microteaching when self-instructional materials were
available.

Indeed, micToteaching is currently the 'in thing'. British research, together

with the work of Dwight Allen and his associates at Stanford and Perlberg at
Haifa, has been favourable. It is therefore salutary to remember that
Copeland (1975) found no significant difference between experimental and
control groups in the tendency to use the desired teaching skills, and con-
cluded that trmicroteaching can be assumed to have no significant relationship
with the subsequent classroom performance of students!!.

Nevertheless in Copeland's study student teachers increase in confidence and

awareness of personal habits. Wood and Hedley (1968) and Perrott and Duthie
(1969) have reported mixed reactions from student teachers viewing their
performance in the classroom, weaker students being less favourable and
more snesitive. Others (Hale, 1965) found it difficult to assess the general
class atmosphere from TV. Mills (1966) and Wood and Hedley (1968) report
improved understanding of teaching techniques from demonstrations; but
Mills, like Gibb (1968), fotmd no significant improvement in their application
to classroom situations. While accepting the effectiveness of microteaching,
Bligh et al (1975) question the value assumptions that underlie it. They argue
that because the appropriateness of any given teaching skill varies, its
adoption into a teacher's style is not necessarily an improvement.

Television is the only visual aid which can form a living linle between different
institutions or different sections of the same institution. Not only can very
large audiences be reached simultaneiously, but experiences are accessible
which could normally be observed by only one or two people at a time or in
which the presence of even one observer could act as an interference. FOr
example in medical schools, closed circuit television now enables large num-
berts of students to view an operation when it takes place, or subsequently on
videotape, to view a single specimen under a microscope, or to observe a
specialist's interview with his patient. In the third edition of this book we
reported a link between a medical school and a public mortuary and the linking
of five medical schools in different parts of the country for a pathology
seminar (Special Correspondent, 1966a, b). In Glasgow closed circuit tele-
vision was used to linle colleges of education and schools to enable student
teachers to observe classes in action with a minimum of interference from
their observation. At Cambridge several language classes have been taught
simultaneously by using a monitor in each of 30 booths in a language laboratory.
- 51

Bennet (1968) has described the use of eeTV at Cambridge in teaching first
year students to read at a fairly fast pace while listening to a recording of
the text. The use of television by the Open University is, of course, well
known and will not be elaborated here.

In Edinburgh Cowan, McConnell, and Bolton (1970) substituted a carefully

designed programme including CCTV, discussions, lecture notes, unstruc-
tured practical periods, and 'open tutorials' for formal lectures and tutorials
to achieve students' objectives such as (1) lucid expression, (2) profitable
independent technical reading, (3) answering and asking specific questions,
and (4) accurate observation. The ratio of staff to student contact hours
waS 20.5: 1 compared with the UGC average ratio of 13.8: 1; yet group
interaction and staff-student contact were better than on the replaced lecture-
tutorial system. Examinations showed more spontaneous syntheses of
material from various subjects. The authors concluded that even with large
classes the objectives and methods were feasible, efficient and attractive to
students.

To overcome problems of staff shortage Robertson (1969) used videotape

recordings of modified conventional lectures in engineering. Information was
written on cards displayed around the studio for ease of following them with
the camera in a sequence. In the same way a shortage of laboratory assis-
tants persuaded Pantaleo (1975) to use videotape instruction and he claims
that it required less production time than and similar cost to tape/slide
presentations. At many universities videotape machines are intensively
used in laboratories and are available on library shelves (eg BruneI Univer-
sity: Noordhof, 1974). Library videotapes may be used for revision, to
clarify difficulties, or to permit all absent student to catch up.

Ten years after it was written, the report of the Research Unit of the
National Extension College is still apposite. It comments: n ... the use of
closed circuit television in appropriate departments is rapidly becoming
standard practice in British lll1iversities; ... the use of lectures and demon-
strations recorded by one means or another is already well established in
some of them; ... there is a modest but increasing traffic between departments;
the idea of creating a permanent network of links for the exchange of 'live'
television material between a group of universities ... has serious administra-
tive and financial drawbacks ... the exchange of recorded material at present
offers an altogether more flexible way of pooling resources and from the
technical point of view calls only for apparatus which will be equally valuable
for intra-university purposes. II

Possibly the greatest contribution to efficiency in teaching is that of film and

filmstrip for they can be sent to groups who lack teachers, or can be used for
private study. However, the number of British experiments in connection with
conventional teaching in higher education is small. An extensive, carefully
designed investigation into teaching in the Royal Navy was made by Vernon
(1946) comparing classes taught with the aid of film or filmstrips. Seven
 52

main types of instruction were used combining the methods in different ways.
Closely comparable improvements in examinations, averaging about eight
percent, resulted from the use of the film strip. from the addition of the film,
from good versus poor instructors, and from high versus low intelligence in
the classes. Those improvements were highly significant statistically. The
film was perhaps most successful since it took less time than the strip; when
shown in conjunction with the strip it aided comprehension rather than
memory for details. The film, or film strip. could largely compensate for
weakness among instructors, but the taking of notes was of little value.

Kenshole (1968) prepared a film loop and a tape with slides to teach three-
phase alternating current theory, in place of the usual sL'{ one-hour lectures.
This did not lead to any significant improvement in attainment by first year
students but resulted in a significant saving of time of 40 percent.

Ash and Carlton (1953), who studied the value of note-taking during film
learning, found that it appeared to set up interference' with viewing which was
not wholly compensated for even when time was given subsequently to review
notes.

The efficiency of film in conjunction with other methods has also been demon-
strated in the teaching of physiology (Steinberg and Lewis, 1951). Showing
of the film increased knowledge in both groups of students appreciably but was
most effective after prolonged preparation; however, their teachers doubted
whether the additional time spent in preparation was worthwhile. Differences
in the projection method have also been shown to influence learning. Teather
(1974) compared front and rear projection of film and CCTV., using material
originally designed for CCTV, and found rear projection most effective.
Physical factors involved in viewing and the novelty value of the projection
method are discussed in relation to this finding.

No experiments have been traced with film loops or with automatic slide
projectors although some interesting pieces of apparatus and related materials
have been prepared for use in teaching. Film loops lasting two or three minutes
each have to be devised to illustrate a succession of concepts, so enabling
students to use them 'in any order or to select only those of special interest to
them. In the case of the slide projector accompanied by tape, or written state-
ments of what to observe, it would be interesting to know whether questions
and subsequent answers would result in better retention of material than would
statements. Experience in programmed learning suggests that a challenge to
the, student to make response, with immediate correction of his answer, would
be far more effective than the relatively passive method of telling him what to
look for.

The use of computers in British higher education is in its infancy but has
grown fairly rapidly during the last five years. The availability of cheap pocket
computers now makes their use an everyday activity in calculating and in work-
ing through various kinds of computing programmes. Flood Page reported in
 53

1971 that fifteen to twenty higher education institutions were considering, or

trying out, the use of computers for teaching purposes. The Centre
for Educational Technology (CET) has made suggestions for the future
direction of research. Dr R.A. Wisbey has used a computer at Cambridge
for the selection and grading of language materials. De Dombal. Hartley.
and Sleeman (1969) report the use of a computer to teach the techniques of
clinical diagnosis to medical students. It can provide facts about a 'patient'
and respond in answer to questions. When the student enters his diagnosis
by teletype, the computer indicates any errors and invites the student to try
again. The intention is to help students to see the significance of findings
and guide them so that they proceed logically. eliciting information fully at
each stage - an objective common to many subjects. Although it cannot teach
skills with patients, the method seems to have the approval of students and to
teach effectively. Harrison (1968) has described a number of developments
such as a computer linked to a teaching machine in a mobile classroom. This
can provide a record of each student's progress, modify instructions in
accordance with an individual's previous responses, give continuous evaluation,
and serve a large number of students simultaneously. Grubb (1968) presented
a 'map 1 of a statistics course on a cathode ray tube to mature students. They
chose which section they wished to tackle,' and an IBM 1500 computer l'outed
them through the course. Motivation was improved and a record of student
choices could give information for the design of future courses. Computer-
based learning is increasing particularly in physical sciences and mathematics.
Its use is discussed by Abbott, Cook, Hartley, and Rawson (1972) and a
number of innovations are described. A full evaluation was then in progress.
In a polytechnic, students of catering use a computer to analyse and design
menus (Forsyth, 1973). Lekan (1970) has prepared an index of computer-
assisted learning and Hawkridge (1974) discusses problems in implementing
computer-managed learning.

Other electronic aids are mentioned by Ivlr J. Martin at the University of Kent
at Canterbury where electronic equipment is used to increase reading effec-
tiveness in foreign languages. At the Faculty of Teclmology in Manchester,
electronic scanning gives access to library material at a distance.

A five-year National Programme for Development of Computer Assisted

Learning has just been completed (1977), but So far its published reports
have been disappointing for their lack of rigorous evaluations.
 ...
54

CHAPTER 4 SKILLS AND ABILITIES

A wide variety of sl{Uls and abilities is required in learning at the university

level, ranging from mechanical and manual sldlls, in which one procedure
must be learned and repeuted accurately, to higher mental abilities, such as
skill in solving unfamiliar problems, where flexibility in thinking and
capacity to consider unexpected possibilities playa considerable part in
success. Different methods of learning and teaching are required in these
cases, but an essential in learning all skills is that the student' should have
adequate opportunity for practice and should receive information as to his
success.

I: MECHANICAL AND MANUAL SKILLS

Learning of mechanical and manual skills has not been studied eX'Perimentally
among university students although there are a number of interesting innova-
tions in teaching.

In industry, however, fairly extensive studies have been made in the teaching
and learning of skills. Many of these are described by Seymour (1966). Some
of the findings have relevance to practical skills learned in certain university
courses such as the filling of a tooth, dissection of a cadaver or assembly of
electrical circuits from diagrams. Seymour distinguishes the 'knowledge'
and 'skills' content in learning a practical task. The former involves memory
for symbolic material in the form of words, numbers or diagrams, which is
said to be learned when it has been memorised and can be recalled appro-
priately; the skills content involves non-symbolic information and its
acquisition requires motor and perceptual learning. If the knowledge content
can be readily memorised, the control of the motor activities can proceed
unimpeded. Difficulty arises when diagrams and written texts have to be con-
sulted as the task proceeds or where the level of discrimination required is
near the threshold for that particular sense. This difficulty is overcome in
learning skills, such as dissections, where instructions are played on audio-
tape which the student can stop at will. Coyle and Servant (1975) have
occasionally used film instead of conventional practical work. Learning does
not seem to have been impaired and the method was no less popular with
students. Alternatively, a tape dealing with the entire process, emphasising
difficult points, seems highly effective. In a personal communication, Dr
Goodhue of the Biology Department at Trinity College, Dublin, reports that
tapes, together with diagrams and other illustrations he has prepared, have
proved so successful in teaching first-year students to dissect rats that their
initial attempt which formerly took three hours, with many errorS (after a
demonstration), are now completed almost perfectly in one hour (Goodhue,
1969).
¥

55

Experiments suggest that it is wasteful initially to practice too intensively.

Henshaw et a1 (1933) did an experiment with three groups of 30 subjects
employed on chain assembly for 80 minutes each morning. In the afternoon,
Group 1 did another 80 minutes chain assembly. Group II practised a differ-
ent operation and Group III did no assembly, yet the performnnce of the three
groups remained almost identical; but it is a common experience that rest
periods improve performance - in learning to drive a car, for instance, or
in learning to swim. Seymour suggests that the optimum period of practice
initially is half-an-hour, extending to two hours when the individual is already
practised.

An observation in many of the more complex skills is that the learner reaches
plateaux, where he appears to mru.{e little or no progress, but that these are
followed by rapid improvements, possibly owing to the synthesis of a number
of skills. Whether the skill transfers to another task seems to follow from
the extent to which it depends on selecting similar groupings of activities of
the muscles, and the skill the individual shows in 'selectivity', ie in more
frequent selection of optimum responses. Of interest here is a finding that
in learning to type, students who began to learn on an electric typewriter
later attained greater speeds on a manual typewriter than those who learned
to use the mrulUal typewriter first. Thus initial 'pacing' by the machine had
a lasting effect (Garbutt, 1963).

Contradictory results have been obtained in studies of learning by part or

whole methods. Woodworth (Seymour, 1966) favoured the 'whole' method with
special attention to and repetition of difficult or important parts. This may
account for Goodhue's success since his method consists in showing the whole
dissection, but with coloured diagrams for critical stages. Experiments at
Birmingham University Department of Engineering Production (Seymour, 1966,
Ch. 8) suggest that a more useful distinction is between perceptual content of
different parts of the task than between 'part' and 'whole'. Results of one
experiment suggest that task elements with difficult perceptual content
require longer training and that, therefore, methods which enable greater
attention to be concentrated on these elements are advantageous.

The experiment of Wilcox (1974) on the teaching of two kinds of serial task
of three lengths is, perhaps, more artificial. He used baclt\vard chaining
(ie learning the last step first, then the last two, the last three etc until the
whole was learned). forward chaining, and the whole method. The tasks
involved were a motor task-paper-folding and numerical procedures. which
may not exactly parallel any learning task in industry or university. Although
it has been claimed that backward chaining would be most effective, its sole
advantage in this experiment proved to be when working with a long number
chain. In general, the 'whole' method was superior to either chaining method.

As in other fields, knowledge of results leads to more rapid learning; what

is needed is an exact and prompt indication of what went wrong and the direc-
tion from 'wrong' to 'right'.
 56

II: LABORATORY SKILLS

How far the development of skills is an objective in laboratory work is a

matter of opinion. In the Electrical Engineering Department at Salford
University both staff and students thought the purpose of laboratory work
was to consolidate learning from lectures, to stimulate independent thought,
to communicate, and to acquire experimental techniques; students wanted
laboratory worlt to be open-ended and easily applicable to vocational engineer-
ing (Carter and Lee, 1975).

Since increasingly complex laboratory work cannot be tackled effectively by

students lacking essential laboratory skills, some teachers are providing
initial skills sessions. Black, Griffith, and Powell (1974) set tasks for
students following brief explanation from the lecturer. Typical problems
involve estimating the growth of a hair in metres per second, estimating the
number of atoms lost from the sleeve of a coat when rubbed across the table,
or the number of grains of salt in a salt cellar. Students work in groups of
four, discussing their ideas. Attention is given to translation skills, eg
from graph to verbal description, scaling up or down, and first steps in
planning a project are discussed. Leckey (1972) has developed a course to
give students skill in modern instrumentation together with appreciation of
limitations imposed by inaccuracies of particular instruments. Neither COurse
includes evaluation to determine how far students have actually acquired these
skills.

III: STUDY SKILLS

Tbe term 'study skills' is here used to cover all such skills as speed and
comprehension in reading, note-taking or methods of learning from notes and
books. Thus they are essentially verbal skills, but do not include oral skills)
verbal fluency or literary style. In univerSities there has been a tendency to
take such skills for granted. Exceptional slowness in reading may be remarked
on, but it is not usually thought of as remediable. It is rare to find a univer-
sity teacher who makes a point of exploring his students' methods of study
and guides them to use more efficient techniques.

Yet the few investigations which have so far been made suggest that this is
one area in which conSiderable advances could still be achieved. The effect
of a course of study methods for Zambian students (Bethlehem, 1973) was that
they gained Significantly in their second year compared with a control group
that did not receive advice and tutoring. Seminars did not significantly
benefit first-year students, but did so for second, third, and fourth years.
Scores on study questionnaires correlated mOre highly with grades for
students in Zambia than in Britain. Van Zoost and Jackson (1974) found that
a study-skills course resulted in improved study habits with continuing
improvement for at least six months, but students' monitoring of their own
study behaviour had no significant benefit. This may seem to conflict with a
..
57

survey of investigations into self-directed study groups, which suggested that

study methods and skills in learning are greater in self-directed, than in
teacher-directed, groups (Beach, 1974). Advantages were noted in the quan-
tity and quality of study: in students' communicative and interpersonal skills,
their sense of responsibility for their own growth, their improved critical
thinking, their awareness of how study material could be applied, and their
lasting curiosity aroused by learning. A possible interpretation is that
awareness of one's own study methods in necessary, but insufficient, for
improvement; knowledge of alternative methods is also necessary.

Malleson et al (1968) enquired into methods of study of medical students by

nsldng them to record for each period of private study a number to COrres-
pond with eight different study methods. Malleson also investigated a number
of attitudes and was tentatively able to identify certain factors in study, eg
(1) syllabus oriented: pressured vS easy going, (2) methodical vs enjoyable,
(3) self-confident vs anxious. Crown et al (1973) compared students who
attended their college health centre with controls and concluded that study
difficulties are associated with psycho-neuTotic and motivational factors.

Comparatively recently, attention has been given to speed and comprehension

in reading and to the possibility of teaching students or adults to skim in
reading. Barclay (1957) used films specially prepared to increase reading
speeds with 61 graduate students drawn from various profeSSions, in an
attempt to see whether reading speed could be increased while at least main-
taining the level of comprehension. All students made increases in reading
speed ranging from 7 percent to 213 percent, and averaging 81 percent. An
overall improvement in comprehension was also observed and, after lectures
on methods of skimming and scanning, the group achieved a substantial cut
in the time taken to find facts. Although this and the succeeding experiments
are encouraging, there is probably need for more extensive experiments to
determine to what degree the skill is retained and whether it applies only
with materials similar to those used in the initial experiment. If this proves
to be so, further experiments should be undertaken using more varied
materials in training the students.

Hill and Scheuer (1965) used a rapid reading course for medical students,
prepared by Fry (1963a, b) with 13 senior pathology students. In their case,
reading speed increased on the average by 110 percent, individual improve-
ment ranging from 36 percent to 241 percent. Comprehension was Slightly
raised and satisfactory speeds were reached in skimming following an exer-
cise in the middle of the course. Although Francis, Collins, and Cassel
(1973) found that reading improvement schemes resulted in gains in speed
(which were greater for students learning from books than for those using a
speed reading projector) this tuition had no effect upon examination
performance.

A summary of many similar investigations undertaken among eight experi-

mental populations has been made by Poulton (1961). In the 66 groups who
 58

took part in such experiments, mean gains in reading speed range from 11 to
148 percent while those in comprehension lay between -20 and +89 percent.
In cases where performance was re-tested some time after the experiment,
individuals differed considerably in their capacity to maintain gains, some
deteriorating almost to previous levels whereas others almost entirely
maintained their new high levels.

Following a review of recent literature, Wright (1968) suggests that efficient

reading involves three stages: a preview which is often achieved by skimming,
fast reading of the passage, and a review. She quotes Alderman (1926) who
found that exercises designed to increase the reader's ability to' organise
what he read resulted in greater improvement in a comprehension test than
exercises intended either to develop vocabulary or to increase retention.
She considers that the most important characteristic of written information
is its structure and that the reader must restructure difficult material to
provide his own 'cognitive map'. Perhaps this is why instructions to
summarise or to copy when reading failed to assist students (Howe and Singer,
1975), for even summarising may have added nothing to the students' under-
standing. And interference with learning occasioned by recording activities
proved insignificant unless this requirement imposed constraints on students'
learning strategies.

Another investigation of interest, because it should lead to greater under-

standing of how students study and so lead to better means of guiding them,
is that of Jahoda and Thomas (1966). In a pilot survey, 20 individuals were
asked to study each of three passages - an introduction to cybernetics
presenting a rigorously logical argument; a history text requiring memory
for relatively unfamiliar names; and a text on clinical psychology in common
sense terms - until they felt they had learned it. They were then asked to
compose questions which would adequately test whether a person had learned
the passage and were themselves asked questions designed to test what they
had learned and at what level of abstraction. During the course of study
their progress from page to page was recorded. It proved that techniques
differed widely; rapid scanning followed by study of selected passages,
perhaps repeatedly, a careful first reading checking back only on a few impor-
tant passages, constant referral to earlier paragraphs, and so on. Some of
them used identical strategies on each passage, whereas others generated
strategies appropriate to the material. Questions set by members of the
e;""Perimental sample in some cases dealt wholly with details, while others
concentrated on principles. As a result of this pilot study alone, the authors
consider that staff time spent early in a course on individual tutoring,
encouraging students to examine their learning processes, could save time
later and increase the students' range.

A more recent study by Francis, Collins, and Cassel (1973) contrasted:

(a) training in reading involving a speed reading projector; (b) a similar
course without mechanical aids; and (c) a conventional reading course without
 59

special training. Students receiving the first two treatments improved, the
non-projector group acquiring greater speed but not greater comprehension.

Freyberg (1956) has experimented with several methods of note-taking, but

these were imposed by the experimenter. He used four methods with parallel
groups of students: taking notes, writing full notes, making an outline, or
accepting a duplicated summary. His findings suggest that these methods
are effective for different purposes: where material was to be recalled very
soon but was not required for examinations, taldng no notes proved most
successful; if it was to be examined, learning from duplicated notes gave the
best results. However, the experiment is a limited one. Further experi-
ments would be required to show how these different methods influenced
students' learning and study skills over a longer period, and prior discussion
with some students of how to take notes more effectively might substantially
influence results of the experiment were repeated. The effect of dictated
notes has also been investigated by Gilbert (1975) who concluded that "note-
taking need not interfere with comprehension of a lecture even when the
student is required to take verbatim notes which he has no opportunity to
review". However, many more mq)eriments would be needed to determine
whether this result held good for other subjects: and, as in all experiments
which deal only with average results for groups of students, one cannot say
how individuals are affected.

Hartley (1976) has explored the relationships between design of lecture hand-
outs and students' note-taking practices. In five experiments he looked at the
effects on note-taking of: (a) the presence of a handout: (b) deleting items in
order to provide more space on a handout: (c) inc'reasing the amount of space
between items on a handout; and (d) omitting words and phrases on the hand-
out for the student to insert during the lecture. He found that students varied
their note-taking practices according to the design of the handout, and in
general students having no handout did worse. Students made comments such
as III use them as a basis for notes to which I add information: if timeo;
!II like to make notes independently and use the handout to check the accuracy
of my own note-taking!!, and "I read them through again after the lecture and
can remember much more. Good for revision before exams": "Very good
for revision and understanding ... 11: "I don't usually find that a handout
makes me concentrate, but concentrating on filling in the spaces on this hand-
out encouraged me to pay attention.

Hartley and Cameron .(1967) investigated note-taking by recording the number

of items in a lecture and checking how many of these were mentioned by
students in notes. Rather less than one third of what was said was trans-
mitted to notebooks, but this included about half of what the lecturer considered
important. References, definitions, names, and words written on the black-
board were recorded, but experiments leading to theory were omitted. The
method suggested that the students regarded the lecture as a framework of
ideas and theory in which to fit subsequent work: all reported that they would
 ..
60

do subsequent work but only 3 of 22 students did any. The authors conclude
that a weakness of the lecture system as a teaching method lies in the dis-
crepancy between the students' stated and achieved objectives; they suggest
that the lecturer should reconsider his own objectives, possible ways of
attaining them, and techniques to measure their achievement.

In a later study, Hartley and Marshall (1974) uneJ.."pectedly in the ninth week
of a ten-week course asked students to give in their notes. They report that
the general standard of note-taking was extremely poor. On average only 11
percent of the units of information were recorded, the range being from 3 to
129 units out of 520. In immediate recall 'good' and 'poor' note-takers did
equally well, but after revision, the 19ood l note-takers improved significantly
more than the 'poor I ones. They suggest that students should be given
instruction in note-taking and that lecturers should indicate when to take notes.

However, Howe (1974) questions the value of note-taking when there are so
many inexpensive alternative ways of reproducing knowledge. He suggests that
note-taking may influence learning directly, by maintaining attention, and by
providing a record which is of particular value to the learner. He asserts
that learning is strongly influenced by the particular note-taking strategy an
individual adopts; but this is not investigated.

Ability skilfully to collect, collate, and apply information increases in impor-

tance with the rapid growth of knowledge and number of specialities. It is an
essential component in the capacity to respond flexibly to change. Since it
tends to be taken for granted by those teachers who unthinkingly repeat courses
and methods used by their teachers in more stable times, too many students
are provided in lectures with almost all the information they need for examina-
tions. They therefore ,have little incentive to develop this skill. yet they not
only need to learn to use libraries effectively but also to use aids which will
become more common during their professional lives, such as tape and slide
sequences or computers. Fortunately there is a well-established trend to
increase activities which put the onus on students to collect information for
themselves.

Stahl et al (1975) have devised a self-help learning system in biostatistics

using programmed texts, all abstract service, small group discussion and
tutoring where available. The pass I'ate was good and students with no previous
experience were no less successful than others.

In.any course of teaching method heavily dependent upon reading materials the
choice of typographic style is important. At the Open University MacJ):)nald-
Ross and Waller (1975) have suggested that the decision on this practical prob-
lem should be preceded by critiCism of available styles, establishing alterna-
tives and testing them. The use of typographic styles to distinguish different
kinds of content has resulted in significantly higher scores on immediate tests
of comprehension when readers were told to use the SQ3R study method
(Coles and Foster, 1975). In this method students are required to survey a
p

61

te),.-t, ask pertinent questions, read, recall, and revise in that order
(Robinson, 1961).

MacKenzie (1974) has shown that Open University students in remote areas
performed no worse than others in terms of dropout and degree success,
in spite of baving no television and counselling services. Research projects
are set for a growing number of undergraduates and these and long essays
take the place of some traditional examination papers. Librarians are often
invited to advise students on the use of library facilities; but few seem to
realise that informing students is not enough. At Bradford University
Crossley (1968) set exercises for students during a short course designed to
ensure that they gained skill in searching literature. This resulted in a
higher level of library inquiry and increased use of inter-library services.
Wood (1969) also mentions exercises during a course of a Similar kind. An
enquiry at Sheffield University found that on the average students spent little
more than one third of their grant for 'books, stationery and equipment' on
books. Although roughly two students in five thought the stock of bookshops
was poor or very poor, a similar proportion had never ordered books not in
stock. Bristow (1970) held seminars to improve reading, note-taking and
reporting among mature teachers studying for a Diploma in Education. These
students benefited from the comments of their peers, in addition to those of
the group leader, so improving their performance considerably. Steedman
(1974) found that lectures on information sources combined with a literature-
search exercise received a favourable response from students, who made a
much better start to the final year project than students who were not treated
in this way.

Essay writing and the writing of laboratory reports are other skills which
tend to be taken for granted by university teachers. In 1968 one lecturer in
London University mentioned how poor essays were in the final examination
of his department; but, in reply to a question, he admitted that the students
were not required to write a single essay during their three-year course!
Evidently their teachers were making two assumptions, both of which we would
consider unjustified: firstly, that students would have the skill to write essays
despite lack of practice, and secondly, that answers in essay form were appro-
priate to test understanding or skill in a subject which did not require verbal
work of this kind while learning it. This may be a common error: Beard,
Levy, and Maddox (1964) noted a high correlation between scores in a verbal
test and an engineering drawing examination, and commented that the examina-
tion was probably unnecessarily verbal in content. Because middle-class
students use more structurally complex syntactic sequences, more uncommon
qualifiers, and fewer fragmented or repetitious word sequences, Pool (1971)
believed that students' habits of speech and writing are established well
before puberty. Consequently verbal tests will normally discriminate against
working-class students. This effect is likely to be increased in courses lack-
ing verbal practice.
 62

Inquiry suggests that the amount of feedback students receive on writing

varies enormously. Although it is obviously the intention in the old, and
and some new, universities that tutorials should fulfil this function, com-
plaints by students indicate that this is not apparent to all tutors as some
spend the time in giving a mini-lecture instead of initiating discussion about
students I work. In London, where staffing does not usually permit individual
tutorials, group discussion of essays is used in some departments, notably
geography. Often a students is asked to read his essay to the group who then
comment on structure, handling of material, use of illustrations, and so on.
At the postgraduate level, Woodford (1972) outlines scientific writing exer-
cises designed for PhD students, who learn to write journal articles, being
encouraged to clarify their thinldng before considering an outline, and to
study the requirements of suitable journals. They discuss presentation of
tables, examine drafts for logical flaws or errors, and consider ways of
improving style in writing. WaSon (1970, 1973, 1974) outlines various ways
of assisting students. Whilst there can be no doubt that help of these kinds
improves performance, neither author has evaluated his method.

Soloff (1973) has confirmed Kandel IS finding (1936) that handwriting influences
grades awarded for the content of essays even when some marks are alloca-
ted for handwriting independently. Two recent studies have shown that
continuous assessment tends to result in more consistent study habits and a
more uniform performance by students throughout a class (Carpenter, 1975;
Bailey et aI, 1975).

Where written reports are required there is evidence that students can be
helped to improve them considerably in the course of learning. Dr A.P.
Prosser (Imperial College, University of London) set e}"-perimental problems
to pairs of first-year engineering students who were required to solve the
problem and discuss their solutions in some detail with the tutor before
writing their reports (Prosser, 1967). He commented that the reports were
technically of higher quality and more comprehensive after the introduction of
this method, and that marked improvement could be observed during the year
in describing and interpreting results. Although it is fairly generally agreed
that putting one IS ideas on paper is an aid to clarity in thinldng, the way in
which it clarifies has not been investigated; it is almost certainly in part
because inter-relationships too complex to hold in mind can be seen more
readily when spelled out Or arranged diagrammatically, but no doubt the
effort to find the right word to express a half-framed idea in itself leads to
greater clarity. Since it is one of the most important skills it deserves
investigation, both as to how different individuals set about it and how teachers
can aid students in improving their techniques.
 63

IV: ORAL SKILLS AND GROUP DISCUSSION

Oral skills have always been important in medical and dental professions
because doctors and dentists must communicate with colleagues and their
patients. In the legal profession too, oral skills have always been an essen-
tail requirement to elicit information or to exercise persuasion. But,
particularly since the Second World War, proliferation of committees has
increased the need for oral skills among engineers and scientists, while the
use of television and other audio-visual aids has increased the use of oral
communication and at the same time made audiences more critical. Conse-
quently, not only must students develop a capacity to present a report, or to
engage in discussion with experts in other fields, but, as in all communication,
they must appreciate factors which intluence decisions, such as interaction
between members of a committee, their difficulties with subject matter, their
prejudices, and so on. Like doctors Or lawyers, young scientists must learn
to express ~hemselves well and should gain at least practical experience, if not
theoretical knowledge, of group dynamics. Indeed, by using techniques such
as interaction analysis, doctors are still developing new methods to teach the
skills required in doctor/patient relationships (Scott et aI, 1973).

Partly owing to the influence of the Hale Report, the activities of the Nuffield
Foundation, and UGC sponsorship of teaching innovations, the use of group
discussion methods has considerably increased in univerSity teaching during
the last few years. The chief purpose of diSCUSSion differs from subject to
subject. In biology the most important purpose is probably encouragement of
critical thinking. In mathematics students may discuss their difficulties.
While younger students of engineering are more likely to discuss problems of
a mathematical nature, older students are more frequcntly concerned with
applications of engineering to industry (Beard, 1967a). In most subjects,
particularly the humanities, there are occasions when a student gives a talk
on a prepared topic and leads subsequent discussion. In this way students may
learn to play different roles within a group. To develop the variety of skills
required for these roles Bligh (1973) has advocated the use of a progression of
small group methods gradually increasing in size and in the capacity of their
tasks. A later publication (Bligh et al, 1975) recommends a sequence of up to
16 different techniques beginning with small tutorless groups, such as 'buzz
groups', through case studies, class discussion and seminars to methods
requiring and teaching emotional sensitivity such as free group discussion,
T-Groups, and counselling.

Two examples from recent literature will serve to illustrate the use of tutor-
less groups. Loewenthal and Kostrevski (1973) describe an experiment in
which engineering undergraduates were given exercises in pairs, requiring
them to describe objects to each other. The group who had this training
became superior to a control group, not only in describing objects, but in
their scores on the verbal section of the AH5 'intelligence' test. Smith and
Jepson (1972) used an !information game' in which students, working in groups
of seven, were each given only part of the findings in a case of metabolic
 64

disease. When left to their own resources of reading illId group discussion
to answer questions and work out the remaining findings, they argued about a
wide range of biochemical reactions with evident enthusiasm and enjoyment.
Another investigation related learning during group discussion to the number
of leader/student and student/student interactions, and to assessment of
students' abilities and intelligence. Only the number of student/student
contacts was highly correlated with cognitive gains (Palmer and White, 1974).
Niether personality scores, nOr numbers of interactions with group leaders,
correlated significantly with measures of learning. A recent American
8J.."periment (Securro and Walls, 1975) also shows the relative ineffectiveness
of teachers, compared with students, in increasing the flow of 'group discus-
sion. Students who recorded their own and one other student's contributions
in discussion, significantly increased their number of contributions. They
spoke more than controls and than a group who Imew their contributions were
being recorded by their teacher.

The majority of studies of group interactions and of group discussion have

been made in the United States; but there 1s a growing volume of contributions
from British authors. Klein is the author of two books (1961, 1965); Sprott
(1958) surveys many studies, both British and American; Abercrombie in
The Anatomy of Judgement (1965) discusses factors which influence judgement
and accuracy of observation. In Aims and Techniques of Group Teaching (1970)
she relates group methods to objectives and outlines a series of meetings
planned to help students to come to terms with the problems of changing status
in the authority-dependency relationship. Some of this work will be discussed
further in the section on teaching for change of attitudes; but here we are
concerned with group dynamics independent of objectives in teaChing. There
is general agreement that some of the important variables are seating position,
talkativeness, personality of the participants, and the kind of leadership.
Position proves to be more important than casual observation suggests. The
leader'S position, if he sits separate from the group but facing them, indicates
that he expects members of the group to address him but not each other; if he
sits at the head of a table this suggests that he expects to be addressed a sub-
stantial part of the time; he must sit among the group as a member of it, or
outside it as an observer, if he wishes the group members usually to
address each other. Individuals within the group tend to choose positions
according to whether they wish to talk or not, preferring a place opposite the
leader if they Wish to talk to him, but adjacent to him otherwise; a member
opposed to the group may withdraw his chair from the circle. Generally, mem-
bers tend to address those who face them more than members placed adjacent
to them. A teacher may use this to encourage a quiet member to talk by
placing him opposite a talkative one, or quieten the talkative by placing them
next to each other or to the leader. PerSistently-silent members may be
assigned an active part by preparing a paper or a few pOints to begin the dis-
cussion, while the over-talkative one can be silenced by inviting him to be
group secretary or by thanking him for his contribution and inviting other
comments ·on the points he has raised.
 65

1{lein (1965) observed that in a series of free discussions members tended to

establish characteristic interaction frequencies, high interactive sub-groups
being formed, particularly in pairs. In line with American findings she
found that the more voluble members tended to be papu1ar and that agreement
on the ranks of members increased as the series proceeded. American
studies have shown also that it is the talkative members who can most readily
get the support of the group. A normally silent member giving the best solu-
tion of a problem faUs to get it accepted without the aid of one of the most
voluble participants. Tuckman and Lorge also found (1962) that contributions
by members of low status were normally ignored in arriving at a group solu-
tion to a problem; in such a case the solution arrived at by putting together
the best points from all individual solutions excelled the solution of the same
individuals when working in a group.

Deutsch (1949) studied the effect of giving different information as to the

assessment of group work to members of different groups. Some groups were
told that they would be assessed collectively, in co-operation, while others
were informed that each individual would be assessed independently, in com-
petition with other members of tb.e group. The 'co-operative' group showed
more co-ordination of effort, diversity in amount of contribution, sub-division
of activity, attentiveness to fellow members, mutual comprehension and
communication, and greater orientation, orderliness and productivity per unit
time, as well as mOre favourable evaluation of the group and its products.
Berlwwitz et al found (1957) that, in groups of three students who were evalu-
ated favourably or unfavourably for contribution made, those groups in which
all members were unfavourably rated were most integrated and most highly
motivated, while those in which members received different ratings found
each other less attractive and were least motivated. Thus, in both cases,
elements of competition and perceived difference in achievement were destruc-
tive of group spirit and achievement within the group. Personality may have
a similar effect; Hay thorn et al found (1956) that students of a markedly
authoritarian personality were more aggressive and less effective in group
discussion than those who were rated 'egalitarian' on the California F-scale.

Contributions of a discussion leader as compared with an observer have been

studied by Maier and Solem (1952). They found that minorities obtained a
better hearing in a group having a leader and tended to be Sheltered by the
leader. so that minorities with strongly expressed, but wrong, views con-
tinued to hold them in groups with a leader, but were forced to change their
views and to accept a correct solution in leaderless groups. This suggests
that free group discussion with an observer may be more effective in encourag-
ing critical thinking than discussion in a group with a teacher; but the scope
of the experiment is inadequate for anything more than a suggestion that this
may be worth investigating further. In an experiment with 800 groups of
different sizes, Davey (1969) concluded that a permiSSive style of leadership
was most productive with groups having four to seven members, but that a
controlling style was more effective for fewer than four or more than seven.
 66

The value of discussion between students in the absence of a lecturer does

not appear to be recognised generally in university courses. Students
consulted by Marris (1965) said that they frequently discussed their work
with each other and could be less inhibited with staff absent; it was a more
satisfactory way of dealing with difficulties since they felt that seeking help
from staff was viewed as a confession of incompetence. Teachers who have
organised work so that students discussed questions together in pairs, or
small groups, before raising further questions with them have [olmd the
method very successful (Beard, 1967b).

It was suggested earlier that if students lrnow the objectives on which they are
to be assessed, they are more likely to strive to achieve them. However,
some objectives are difficult to describe. To let students evaluate the work
of their peers is one way of teaching these objectives by experience.
American research has found good correlations between peer and teacher
evaluations, but self evaluations by students have tended ta be generous
(Parker and Kristal, 1976; Burke, 1969; Bligh et aI, 1975). After reviewing
the literature on peer teaching, McNall (1975) concludes that it can improve
interpersonal attitudes in the classroom.

V, HIGHER MENTAL SKILLS

a. Critical thinking
'Critical thinking', 'scientific thinking', and 'understanding' are terms which
come readily ta the minds of teachers when they are asked to outline their
chief aims in teaching. However, it is commonly added that many stUdents
are very limited in their capacity to think critically. Medical students are
often mentioned as a group 'less able than most honours students' who, due to
pOor ability, are dependent on their teachers, unable to learn without
considerable guidance and who, moreover, must be enabled to recall a mass
of information before it is possible for them to begin to discuss intelligently
or to deal with problems. Teachers who argue in this way would do well to
study the findings of psychologists who have investigated the factors operating
in transfer of training.

Thorndike (IS13) in the earlier phases of these investigations concluded that

only identical elements of content, or pattern of procedure, could be trans-
ferred from one learning situation to another. In the case of medical courses,
fpr example, some procedures in pre-clinical subjects are relevant in
related post-clinical work, and to this extent habits of work transfer directly
and beneficially. But transfer applies equally to undesirable habits: learning
by rate without understanding, accepting rather than challenging authol'itarian
statements, and concentrating on accumulation of facts rather than interpret-
ing them or making deciSions, are also likely to be transferred to the post-
clinical course if they have been the pattern of behaviour in the pre-clinical
school. Since recent work suggests that more generalised training may be
transferred when there is a similarity between the new Situation and the one
po

67

in which the behaviour was learned, it seems imperative to provide a situ-

ation in which students are encouraged to be critical as soon as possible.
Thus teachers who insist that medical knowledge can be introduced by means
of problems which require initiative and understanding in the students as they
solve them, are more likely to traill doctors of a critical habit of mind with
capacity to educate themselves.

Information as to how to be critical may also be required. Connors (1972)

describes an experiment in which mature students read an article, 'Decision
Making in Britain', at first with little criticism, but when they received
further material including all introductory article on 'how to sift and clarify
the evidence" they came up with a list of burning questions to put to the
authors of the text.

A useful concept is that of 'sets' which consist of expectations based on past

experience. In an experiment in the psychology laboratory students attempt
to obtain stated quantities of liquid from combinations of three given amounts.
The first four problems can be solved only by subtracting the second from
the first and adding the third. The fifth problem can be solved in this way
but also, more easily, by simply subtracting the third from the first amount.
By no'means all of those who attempt the problems see the easy alternative.
They have developed a Iset' which is useful while conditions remain the
same but which is inhibiting so soon as they change. Individuals differ in
their flexibility in Situations of this kind, those who normally welcome
ambiguity and novel ty being more likely to hit on the mOre economical solu-
tion. Teachers can use methods which develop flexibility in thinking by
fostering 'sets' of a constructive kind, for instance by teaching strategies
for attacking problems rather than, or in addition to, 'sets' for specific types
of solution.

A constructive use of 'set' is made in teaching French literature in one

department of London University (Uren, 1968). A preliminary discussion
takes place around the theme of the text to be studied, and students are
asked to predict pOints that the author has made. It is not uncommon for
students to bring up in this way all the points touched on in the text before
they have even heard it. They are encouraged by their own display of know-
ledge and listen to the text very attentively to see how it treats the theme.
Their tutor takes the opportunity to point out the value of their adopting a
Similar strategy in their personal reading.

Psychologists would also expect students, like children, to succeed best

where teaching methods arouse most interest and most activity on the part of
the learner. With children, evidence already exists that retention of informa-
tion is at least as good when it is gained as a by-product of solving problems
as when inculcated by efficient teaching of information only. No doubt this is
partly because the information becomes organised into a meaningful whole
which, as we have seen, aids retention. Further, the method is likely to
inspire so much interest that the children spontaneously follow up the
 •
68

problems, thus extending their range of learning. However, we cannot say

categorically that teaching students through problems is more efficient than
other current methods, in terms of inculcation of information, for no e:h"Peri-
ment bas been carried out at their level comparing this method with others.

That there is an essential difficulty in thinking objectively, owing to uncon-

scious assumptions and habits built up in the course of learning, has been
shown by. Abercrombie and others; reception of information, recollections,
observations and description, judgements or inferences are alike affected.
Thes e assumptions operate even with relatively simple material in visual
illustions, in giving verbal definitions, or in understanding the meaning of a
word, as well as in tasks for which mOre training is needed, such as inter-
preting X-rays. Teachers have various methods of combating this problem
but it is questionable whether they are fullraware of its extent. They recog-
nise that for the student to be led to new skills for which his existing habits
and skills are inadequate they must organise new material in a way which is
meaningful to him. But if the step is too great for him, or a problem too
difficult, they tend to repeat their first explanation or to show again the
steps of a solution to the problem without examining the student's assump-
tions and preconceptions. To do so involves either prior study of all possible
wrong assumptions, with questions or procedures to correct them (as
provided in some branChing programmed texts) or discussion.

Johnson-Abercrombie experimented with undirected group discussions. Her

aim was to avoid instruction in a 'correct' method but to develop a scientific
method by stimulating students to work out problems among themselves
through mutual questioning and correction. For example, in an early study
with James and Venning, one group of students was trained to be observant
in studying X-rays and other visual material by critiCism of their own
descriptions and inferences, so becoming aware of assumptions and precon-
ceptions which influenced the receipt of visual information (James et al, 1956).
It should be noted that the experimenter did not play the part of a director of
discussion but was an onlooker who asked a question, or commented, some-
what in the manner of a psychiatrist in a group therapy session. The responses
of the participants are also reminiscent of volunteers or patients in group
therapy. Some inquired the purpose of it all and asserted that they had gained
nothing from such undirected WOrk (rejecting the experience), while others
developed feelings of insecurity or hostility which they worlced through; and
nearly all were astonished, or even dismayed, on discovering how greatly
unconscious assumptions had influenced their jUdgements. In subsequent
comparison of this group with one conventionally t'Uught, in observations of
three X-rays, the trained group were superior to a highly significant degree;
they made fewer false inferences, fewer inferences unaccompanied by descrip-
tions, more of them conSidered two hypotheses rather than one only, and a
smaller number were inappropriately biased by one test in dealing with the
succeeding one. Evidently a change in behaviour did occur due to this kind of
general discussion. Barnett (1958) used group diSCUSSion in a Similar fashion
with eight students using alternate two-hour meetings in a series of 24, for
>

69

free discussion following the reading of a brief, and sometimes controversial,

passage or article; like Abercombie, he observed the discussions without
intervening until the end. He found that students crone gradually to stick more
to the point and to criticise each others! arguments more effectively - there
was rather less arbitrary statement of personal prejudices and rather more
attempt at rational argument, but these trends were only beginning to appear
towards the end of 12 periods of discussion. Behaviour of some members of
the group was noticeably influenced, eg in talking more, or less, Or in
becoming less aggressive.

What evidence there is suggests that lectures do not exert a comparable

influence on students to make them think more critically. We have already
mentioned the findings of Bligh, and of Houston and Pilliner. Elton (1965)
compared students following courses of logic instruction and applied psychol-
ogy, in their capacity to reason, as measured by Valentine's Reasoning Test,
before and after their courses. Although the philosophy class studied a 16
week course devoted to the logical principles underlying valid thought, they
made no greater improvement in scores than did the students of psychology.
A promiSing line of investigation is suggested by Garbutt (1963) who collected
text book definitions of terms used in accountancy. There were ten distinct
definitions of 'capital r. When students were asked to define words commonly
used in their first term'S study many poor definitions, or none, were given
for some of them, 'capital r proving the most difficult. It seemS probable that,
in a number of subjects, students cannot be intelligently critical because they
simply do not know what they are talking about.

In surveying barriers to progress among students of social psychology. Gibson

(1970) lists six main lcinds of error: first, the notion that theories and hypothe-
ses have been falsified when they have been shown not to apply in certain cir-
cumstances; second, over-generalisation of experimental results; third,
failure to recognise particular experiments as building blocks in a wider
theory, so that when experimental results cannot inunediately be extrapolated
to society at large, they are regarded as useless; fourth, lack of knowledge
of research which would give precise meaning to terms such as 'balance',
'attitude', or 'prejudice'; fifth, rejection, complete or partial, of quantita-
tive data, in the belief that essential aspects of the subject must be missed if
quantitative data are insisted on; and sixth, confusion over what constitutes
evidence. Thus he cites, in more detail, the kinds of complaints made by
Abercrombie of biology students in the 1950s. The evidence, to date at least,
is that her remedy may be the most effective.

Researchers in American also suggest that discussion plays an important part

in the development of critical thinking (McKeachie, 1966). It i,B of interest,
too, that the extensive and careful observations and experiments made by
Inhelder and Piaget into the development of children's thinking have led to
similar conclusions (Inhelder and Piaget, 1958). Piaget believes that the final
stage, normally achieved in adolescence, in which children learn to accept
 70

assumptions and hypotheses from which they make deductions, develops

primarily as a result of appreciating different viewpoints in discussion and
during co-operation. Indeed, in the absence of co-operation and the result-
ing discussion, he believes that this final level of thinking fails to develop
for, he says:
!lthe coercions of other people would not be enough to engender a
logic in the child's mind, even if the truths that they imposed were
rational in content; repeating correct ideas, even if one believes
that they originate from oneself, is not the same as reasoning
correctly. On the contrary. in order to teach others to reason
logically it is indispensable that there should be established between
them and oneself those simultaneous relationships of differentiation
and reciprocity which characterise the co-ordination of viewpoints. II

Since the majority of students do not always reason logically there appears to
be sufficient evidence here for extensive use of discussion between students
or, as nearly as possible on a basis of equality, between teacher and students.

b. Making diagnoses or decisions and solving familiar problems

Despite the importance of problem-solving and decision-making in university
work there is no systematic body of inquiry into processes of learning these
skills nor, until recently, any analysis of them with a view to more effective
teaching. But analysis of subject matter by teachers and psychologists
engaged in writing programmed books, or programmes for teaching machines,
and that by psychologists preparing Iflow-charts! of instructions enabling the
reader to arrive at decisions by means of simple alternative choices, have
indicated new approaches in teaching.

Gane, Horabin, and Lewis (1966) have begun work on clarifying decision-
malting in industry and in government directives to the public, but they have
also suggested application in other topics including the making of diagnoses in
medicine. They give an example for the diagnosis of Reynaud's Disease and
Secondary Reynaud's Phenomenon, too complex to reproduce here, but a
simpler application to a legal procedure (Ross, 1975) suffices to demonstrate
the method although it does not require the cross-linking and diversity of
possible solutions of the medical diagnosis chart (Fig. 1, p. 71).

By this technique, everything which must be taken into account is itemised.

Methods of presenting the data can aVOid production of excessively large
charts, either by listing instructions or by presenting a number of sub-charts.
The use of charts of these kinds in industry has resulted in dramatic improve-
ments in training time and in general efficiency. Their value in university
teaching has not yet been ex-plored, but the authors suggest that medical diag-
nosis charts may be used to update experienced practitioners with new develop-
ments Or as useful 'memory-joggers'. They have an obvious value to the
advanced student in giving him, almost at one glance, all the factors which
..
71

FIGURE 1: Part of an algorithm prepared by Ross (1975)

PROCEDURES ltl APPLYING FOR GAAtlTS

( STAR 0
Take instructions

r..!Ihat type of grant is sought?

.~
Reseal of For~ign Grant Letters of
Res~~l of Interstate Grant Mministratlon
Can e~ccutor/admlnistrator swea~7~
tDces •• 95 Companies
Act apply? " affidavit producing original grant? Peruse Will

hes "
IEoTaw Probate DUty.!
(0 Is it appropriate for solicitor )~
acting on behalf of adminlstNtor es
Writ(! to
benefiCiaries
~Sl ~
will
\eobtaln addresse~J
of wl~nesses to
Estate Duty returns or e~ecutor to apply7{s.81 At.P Act)' executlon of will

Ii Obtain POloler of n!
Attorney from foreign
administrator
\IObhln fI da~~t
of execution of
Power of Attorney
Obtain
list of
Send
letters
to banh
Advertise
notice of
intention
Obtain
IncOli\ll
",
list debts &
liabilities
assets coo;paniu to apply value as~ets
~
L-..!:,tc. r~
I

§Pneclpe 1°'"" 'ff""'] 1°;:"::::::'):1 ~

of scarch~s Admlnhtra~r Inventory §1
order
Oraw pm~n:IIDraW p~batel
L~~:;~ ~~
Admlnhtratlon
and Estate
dyty forms
for"client
"
to swear
~
appolntml!nt
I

If letten of administration, obtain bond of insurer or sureties

IAttcnd cll~nt to sign affidavit and d~ty returns

!I Lodge Estat~t!
Duty Statement
![LOdge p~batetl
Otlty Statement
l~earch for will
in R-G's office
1~earch for cavea~ 1
In Pro\)ate office
Search for other It
application for grant
I
Receive & cheCk duty assessments Swear affidavit of searChes

~ lodge docur.lents with

I Registrar of P~\)ates

~ I~'O" ' ':1

e
duties
anc!
cOlmlission r "ll,'"'~' ";1
Creditors (if
necessary)
I After 2 days check If approved
and answer any requisitions

Pay beneficiaries LAfter 7 days pay fees on order an~

2 days later collect parchment
I
F I Ii ISH
Advertise notice to creditors

Receive 5.14 certificates

I Mandates for 1Cllent Si9nSI ! Client signs transmISSiO~!

tr~nSmission bank /survivorshlp application
sent (re withdrawal
Invl!stment.) forms
Lod~c appliclltion at T.O.
j j
Collect In assets
 72

need to be taken into account in coming to a decision. The authors comment

that the same advantages would hold if the chart dealt with completely differ-
ent kinds of subject matter. such as technological information or the laws
relating to taxation. Almost certainly, somewhat Similar charts would guide
students in the solution of familiar kinds of mathematical problems.
Crombag et al (1972) and Ross (1972-6) have used the method in teaching law
to students.

Designers of programmed books have Ullalysed subject matter and strategies

in solving problems to present them in such a way that specific methods of
problem-solving are learned and more general problem-solving techniques
are derived. One essential factor in successful solutiOI. appears to be recall,
or reminder, of relevant principles. Wh!?re a reminder is needed it has been
found more effective not to state the reqUired principles but to ask questions
which result in the student recalling or rediscovering them.

A technique increasingly used in America and beginning to be used in Britain

is the 'simulation technique'. Tests Or 'games' are used to Simulate situations
in which it would be unsafe or impracticable for students to take charge in
reality, such as diagnosing and treating diseases, deciding on land uses, re-
planning a town, and so on (Taylor and Carter, 1967; Taylor and Maddison,
(1968). For example a structural game for undergraduate engineers has
been developed at Heriot-Watt University (Cowan and Morton, 1973). The
game, MOCO, is intended to improve the players' ability to identify forces in
the members of pin-headed trusses. Substantial gains are reported except in
verY difficult items. Role-play, simulations, and project methods were com-
bined in one poly technical department of chemical engineering, when students
were aSSigned roles either on the staff of an imaginery industrial company or
as members of a firm of chemical consultants. The company's 'Works Manager'
formulated the problem and the consultants' 'Capital Director' held discussions
with teams about proposed industrial projects.

In a similar way the medical student, for example, can decide on tests and
treatments, selecting as many as he wishes from a list provided, following
through the consequences of his deciSions in subsequent sections of a booklet
until his !patient' recovers or succumbs. This may be a useful supplement to
observations on the wards. Some students who have used the method commen-
ted that they realised for the first time the consequences of the decisions they
would be called on to make (McCarthy and Gonella, 1967). Other methods in
clinical deciSion-making involve comparing students' solutions with those of
consultants. A method devised by Helfer and Slater (1971) provided an objec-
tive instrument for assaying the process a student uses to arrive at a clinical
diagnosis. A student works from a deck of 96 cards, each recording a specific
historical fact, a given physical finding, or a single laboratory result. He is
told the setting (outpatient, ward, emergency room) and is given a brief
abstract of the case and an index sheet itemising information available on the
cards. He selects cards in any order he chooses and compares his solution
with those of five pediatricians by using a computer, so supplying detailed
 73

information as to his performance. A less mechanised approach for the

general practice trainees involved comparing their diagnoses with those of
a large group of principals (Richardson and Howie, 1972). A 'before' and
'after' study of antibiotic prescriptions suggested that this bad been a useful
experience. An inclusive investigation (Meals, 1973) consisted of a study of
treatments by different consultants; but this seems to have attempted the
skill of diagnosis merely by instruction, instead of involving students in
making and correcting their own decisions, as learning theory may seem to
recommend.

A book. by British authors (Armstrong and Taylor, 1970) describes instruc-

tional simulation systems for use in higher education in military studies,
management training, teaching of industrial relations, urban and regional
studie~. international relations, local government, and for development of
social skills. Although their effectiveness is discussed, systematic evalua-
tion of these methods has not been undertaken; they are used and valued
because they partly supplied the need to study consequences of alternative
courses of action and interaction between groups having conflicting feelings.
As part of a university programme in careers guidance, simulation techniques
were used during a five-day course on 'Information and Management' to give
undergraduates a realistic idea of the work involved in this field (Graddon et
al, 1974). Students' attitudes to the course were favourable. Similarly a
game to teach skills in business studies is described by Hargreaves (1970).
Snadden and Runquist (1975) have described the use of a programmable
calculator to simulate experimental conditions in chemistry. Students are
required to take laboratory deCisions without conducting a full experiment.
This means that, while the students learn fewer manipulative skills, they are
more likely to be able to study a wide range of experimental conditions.

Simulation techniques have also been applied in teacher training by Tansey

(1969) who provided case studies requiring decisions by 'teachers'. He points
out the advantages of involving students in situations without risk which
sensitise them to the real world of teaching and which bring together the theory
and practice of education. Cruikshank (1963) has developed a teacher training
scheme which Can present the student with up to 31 different Simulated prob-
lems related to teaching. This also forges close links between theory and
practice.

Bligh (1972b) describes a method of teaching decision-making for teachers in

training which combines group discussion with lectures or reading. They learn
to consider a wide range of possible actions before taking a decision. But
Bligh concludes that small leaderless groups seem to have an important role
in teacher education and may at present be under-used.
 4

74

c. Solving unfamiliar problemsj creative thinking

Ability to solve unfamiliar problems is becoming increasingly important in

scientific work, but there has been little systematic study of this skill. A new
line of inquiry into students I and lecturers I abilities and personalities
promises to cast more light on creativity in different fields. Hudson (1966)
has distinguished what he terms 'convergent' from 'divergent' thinkers: the
former excel in intelligence tests but tend to avoid ambiguity and prefer tests
with a single right answer; the latter are comparatively poor in standard
tests of intelligence but show great fluency in pl'Oducing ideas. For example,
when asked to think of uses for a brick or a paper clip, the converger men-
tions ODe or two uses for each, whereas the diverger produces a large number.
'Divergence' and reasoning, as required in intelligence tests, appear to be
fairly unrelated. In addition to individuals biased in either direction, there
are 'high all-rounders' who score above the median in both directions, and
'low-all-rounders' who score below it in both (Joyce and Hudson, 1968).
Those with a bias tend to specialise in different fields: the able convergent
thinker chooses physical sciences, the outstanding diverger prefers the arts
Or administration.

The qualities Hudson finds characteristic of original thinkers of either kind

are dedication to work, self-confidence, aggressiveness, a desire to go down
in history and a taste for taking risks. Creative workers describe themselves
as: inventive, determined, independent, individualistic, enthUSiastic, and
industrious; whereas the non-creative select such adjectives as: responsible,
sincere, reliable, dependable, clear thinking, tolerant, and understanding.

A study by Connor of students' problem-solving identified several stages in

solving moderately familiar problems; but the students proved very poor at
unfamiliar tasks and it was rare for them to check on the adequacy or appro-
priateness of their conclusions (Connor, 1967). There seems to be a fairly
prevalent belief that inventive and creative workers are born, not made,
despite evidence that some university departments and certain teachers have
produced an unexpectedly high number of creative workers. There is evidence
too that the greater proportions of distinguished scientific workers in America
came from the East Coast initially but subsequently have been produced by
schools further and further West. Another American study suggests that
creativity is related to paternal absence or maternal dominance in childhood.

These findings suggest that creative talent could be a product of inborn ability
combined with favourable early experience, but that teaching at university
level can also be influential. Far example creativity frequently results from
cross-fertilisation of ideas. In one department of chemistry each student,
in a group of four or five under the guidance of a tutor, is given a different but
related e},.'periment. Cross-fertilisation of ideas is generated by discussion
when the experiments are written up (Nuffield, 1973).
p

75

Since good success in first-degree courses does not necessarily indicate

capacity for original work, nor a poor degree inability to think creatively,
there is some evidence that existing first-degree examinations and courses
fail to give sufficient opportunity for students to solve unfamiliar problems
or to show originality. Hudson (1966) observed that in Cambridge University
there was no relation between degree class and subsequent academic honours:
fully a third of the future FRSs at Cambridge had gained a second or worse at
some time during their university careers and the proportion among future
DScs was over a half. In an investigation in the Geography Department at
Newcastle University, undergraduates who did well in traditional examinations
performed at least competently in research but those who excelled in
research projects did not necessarily perform well in examinations; less than
half of them gained examination marks as high as B+ (Whiteland, 1966).

In consequence there is a move in some departments to tal.:e account of disser-

tations or other original course-work for the final assessment. Although
ability to think creatively is increasingly required, no British investigation
into teaching methods to encourage it has been traced. Nevertheless there are
many innovations in teaChing. In both pure and applied sciences research pro-
jects and open-ended experiments for undergraduates are becoming fairly
common.

d. Projects and problems

In 1965, Jones reported the use of carefully chosen projects in organiC chem-
istry with third year students. The subject was' chosen at the end of the Autumn
Term; practical work was undertaken the following Spring and the paper pro-
duced at the end of the term contributed to the students I final assessments.
Students worked jointly on a project, or two or three students worked on related
projects. This experiment was considered so successful that it was to become
the standard third and fourth year course in practical organic chemistry. In
engineering, projects were already employed by the middle of the last decade
and a wide variety is now in use. About a quarter of the university engineering
departments which replied to a survey had a favourable attitude towards open-
ended learning activities such as projects (Lee and Carter, 1972). Allen (1968)
and Jeffries and Leech (1969) describe 'design and make' projects in which
students prepare a design to the customer's specification, within an agreed
budget and time. Coekin's students work in groups and cost the manufacture
of Production circuitry (1970). A different kind of project leads students to
relate engineering studies with those in humanities and 'social sciences. A
popular topic at Imperial College in 1967 required speCific recommendations
by the students of, for instance, a suitable product for an engineering firm to
manufacture in a named developing country (Beard, 1967a). A few students
are able to pursue such topics overseas during summer vacations (Goodlad,
1970).

In an electrical machine laboratory, students choose their own projects

(Holmes, 1969). At Heriot-Watt,University two difference approaches are
 q

75

used (Cowan ot aI, 1970). First year students have recently designed balsa-
wood cantilever frames to support a loading bar some distance from a plane
surface. They were fabricated to detailed drawings produced by groups in
engineering drawing classes, and were tested to destruction in specially pre-
pared rigs in the CCTV studio, students being asked to predict their modes of
failure. These eJl.-periments aroused great enthusiasm which led in many
caSes to further inquiries. During the second year students select a topic for
a project from a tentative list of suggestions and are expected to ta1\:e charge
of its development, depending on their tutors for guidance only; there is
considerable display of enthusiasm, intelligence and initiative - provided
that staff do not direct too closely. It is of interest that assessments in pro-
jects show no correlation with examination results.

A number of physicists describe projects which provide undergraduate students

with opportunities to attempt unsolved problems and to study a subject in depth
(Black et aI, 1968; Elton et al, 1970; Foulds et aI, 1969; Wooding, 19G8).
Wooding lists topics which have been found suitable and outlines the develop-
ment of several in marC detail. He and his colleagues have found that they
must not work out the project very far before the student tackles it. Or else
he tends to be guided too closely by the demonstrators. Alternative topics are
available if a student proves to be attempting a problem which is too difficult
for him.

Black and his coUeages (1968) found that their students contrasted a feeling of
'sorting things out and learning' from projects with one of 'lmowing nothing'
as a result of cramming for finals in the rest of the course. Projects are also
being employed with notable success in mathematics (Hirst and Biggs, 1969)
and in medicine (Edwards, 1967; Hayes, 1964; Wright, E.A., 1968).
Cornwall (1975) describes some similar developments on the Continent. In
courses where undergraduates lack the incentive, or ability, to undertal{e
original work, and in arts subjects, dissertations are set which require
mainly collection, collation and appraisal of published material. These are
common in colleges of education and in some technical colleges, and are
increasingly set in university departments. Similar approaches are used in
social sciences. Collier (1966, 1969) uses syndicates of five or six post-
graduate students who work at group assignments in educational sociology.
In addition to greater involvement and satisfaction, the method leads to mOre
cogent reporting and allows greater independence than do traditional lectures
with tutorials.

In colleges of art and education reporting to the NUS over half the students
were working on a dissertation, thesis, or project, but only about one in
eight of students in technical colleges and universities were doing so. The
figure was particularly low in the two universities where three-quarters of
the students were neither told about, nor involved in, their departmental
research. Yet it is usually assumed that the universities train the researchers
of the future.
pi

77

The Society for Research into Higher Education has published a book on the
use of projects in higher education (Adderley et al, 1975), and one issue of
Education in Chemistry (March 1974) is almost entirely devoted to discussion
of projects. Hanson and Simmons (1972) note their value in crossing tradi-
tional subject boundaries. In two articles Harding (1973a, b) discusses
varieties and purposes of projects, and problems in their use and assessment.
Teachers who hesitate to introduce projects often give as reasons that suit-
able topics and apparatus are difficult to supply or that assessment presents
too serious a problem. They find, for example, that tutors supply widely
differing amounts of help, that work in groups makes individual contributions
difficult to assess, and that since students tackle different topics there seems
to be no adequate basis for comparison. Whilst there is some truth in this,
the growing volume of suggestions for suitable topics may Soon obviate the
first difficulty. The others present a challenge to improve methods of assess-
ment, rather than an excuse for ignoring an important aspect of students I
work. Physicists at Queen Mary College, for instance, use independent inter-
views to assess group projects and set at least three intermediate half-hour
tests containing questions on principles and on the individual's are of
contribution.

At Sussex (Hirst and Biggs, 1969) the mathematicians have devised a common
form of assessment for projects under four headings:

A Exposition: mathematical accuracy, clarity, literary presenta-

tion;
B Literature: understanding, relating different SOurces, finding
new sources;
C Originality: examples cited, examples constructed, new treat-
ments and proofs of standard results, simple
generalisations, original researches;
D Scope of topic: conceptual difficulty, technical difficulty, relation-
ship with previous studies, relevance of material
included, coverage of the topic.
An extensive study of marking of A-level biology projects in which teachers
and external moderators were given instructions about marking procedures
resulted in satisfactory performance overall; but difficulties are discussed
(Eggleston and Kelly, 1970). Handy and Johnstone (1974) have developed a
method of testing performance in projects, involving all oral examination,
which has proved very reliable, the uncertainty being of the order of 10 marks
in 225. Of 4, 000 projects which were completed and assessed during five
years, only ten provoked substantial disagreements.

As one would expect, evidence suggests that opportunity to work creatively

results in a greater output of creative work. Hayes (1964) investigated the
effect of student dissertations as part of a graduate requirement in medical
school. During the three years of the experiment, student participation in
 78

research increased: in 1961, 25 percent; in 1962, 26.5 percent; and in 1963,

45.5 percent of papers in the students I journal were based on original work.
E.A. Wright {1968} also reports that an increasing number of students are
publishing their work, mostly together with their supervisors, in the standard
scientific journals.

Strategies in solving problems of in applying e}:perimental methods require

approaches which introduce students to a wide range of problems rather than
intensive study of selected topics. Moreover, these problems should not be
easy, for in this case no genuine problem-solving activity is involved. It is
simply a matter of applying a well-known routine. In teaching problem-solving
in pure mathematics at Oxford, about half the students attended problem-
solving classes where very difficult problems were set, whilst the remaining
half continued to attend tutorials (Hammersley, 1968). The performance of
students who attended the classes became significantly superior to that of
students having tutorials, and at all levels of ability. In applied mathematics
classes where problems were relatively easy, no significant advances were
achieved relative to the tutorial group. It seems likely that the stimulus of
difficulty, together with the variety of attempts and discussion provoked,
resulted in acquisition of a greater range of problem-solving skills.

In sciences, open-ended experiments are often set in addition, or in preference

to traditional work in which expected results are known in advance. As in
projects, this allows for a wide range in performance (Hughes and Morgan,
1970). At Melbourne, Lewis (1974) found little correlation between students!
academic records and their skill in solving open-ended problems in engineer-
ing. Even in traditional e)'''perimental work it is possible to demand some
independent thinking. Read (19G9) inSists that students should attempt to form-
ulate and to test hypotheses to account for deviations they obtain from expected
results. McDuffie (1973) reports that after initial puzzlement, when left to
plan and write up experiments without class notes, sutdents show enjoyment.
They also give attention to aspects of work such as calculations, and use of
library resources, since they see the need for this.

The effect of continuous assessment of e:-'"perimental work is said by Chalmers

and Stark (19G8) to be lmarked improvement and enthusiasm! and greater
industry and enjoyment. It is assessed under three headings: accuracy,
methodology, and comprehension, but since the course is designed to belp
students in these ways their increased enthusiasm may be due to better under-
standing rather than to continuous assessment as such. Martin and Lewis
(19G8) have attempted to clarify the purpose of e:ll.'-perimental work for students
by designing each e).'-periment to achieve just one objective instead of the usual
variety. They claim that this has resulted in conSiderable improvements in
laboratory teaching.

In some cases whole courses have been altered so that experimental work can
be relevant and challenging. The Nuffield inter-university biology teaching
project (1))wdeswell, 1970) is developing methods which are largely self-
 79

instructional, but not costly. These will provide 'bridge courses', 'technique
courses' (eg at Bath), aseptic techniques, and 'main courses' which are
short courses that can be inserted anywhere, such as 'Enzymes', In elec-
trical engineering (Jenkins, 1968), in a new university, first year students
receive sets of questions approximately every six weeks ranging from
apparently simple to difficult, and are expected to answer as many as
possible using any tools at their disposal. The solution may be theoretical,
but if a student deCides to carry out an experiment he must first of all design
it, then select the equipment, carry Qut the work, and produce the results.
The answers to all questions are written in a laboratory logbook, which is
the only record of the student's work. Even more comprehensive changes
have been undertaken at Heriot-Watt University (Cowan et al, 1970) where
new methods are in use to direct students away from dependence on teachers
to a student-centred process of genuine education. Learning sessions replace
technological lectures and supporting tutorials. Objectives include develop-
ment of skill in writing and reading, answering questions and solving prob-
lems, making observations and inquiries, and in writing reports of observa-
tions and deductions. Students make experiments of their own choice and
open tutorials are used to deal with unanswered queries.

A survey of first year chemistry courses in Australia (Bryant and Hoare,

1970) shows that practical work in Queensland which 'teaches students to
think [or themselves' and 'produces data on which to build theory' scores
the highest rating [or interest.

In biochemistry in one of London's medical schools, students circulate round

a number of e},.'periments which each provide a surprise, generate a further
question, or teach a technique which will be required later (Beard and Pole,
1971; Jepson, 1969). Students experiment on themselves or on each other
or may have something to show at the end. such as a patient's enzyme pattern.
Film loops showing use of e:h-perimental techniques are available for students
to study when, and as often as, they please. Performance in the laboratory
and in group diSCUSSion covering experiments both count towards final assess-
ment. Students evidently enjoy this work but no evidence has been collected
to show whether they learn more. Organisation of a large class to circulate
among experiments is discussed here (Jepson, 1969). Other authors who
consider this problem, arriving at a number of solutions, are Shouksmith
(1969), and Jewell (1970).
 80

CHAPTER 5: TEACHING FOR CHANGE OF ATTITUDES

I: ATTITUDES AND HIGHER ABILITIES

In discussion of methods of developing critical thinking we have seen that

group discussion exposed prejudices and misconceptions, so changing attitudes
as well as increasing capacity to think objectively. It is probable that certain
attitudes preclude critical thinking or originality, whereas others promote
them. The student who clings inflexibly to what he learned at an earlier stage,
whether consciously or not, must remain uncritical, and any attitude which
prevents him from experimenting, sllch as fear of being proved wrong or look-
ing foolish, is likely to diminish his capacity (or finding original solutions or
making inventions. To be original it is essential to have an attitude favourable
to novelty and e}.."ploration. Most probably the development of all higher
mental skills is bound up with the concomitant development of favourable atti-
tudes, but there is not enough evidence to show this conclusively.

We may reasonably eX1)ect increasing attempts to foster understanding of

environmental influence on patients and clients in subjects such as medicine,
dentistry, and law. Some medical schools have already set up departments
of social mediCine or epidemiology. Davies (1967) suggests that student
dentists should ttstudy the patient and the economic, social and political
characteristics of the environment in which he livest!, and points out !!that in
many ways the success of a dentist depends as much on understanding his
patients as persons as upon his technical lmowledge and facility!!. Students of
law also have begun to study sociology. However, Levine and Bonito (1974)
find that increasing exposure of students in their clinical years to faculty
members who are involved in the kind of professional activities to which the
students aspire may be a significant factor in the formation of students!
attitudes, and consequently a barrier to change.

Such evidence as there is points to group discussion as a more potent

method for changing attitudes than lectures or seminars conducted by tutors.
A number of research wori{ers have remarked on changes in attitude occur-
ring in group members. Barnett (1958), for example, refers not only to
increase in critical thinking but also to an influence on the behaviour of some
members in becoming less aggressive. Hallworth (1957) used interpretations
of group reactions to make members of a group of teachers mOre aware of
processes influencing them, such as aggressive feelings towards authority,
and so enabled them to become more self-critical and to develop skills con-
cerned with group management.

FOr many years g;roup discussion has been a method favoured for training in
management. Smith (1969a, b) outlines the work in group dynamics known as
'T-groups!. As a result of their use, both he (1964, 1969 b) and Cureton
(1968) report increases in flexible attitudes and of more considerate behaviour,
 81

ie of friendliness and sympathy towards others; but groups prove to be differ-

ently affected in these respects (Smith and Pollack, 1968). Similar favour-
able changes in attitudes were noted by Elliott (1958) among engineering
employees who took part in T-groups. Changes in actual behaviour were
investigated by Moscow (1968) who found greater tolerance, more skill in
action, and better understl'.U1ding of others and of group interactions, among
those who had attended 'J'-groups than among their colleagues who had not.

Smith identifies three kinds of social influence operating in groups toward

the leader: 'compliance' with some kind of pressure including response to
reward; 'identification t with the leader because his personality is attractive;
and 'internaiisation ' , which occurs when influence is accepted from a leader
who is regarded us a trusnvorthy authority. In a study of 31 groups, Smith
(1969 b) found that high identification was not associated with favourable
changes in behaviour but resulted in an increase of assertiveness, or domin-
ance, on the part of group members so influenced. Cooper (1968) showed
that a substantial positive correlation existed between verified change in
subsequent behaviour and group members I perception of the trainer as
'genuine' rather than as masking his true feelings. It is of interest that the
factors investigated in considering the leader'S effect on the group are
relatively unconscious ones. Undoubtedly these are of consequence; but it
is commonly believed in universities that students' ability to modify and,
more impOrtant, to continue to modify their behaviour is more effectively
influenced by intellectual factors, such as insights into their own assumptions
Or expectations through gaining a better understanding of human relationships
Or from intellectual acceptance of a value. A tutor's knowledge of group
members' management problems seems likely, therefore, to be at least
equal in importance to his influence through persoaal qt~alities; but this has
not been studied.

In discussing acquisition of attitudes we should not forget the simple provision

of opportunities for students to display affective attributes such as critical
judgement and objectivity. Nay and Crocker (1970) have identified a large
number of attitudes which SCience students should be expected to acquire, and
suggest that they should constitute the basis for curriculum planning.

We may expect that experience outside academic institutions will modify atti-
tudes; though some studies suggest that the direction of change is not always
in the direction deSired by teachers. This could raise c-ritical questions about
teachers and courses. As in the study by Morrison and McIntyre (1967). in
which increasing tender-mindedness of student-teachers during training was
reversed during their first year of teaching, so Preece and Flood Page (1974)
found a reversal of personality characteristics of sandWich-students during
their industrial training period. The clarity of course objectives and the
enthu.siasm of both students and their university teachers were perceived less
favourably throughout the COurse. An evaluation of study abroad by Marion
(1974) did not find that students became mOre international, liberal, and 5elf-
confident in their attitudes; but they were mOre realistic and consequently less
favourable towards the host country than before their visit.
 82

From reports by individual teachers it is evident that 19ames r involving role-

playing influence attitudes by increasing insight into other people's problems.
In one college of art, students playing the role of administrative staff
developed sympathy towards an unpopular member of staff, realising that he
was at the end of a communication line, and while he received many com-
plaints he had no-one to consult or to pass them on to. Similar 'games' have
been found helpful with managers in industry, while Ashley (1968) reports
role-playing recorded on video-tape as an aid to social workers in understand-
ing group interactions and thus to handling human relationships in general.

However, it is possible to use methods which influence attitudes without

fostering criticism or insight. In an experiment by King and Janis (1956),
students were asked to read a passage, either silently or aloud, advocating
extension of the period of military service or, alternatively, to prepare a
talk based on the arguments in the passage. Although oral reading gave
students the greatest satisfaction, as indicated by their self-ratings, the
improvised talks resulted in the speakers accepting the message in the per-
suasive communication significantly more often than 'those who merely read
it. This seems to be a further example of more effiCient 'learning' due to
active involvement on the part of the learner. Nevertheless, few teachers
would approve this as a method of 'teaching' unless it waS used to make
students aware that they could be so influenced. The result of this experi-
ment suggests also that chOice of textbooks and written exercises, and the
unconscious biases of tutors in work they set, may have a more potent
influence on students' attitudes than might have been supposed.

An aspect of influence on attitudes that has not been investigated in British

univerSities is imitation of teachers, or identification with them, by students.
There seems to be no doubt that this happens to some extent and it may be
partly inability to learn in this way which accounts for antipathy to large
classes or complaints by students of lack of contact with staff. Abercrombie
(1965) quotes experiments showing the importance of perceived proximity of
children to parent figures or teachers and the need for a feeling that authori-
ties are approachable among adults. She comments: "This feeling of easy
access is very important in all sorts of teaching Situations, and we can
encourage the accessibility or discourage it with minor adjustments of the
environment!!. However, until investigations are made there are no findings
to pass on to teachers who find it difficult to make themselves seem
accessible.

II: MOTIVATION

An important objective of teachers is to increase the interest, or motivation,

of the majority of students. We have already mentioned some of the factors
which contribute to promoting them; clear definition of goals with inter-
mediate and immediate objectives; prompt feedbacl{ as to success; active
rather than passive, method of learning; and variety in teaching methods.
-
83

In addition, open-ended problems, dissertations, or 'research I projects can

arouse considerable enthusiasm. Leininger (1975) reports on three motiva-
tional innovations in an engineering course involving slide projection, analy-
sis of Case studies, and role play.

In an experiment by Cullen (1974) two groups of students were given an

intentionally dull lecture. The experimental group, asked to listen Has if they
were 'A! students'l, scored higher on a short multiple choice test immediately
after the lecture. Cullen's interpretation of this finding is that when students
identify with a social group there are powerful motivational forces which Can
be harnessed for academic benefit. Presumably the converse is also true: if
students are told they are incompetent they will perform less well.

An experiment which suggests new possibilities of increasing the motivation

of students by personally-matched courses has been made by Joyce and
Hudson (1968). It suggests that teachers and students resembling each other
with respect to being Iconvergentl or 'divergent! types form the most success-
ful combinations in teaching. Perhaps this has some bearing on a peripheral
finding in a study by Lewis and Pask (1964) of communication by mechanical
means without verbal interchange. They reported that persons with high IQ
were rather bad at communicating, partly because they overrated the
receiv~rs abilities but also because they were more vulnerable to the intro-
duction of misinformation. This looks like the intolerance of convergers to
ambiguity. It may be that, in teaching, convergers tend to give a lucid and
logically presented account of subject matter, which is acceptable to student
convergers, whereas divergent teachers favour digression which sparks off
ideas in other divergers but frustrates the convergers' need for good organis-
ation. In some cases, however, the relationship is more complex and
teachers consistently gain a similar degree of success with the same sub-
categories of students from one year to another.
 84

CHAPTER 6: EVALUATION OF STUDENTS, TEACHERS, AND TEACHING

METHODS

I: METHODS OF ASSESSMENT AND TEACHING

Since one of the chief objectives of students in entering university is to obtain

a qualification, the form of assessment employed has a considerable influence
on emphases in content and methods of study. The effectiveness of teaching
and of teaching methods is therefore influenced by the ways in which students
are assessed.

In the past the only universal evaluation technique was the terminal, or final,
examination which was used to rank students and to determine whether they
had attained an 'agreed standard'. Numerous inquiries during the last 30
years or so have shown how ineffectively traditional exams, employing essay
questions, orais, and practical tests, achieved these objectives (Beard, 1969;
Cox, 1967). There is a demand today for more varied types of assessment to
meet the variety of aims in teaching, as well as for more evaluation of learn-
ing and teaching during courses. Black reports of an inquiry into university
examinations in physics (1968): !'In general, departments replied that they
had not formulated rules about the style of questions, did not analyse
systematically the abilities tested by the questions, did not ask for model
answers, and did not ask for a marking scheme!!. There were no multiple
choice examinations, the questions being of the bookwork/essay type, or in
two parts - bookwork followed by a problem. All the questions were of the
Same style, different popers testing different topics but not different types of
ability.

Similar limitations have been found in studies of chemistry examinations and

of examinations in biochemistry (Beard and Pole, 1971). But, in the latter
case, some papers allow, or require, a wider range of cognitive skills. In
one medical school a new type of examination for the second MB has been
devised in four parts: a multiple choice paper to test factual knowledge or
simple problems; a long essay for which six weeks preparation is allowed do
that students are encouraged to seek information for themselves and to think
originally; a paper of five traditional essay questions; and a paper requiring
students to evaluate experimental data in response to the question: 'E:x-plain
as fully as you can What you consider is happening and try to account for all
the results recorded. Give some brief theoretical background against which
the problem and your solution can be set. Indicate what fUrther investigation
would help test correctness of your explanation',

Despite the findings of these investigations, a substantial number of teachers

are relatively uncritical of traditional types of examinations, In a study
among microbiologogists in the United Kingdom and Ireland, essay-type
questions and orals were found to be almost universal and practical examina-
tions were used by just over half. It was generally felt that term -time
 85

assessment of practicals would be more satisfactory, but teachers wished to

keep the existing form of examination in theory (Stewart-Tull, 1970).

A different pattern of examining in physics is reported by Elton (1968). At

Surrey the final assessment is based On: (I) examinations at the end of the
sixth and the beginning of the ninth terms, which each carry about a third of
the marks; and (2) course work assessments, under five beadings: (a) an
essay written in the first summer vacation; (b) an open-oook oral examina-
tion at the end of the fifth term; (c) full reports on three C},"periments
selected by the examiners from those in the laboratory during the second year;
(d) an oral examination on two other e},.'periments, 30 minutes notice being
given as to which ones; and (e) a project which is undertaken during the
whole of the final term. Account is also taken of the level of the courses
chosen during the first two years. Elton comments that although the reliabil-
ity of marks for course-work is low, the validity is high.

A development towards greater diversity in examining in the arts is described

by Brockbank (1969). Staff of the English department at York have retained
the three-hour paper to test alacl'ity, rapid conunal1d of matel'ial and good
recall, but they have introduced a variety of other forms of assessment.
These include a 14 day paper limited to 1,200 words, to encourage refinement
of thinking and e;...-pression and a keen sense of relevance. Five tutorial
essays are also submitted at the end of term for formal assessment, follow-
ing rewriting after discussion with the tutor. Students may choose to be
assessed in oral work in delivering, defending, and discussing a paper. In
addition, long essays of seven to ten thousand ,vords are assessed, somt:
subsequent to tutorial guidance and others withouth, and an ancillary viva may
be used in conjunction with any written form of assessment. It is of interest
that about two-thirds of the students achieve comparable grades by any method,
one-sixth each do better in papers written at leisure or in traditional papers,
while one-tenth of these do either better or worse than by continuous
assessment.

In medicine multiple choice tests are in fairly conunon use in terminal

assessments and in some final examinations (Beard, 1967b). Anderson (1967)
advocates in-course testing to motivate students to achieve their maximum
performance. He points out the need to devise tests of clinical skills and
habits that the students has acquired in relation to history-taking, clinical
examination of the patient, bedSide tests, etc, and suggests the use of micro-
phones to aid assessment of the students' abilities in taking histories. The
Todd Report also recommends the use of continuous assessment in clinical
courses (Royal CommisSion on Medical Education, 1968).

The influence of methods of assessment on the effectiveness of teaching and

teaching methods varies also with students' attitudes, personality traits, and
aims. Walton and Drewery (1967) found that of those who did badly in an
objective test in psychiatry the majority were highly extroverted; they were
no good at medical examinations in general, not so good clinically, were
 86

prone to express value judgements to patients and to give advice, and were
inclined at the beginning of the course to consider psychiatry irrelevant to
their future professional work. Low scorers expressed disappointment with
the amount and quality of teaching about drugs and physical treatments,
whereas high SCOrerS wished for more teaching in psychology and sociology.
Patient management problems, already described in discussing decision-
making skills, also make use of multiple c11oic8 questions. Palva (1974)
describes a simple and cheap modification of these simulation tests.

At the University of Dundee, Knox (1971) has developed a modified essay

(MEQ) based on procedures devised by the Royal College of General Practi-
Uoners (1971). The teclmique is in effect a serially-structured essay in
which responses at each stage are relatively free, and consists in outline of
a case study requiring the student to outline reasons for diagnoses, methods
of patient management, considerations prior to taking action, information
needed, etc. A marking schedule enables the student to score his own per-
formance. MaUeson (1967) also found that, in the case of clinical students,
high drive introverts did best and low drive extroverts were the least
successful, whereas in the second MB there was no different between these
groups. He suggested that the second MB COurse was so highly structured
and controlled that there was little latitude for the individual's personality
to influence his attainment.

Other researchers have also shown the superiority of introverts as examinees.

Davies and Mowbray (1968) found that students with high introversion scores
had a very significantly higher mark in psychiatry. The Entwistles (1970),
who explored the relationship between personality, study methods, and
academic performance, report that introverted first year students had a
better academic record, slightly better study methods (ie they worked more
carefully), thought ahead, were conscientious, and recognised the importance
of working conditions. In a second study, with Wilson (1971), performance
proved to be strongly related to study methods, motivation, and introversion
scores, but had no relation to emotional stability. A stuny-methods scale
distinguished between the worst students and the best, and the extroversion
SCore between the best and the remainder. They recommend questionnaires
on motivation and study methods as a means of detecting potential failures for
remedial action. Differences between introverts and extroverts have
prompted other inquiries. Leith and Wisdom (1970) found that introverts did
better with more structured methods whereas extroverts fared better with less
structured ones. Trown (1970) showed in a number of studies that among
children introverts were superior in performance when rules were presented
before examples, whereas extroverts were superior when examples were
presented first. This held good for immediate learning, retention, and
transfer of learning to Similar situations. In addition, it held good for differ-
ent levels of both intelligence and anxiety. Thus the common finding that
introverts do better in university COurses may be as much a reflection on the
courses and examinations as on the students.
 87

A fairly new approach to evaluation in the UK is to invite students to evaluate

their own performance. In a study of its effects, Kennel, Tempio, and Wile
(1973) found that when students initiated discussion of their problems and
weaknesses they weTe usually amenable to the tutors r suggestions and plans
for assistance. This contrasted with the arguments, objections, and
defensiveness that often fOllowed even mild criticism in tutor-directed
evaluation conferences. Most students considered that the approach was
worthwhile and that it influenced their subsequent behaviour.

ASSessment of course work has not yet been studied in any detail. Commonly-
used methods such as exercises, essays, problems, etc, which are marked
some time after the student completes the work, are being increasingly
criticised because they often fail to detect causes of students 1 difficulties,
tend to be marked uninformatively, and provide corrections, if any, too late
to influence learning at the critical time. Three new types of evaluation are
being developed to give mare objective and immediate assessment both to
teacher and student.

II: EVALUATION OF TEACHERS

The first attempts to evaluate university teaching concentrated on qualities of

the teacher; yet this has doubtful logic. It only requires one unmeasured
vitiating fault to annul the effectiveness of a teacher with one style - the
effectiveness of another teacher with a different style may be unaffected by
the same fault. Possibly these first attempts were inspired by a desire to
reward the best teachers in university departments even if they were not
outstanding research workers, for it is generally believed that it is excellence
in research alone which gains advancement. Rating scales were devised in
America and werE: later modified for use abroad. In Queensland, for example,
students were invited to express their reactions to their teachers 1 perform-
ances with a view to obtaining a group opinion from a set list of characteristics
of teachers (8chonell et aI, 1961 a and b). A teacher meeting with the students'
approval might find that, in his case, students had underlined such statements
as: 'knows subject thoroughly; interested in teaching; never stops learning;
always well prepared; presents material in systematic fashion; uses varied
methods; sets high standards; ..... ; has a sense of humour'; whereas for
his less fortunate colleague they might endorse: 'Often does not know subject;
is unsystematic, vague and rambling; has no clear standards; shows
Wldesirable personal qualities such as laziness, impatience, prejlldice, intol-
erance; has annoying mannerisms; will not admit errors; .... 1 But attempts
to achieve group views in this way, which really had a bearing on teaching,
were unsuccessful. Teachers perform differently when they teach different
topics or classes of different abilities, or when they employ different teaching
methods; they may even perform well in one university department and
indifferently in another. Students, or colleagues, also differ in the way they
assess teaching; some praise highly a conscientious teacher who covers the
syllabus thoroughly in well-organised lectures, while others look for inspira-
tion and originality, preferring to obtain basic information in private study.
 88

Ratings of one particular teacher on 44 characteristics, on two occasions

separated by nvo-ancl-a-half years, correlated significantly (0.71) (Fay, 1969).
But although this suggests that students! assessments are fairly reliable, it
cannot confirm their validity (indeed, Ley ton (1966) suggests that students
build stereotypes of their lecturers). Nor does it show that the students
necessarily value the same things. Using the Osgood Semantic Differential
and a variety of statistical techniques, Sherman and Blackburn (1974) con-
cluded that dynamic, pragmatic, amicable and intellectually-competent
teachers receive the highest ratings for teaching, but when other teChniques
are used other parameters may be important.

Gruneberg and Startup (1975) have suggested that first-year students have
an inadequate knowledge of the lecturer!s role, and that this ignorance should
be remedied by an induction course. In response to a questionanire indicating
the hours spent by lecturers in various activities, one-third of the students
did not mention research and over 60 percent did not mention administration.

It is commonly accepted that university teachers have a conflict between the

demands of teaching and research, yet there have been few studies of the
motivation of academic staff. The work of Halsey and Trow (1971), which
classified university teachers according to their teaching/research orienta-
tion, assumed the conflict in the way the questions were framed; but it is
possible that one teacher could be mOre Or less motivated towards both than
Mother.

In one college, the most important reasons fOr conducting research, in

descending order of importance, were: enjoyment, advancement of Imowledge,
promotion, prestige, duty, and financial reward. Eight-six percent felt under
some pressure to publish and 26 percent felt great pressure. The pressure
felt was inversely related to seniority (Startup and Gruneburg, 19'76).

III: ASSESSMENT OF TEACHING

In mOre recent studies of teaching, therefore, it is the teaching itself which is

assessed, either by testing how much information students have gained or by
inquiring early in a course whether the teaching could be adjusted in any way
to meet students! needs more fully. In some departments frequent testing is
used for the information of staff and students. In the Department of Mechani-
cal Engineering, University of Birmingham, weekly quizzes (brief written
tests) are used in this way, a generally poor result being accepted as a reflec-
tion on teaching in that topiC (Beard et al, 1964).

Inquiries into the effectiveness of a teacherls communication with his class

cover a Wider range of information. Students may be asked to endorse one of
five statements about the amount of material during a period of teaching:
lfar too much, .... , satisfactory, .... practically nothing worth sayingl; or
(of speed) lspoken too fast, ...• about right, .... tediously slow l etc; as
 89

well as making comments on conditions in the room, use of audio-visual aids,

value and quality of applications or examples, adequacy of answers to
questions, and so on (Beard, 1967b; McVey, 1967). In this way, even trthe
replies are somewhat damaging to the teacher's self-esteem, he has a guide
to future action which should enable him to communicate better with that group
of students.

For evaluation of teaching, Wragg (1970) used the Flanders' Interaction Tech-
nique. This involves allocating the teacher's and pupils , contributions to one
of ten categories at regular short intervals, say every three seconds, eg:
praises or encourages, asks questions, lectures or gives facts etc, students
initiate talk, silence and confusion. To his surprise he found !Ian almost
unbelievably stable pattern tt • Analysis of the first 35,000 tallies collected by
students of education showed more than a third of the time given to 'lecturing',
nearly a quarter to 'silence and confusion I and about an eighth each to
teachers asking questions or to pupils! responses. Bligh (1971) describes a
modification of this technique suitable for use in small-group teaching in
higher education. Where the teacher plays a minor role (at least overtly) or
where the emotive aspects of students' contributions are important - as in
tutorials Or 'free group discussion' - he recommends the use of Bales'
Interaction Process Analysis which is described by Sprott in Human groupfl-.
(1958, pp 130-132). Alternatively students may be invited to comment
specifically on a method. Moss (1973) found that students in a computing
science course commented more freely on the use of video-tape in teaching
than they would normally do on a lectUrer's performance.

As a more direct measure of the achievement of teaching objectives, Bligh

(1974, 1975 a) has developed a 'Truth Functional Test' at eight cognitive levels.
The test consists of statements to which students may respond 'agree',
'disagree 1, or 'don It know', and which bear a precise and specifiable logical
relationship to statements used in teaching. This is quick to administer and
to mark, is easier to construct than multiple-choice questions and encourages
less gueSSing, and it may be modified for affective objectives or an infinite
number of cognitive levels. It has in addition the unique feature of being
objective both in setting and marking, and is suitable for use during a period
of teaching to obtain prompt feedback.

Cantrell (1971) reports assessments of the lectures given by thirty visitors to

a medical schooL He used a rating scale considering: (1) methods, aids used,
voice production and use; (2) response of the audience; (3) evidence of aware-
ness of the audience on the part of the speaker: (4) structure of the lecture;
(5) incentives to learn more: and (6) personality factors such as humour,
enthusiasm, relaxation, and ability as an actor. His table of results suggests
a bi-modal distribution of ability, correlated with seniority.

Johnson, Rhodes, and Rumery (1975) point out, however, that there is no
generally-accepted way of either defining or assessing the acitvity of teaching.
Most attempts, they say, are separated from the educational context, with its
 90

social and cultural reference; current approaches to evaluation lack adequate

theoretical development and confuse measurement with evaluation.

IV: STUDENTS' OPINIONS OF TEACIDNG METHODS

Students' opinions of teaching methods have been inquired into on a number of

occasions. The Hale and Robbins Reports (University Grants Committee,
1964; Committee on Higher Education, 1963) survey opinions of students in
the majority of universities and colleges. Marris (1965) obtained views from
students of three universities and one technical college. The NUS Report of
1969 (Saunders, 1969) gives views of students of two universities, two tech-
nical colleges, t\VQ art colleges and two colleges of education. Views of
medical students were collected and published in 1965 and, a year later,
students of the Royal Dental College published a report of their views on lec-
turing in the college. McLeish (1970) and Stones (1969) have inquired into the
opinions of students in colleges of education. In addition, surveys of students'
views have been made in Australia (Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee,
1963; SchoneU et al, 1962), by individuals in single colleges, and by research
workers in the course of investigations into teaching methods.

In general there is conSiderable criticism of lectures. The Hale Report con-

cludes: liThe general tenor of the student memoranda is very similar. It is
highly critical of the lecture. The principal desiderata are fewer and better
lectures, closer staff-student relations, and more teaching by tutorial and
seminar. II In reply to the invitation to distinguish characteristics of good and
bad lectures, 44 percent mentioned points of delivery such as audibility, speed
of delivery, diction, and legibility of writing on the board, 43 percent com-
mented on clarity and order, 36 percent stressed the importance of interest.
SCientists, in particular, remarked on their need for ease in taking notes, non-
scientists referred fairly frequently to the desirability of originality, and about
20 percent of all students emphasised that lectures should be comprehensible
and should provide a guide to further study. Overall percentages obtained in
Marris' inquiry wer" fairly similar, but, in addition, about 20 percent of
students felt a need for more guidance.

Despite their stringent critiCisms of lecturing, when asked what changes they
would propose only 12i percent in Oxbridge and 20 percent in London (with
intermediate proportions in other universities) suggested fewer lectUres. One
may conclude, perhaps, that it is lecturing technique rather than the method
itself which is critiCised. In the unofficial surveys made for the report, 65
percent of all students who replied wished for no change in the proportion of
lectures, 14 percent expressed a wish for fewer lectures, but 10 percent
would have welcomed mOre. On the other hand, when aslted similar questions
about tutorials and seminars, the vast majority of those already having some
wished for more; in Sheffield, for example, 73 percent wanted more while
merely 4 percent wished for fewer. Only in Cambridge where tutorials are
 91

mOre frequent was there substantially less desire for an increase in their
number.

The NUS report of 1969 (Saunders et al, 1969) gives average hours per week
spent in formal lectures in the pairs of colleges investigated as: 4 (art
college), 14 (education), 12.Q (technical), and 8 (universities), but the students
from art colleges spent 30 hOUTS per week in studio work. Preferences they
stated suggest that the university students were content, but that those having
more lectures would have liked fewer; education 12, technical 10; but art
students would have welcomed five hours instead of four. In these eight
colleges, three hours per week was the typical period spent in seminars -
except in the college of art (one hour) - and less than two hours were spent
in tutorials except in the technical college (three hours). Student teachers
wished for six hours in seminars, but other students would have preferred
about three hours each in seminars and tutorials. The average time students
wished to spend in practicals and written work corresponded closely with the
time they did spend.

When asked to rate teaching methods for effectiveness, 58 per cent of the
stUdents rated lectures as effective, but other types of teaching were more
likely to be rated 'very effective', indicating a preference for smaller groups
and personal teaching.

The Report on Medical Education by the B-ritish Medical Students' Association

(1965) is a sou-rce of student opinion on teaching methods Which is represent-
ative of a large sample, although possibly not a statistically representative
one. Students considered that, in general, they were given insufficient oppor-
tunity to play an active part in thei-r own education; they advocated a -reduction
in the number of lectu-res, but improvement in the standard of remaining ones,
partly by inc-reased use of such audio-visual aids as films, slides, charts and
demonstrations. Methods advocated to increase students' participation were
the G-rand Tutorial and Corlab, in both of which students arrive already p-re-
pa-red for questioning or discussion. There was also considerable demand
for more tutorials to cope with individual difficulties, and a request for more
extensive use of the new media. These views are to some extent supported
by recommendations in the Todd Report (1968) Which advocates a considerable
reduction in the number of lectures.

In 1969, Hawkins reviewed students' opinions on p-ractical biochemistry in the

London medical COlleges. Two-thirds of the students enjoyed it 'a little' or
'not at all', and one-half felt that it was no help in understanding the subject.
Just under half felt that substitution of demonst-rations of modern apparatus
and techniques for practical work would make the courses fully comprehensible,
and mare than four-fifths favoured additional tutorials. A majority preferred
experimental work (if it continued) to consist of short experiments with an
occasional long project.
 92

A point on which opinions differed between Australian students and their

teachers, and which is frequently raised in Britain also, is the provision of
duplicated notes. Eighty-three percent of Australian students liked them
because they found them closer to the course, more accurate than their own
notes, and useful in revision (Australian Vice-Chancellor's Committee, 1963).
In Britain, students more often mention the waste of time and hindrance to
understanding which results from taking notes (Marris, 1965; SaWlders, 1969).
Australian teachers were divided, some regarding notes as spoon-feeding, an
encouragement to 'swatting' from notes only and to passivity on the part of
students; these pOinted to the strain on secretarial resources and the con-
sequent tendency to use the same notes from year to year. But no-one, it
seems, objected to laboratory notes, field notes, or instructions for experi-
mental work, or to bibliographies and essay Or reading lists. Those who
favoured the usc of duplicated notes conSidered that they saved time for the
lecturer, allowed him to digress profitably without leading his students to
lose sight of the central argument, compensated for lack of suitable books Or
for library deficiencies, and might incorporate journal material that was not
readily accessible. The inquiry showed that the kind of notes provided
differed widely, from brief outlines provided in advance, or occaSional
summaries, to verbatim reports of most lectures Or very full notes compris-
ing hundreds of pages which served as the department IS ltext-book'. It is
the latter which is most generally disapproved of by students.

As we have already seen in an earliel' section (Elton et al, 1970; MacManaway,

1970) there is now some evidence that duplicated notes can be highly effective
when well designed and used to promote activity on the part of students.
Students consulted for the NUS report regarded seminars as important for
interchange of ideas, stimulus of creative thinking, and improvement of se1[-
expreSSion, but less suitable for consolidation of learning and study in depth.
Common complaints were of 'domination by onc or two students I, dependence
on staff, and bad and insuffiCient preparatory work by students. Most thought
that ideally there should not be more than ten people participating and that the
seminars should not last for more than one haul'. In a survey of more than
one thousand college-of-education students by Stones (1969), over half prt!-
ferred seminars to lectures and tutorials, rating them highest for developing
standards of judgement, inspiring ideas, learning to present an argument,
discussion of practical work, and reviSion. Tutorials were considered most
useful for obtaining feedback on progress, feeling known, and planning fuhlre
work. In the NUS report over half the students thought the major functions
of tutorials were to consult tutors on work or other matters and receive
detailed criticism of prepared work, but opinion was evenly divided as to
whether an academiC tutor should be the same person who advised on personal
problems. Over half thought that tutol'ial groups should meet once a week and
should contain a maximmn of three students.

However, not all students think alike. It is widely recognised by teachers

that students vary in their preferences for teaching methods. This recognition
is frequently coupled with a galaxy of dubious assumptions. For example, it
 93

is frequently assumed that these variations are related to personality factors

and that the relationship is both linear and causal. Similarly it is often
assumed that variations in students I preferences for different teaching
methods are positively related to their learning from them. Consequently
many studies have confined themselves to relatively simple relationships.
In one college of education, Woodford (1969) found that, although on the whole
students preferred metllOds encoul'aging participation, mOre intelligent and
less stable students preferred restricted participation, whilst introverted
students only slightly preferred these methods to mOre formal ones. In an
investigation relating personality traits to attitudes to lectures, seminars,
and tutorials, McLeish (1968) found eight roughly-distinguishable types.
These ranged from 'enthusiasts' who liked all methods, to rebels who liked
none. Others markedly favoured methods in which lectures played a major
part, or those which emphasised student participation. The former of these
hvo groups appeared to be tough-minded introverts with high security need,
tending to be submissive and to favour formal methods and having high
scholastic values. The latter valued new experience and freedom for them-
selves mOre strongly than other groups and were more anxious; they were
also more radical in their educational views and more extroverted. In a
later study (1970) in colleges of education he found lectUres to be unpopular
with independently-minded students and with those who believed that the
educational system required substantial change; they were favoured by older,
mare conservative, stable, submissive, unsure or religious students.
Those favouring lectures took a more favourable view of the staff, and the
converse was also true.

Comparing students' attitudes to lectures, semiJ;lars, tutorials, televiSion,

and tests of semantic association, Palmer (1975a) found that students with
'activity' and 'potency' attitudes were more favourably disposed towards
didactic methods, TV, and lectures, while those with 'evaluative' attitudes
were more favourable to discussion. In a further inquiry by Palmer (1975b),
introverts preferred television, and neUrotic students disliked self-instruc-
tional techniques in practicals, while those with greatest ability were less
inclined to want contact with the teacher when being shown demonstrations.

Students within one school or one discipline serve to show the diversity of
responses. Joyce and Weatherall (1959) found that a s3lD.ple of their students
enjoyed discussions initiated by tape-recording more than seminars conduc-
ted by teachers; they returned Singly, Or in small groups, to listen again to
the recordings more often than students attending seminars returned for
further information or discussion. However, they considered seminars more
useful than discussions. Lectures were considered by all groups to be out-
standingly the most useful methods, and three-quarters of the students
considered them most enjoyable. Reading was considered almost as useful as
practicals but much less enjoyable. In this study the authors point out that an
overall slight negative correlation between total estimates of usefulness and
enjoyment, with final marks in three sections of the text, suggest that the
more critical students performed better and the less critical less well. In an
 94

earlier study (1957) there was negligible correlation between students'

impressions of their enjoyment of a method and success in corresponding
tests. They observed tilt follows that performance and students! judgements
cannot both be criteria of the efficiency of teaching methods. II On the other
hand, since different teaching methods tend to foster different intellectual
skills. the method of testing could favour one method unduly.

In an Australian study (Kitchen, 1969) external students experiencing a wide

range of teaching methods including tape-recordings, tutors' visits, corres-
pondence, written assignments, lectures and 'vacation schools I, rated the
methods on a variety of criteria. Students were generally satisfied with
teaching but a well-planned library proved to be most highly valued. Students
differed most in valuing different major means of study, in preferring teach-
ing methods with informal and mOre personal kinds of teaching, and in
concern for spoken and oral aspects.

Familiarity with high standards of professional television might lead students

to be critical of the efforts of their teacher, but the reaction of radiologists
at Glasgow (Davidson and Thompson, 1970) was overwhelmingly favourable.
However, James (1970) found that although students preferred learning from
video-tape they were mOre successful when using an instruction booklet.
Students of psychiatry considered CCTV to be more effective than either
progranuned instruction or the conventional case demonstration; and as
measured by a multiple choice test, the second judgement was correct, but
the first was incorrect.

To lead classroom technique, Neale (1967) used live demonstrations, relayed

television, recorded television, and a lecture, and found that students'
preference waS in the order which reflected immediacy. or the reality of
e}"-perience.

It is of interest that there is so much to report about students' and teachers'

opinions of different teaching methods, but that there are still relatively few
inquiries into their effects on learning. Although consumer satisfaction
deserves some consideration, in the long run it is measures of effective
learning which count towards students' success and contribute most to improve-
ments in teaching method.

V, ASSESSMENT OF COURSES

Along with the development of curriculum theory during the past ten years,
there has been a growing interest in evaluating entire courses. Feldman and
Newcomb (1973) have summarised vast quantities of American data on the
impacts of colleges on courses. Bernstein and others have emphasised the
ways in which Courses classify knowledge and form academic boundaries.
For example, Baron (1975) has suggested three theories of the content of
COurses: the 'Bundle of Knowledge I theory gives pieces of knowledge which
 95

may be related and tested; the 'Developmental Stage' theory emphasises

general growth and maturity; while the 'Component' theory emphasises
skills which will be useful. BruneT, like many educationists before him
(eg \Vhitehead), has stressed the difference between the content and process
of Courses. In this book we are not concerned with these types of assessment,
but with assessments insofar as they reflect teaching methods used in courses.

One of the earliest attempts to assess entire courses was at the University of
Bradford, where a longitudinal study of the educational and occupational
values of the 1966 intake was set up by Musgrove. This has been continued
mainly by Smithers, who has recently published a book on the subject (1976).
Evaluation in these studies tends to tal::e the form of seeking students ' opinions,
unlike the evaluation of systematically-designed courses having stated objec-
tives, which tends to estimate Or measure students I success in the courses
or of changes in aspects of behaviour.

Following his earlier inquiries Musgrove (1969) 110ted that students of science
and technology seemed to find university life more problematical than students
of arts and social science, especially with regard to academic study. They
more often admitted to finding lectures difficult, to feeling overwhelmed by
academic work, and to being worried by the thought of examinations.
However, he noted that their problems relating to academic skills were less
widespread in 1968 than in 1966, and that students who had spent periods in
industry more often found their university studies interesting and seemed to
have gained in academic self-confidence.

Davie and Russell (1974) discuss findings concerning industrial courses in

Australia. Analysis of examination results over a 9-year period shows a
significant improvement after e},'P0sure to industrial experience, both by com-
parison with the previous performance and by comparison with equivalent full-
time student performance. In this comparison the co-operative (sandwich-
course) student is seen to gain in social and academic maturity and in tech-
nical preparedness for his role as a graduate. Smithers's findings (1976) are
more mixed and cannot fairly be summarised in brief. Amongst them he
notes that science students found industrial experience mOre congenial than
did technology students, perhaps because they are given responsibility for a
project. Students as a whole saw the main advantage of industrial experience
in learning about people and how to get on with them, and in learning about
firms.

At Edinburgh, Miller and Parlett (1974), in studying examination results in

three departments of the University. have challenged the traditional approach
to evaluation by measurement, advocating instead an e}"'Ploratory approach.
This is an attempt to comprehend the whole system of assessment rather than
to answer a list of pre-determined questions. In order to do so they used
techniques involving interviews, questionnaires, observation within the depart-
ments, or analysis of documents, 1'edefining the problems and areas of
inquiry as the study progressed. They see the chief function of such an inquiry
as providing info1'mation and insight fo1' professional educators.
 96

Thus in their study of development in one department of a short answer

paper designed to test students' capacity to think rather than to memorise,
they follow progress from preliminary description of the new paper by three
members of staff. through discussion of it and contributions by other staff
members, a decision to make all questions compulsory followed by discovery
that some 'first-class 1 students were unable to answer very basic types of
question, to inquiry into the discriminating power of the paper, students'
reactions, and inter-marker consistency.

At the Open University, where an Educational Technology Unit of mOre than

30 members is continuously engaged in the largest evaluation project in
Britain, McIntosh (1974) discusses problems involved in evaluating multi-
media educational systems, noting that this cannot be confined to the 'test
and measurement' model. She suggests that evaluation cannot be tidy or
controllable, and that no one evaluative technique can be dominant;
research therefore plays only a part in the total evaluation. She sees evalua-
tion as contributing to: (i) discovering whether there is a need for a course;
(ii) locating, defining and characterising the target group of the course;
(iii) pre-testing the course or its components; (iv) providing short-term
remedial feedback whilst the course is running; (v) determining whether or
not the course works in terms of the needs of the students and the needs of
course producers and conveyers; and (vi) determining whether or not the
objectives of the reSOurce provided have been met. However, she notes prob-
lems in defining objectives adequately since different objectives are held by
various groups of people: society at large, a group devising the course, an
individual instructor, students 'users' of the course, potential employers,
and others affected by the student. Thus unexpected outcomes may be more
important than achievement of objectives. Bates (1974) has suggested that
course teams, as used in the Open University, could be a powerful medium
for innovation in other institutions.

Evaluation of systematically-designed individual courses based on defined

objectives normally has two aspects: measurement of students I achievements
of the objectives as compared with a control group; and inquiry into views
and opinions of teachers and students. A number of these studies has already
been mentioned (Brewer, 1974; Hearnshaw and Roach, 1974; Oosthoek and
Ackers, 1973; Sullivan, 1974; Witters and Kent, 1972; and Wyatt, 1975).
Blunt and Blizard (1973) found that such a course resulted in considerably
better examination results and that group discussion fostered more favourable
attitudes to anatomy. Leytham and James (1973) outlined and assessed
achievement of objectives in teaching by videotape; Hartley (1974 b) surveyed
programmed courses, including Keller variations, in psychology and their
evaluation~ R.N. Smith (1971) assessed a programmed instructional test in
clinical pharmacology. Advantage of all such courses lie in the careful
preparation which they receive and the continuous assessment of students'
performance which enables teachers to make modifications in order to main-
tain or improve performance. Van del' Klauw and Plomp (1974). on the basis
of experience and data received, present a scheme in which the main
 97

characteristics of sllccessful individualised stuely systems are outlined.

However, Hoberoek (1971), and Gessner (1974), obtained contrasting results
far courses in engineering.

Where less-structured courses are assessed it tends to be more difficult to

say just why they succeed or fail. Gilliland and Gibbons (1971) used multiple
choice tests to assess learning during short refresher Courses for hospital
doctors, medical students and research assistants. The doctors and students
made significant gains on questions taught. Stansfield (1971) similarly tested
doctors who attended lectures at a postgraduate centre. They too made
significant gains if they had attended lectures in the subject tested, differ-
ences between attenders and llOn-attenders being greatest for those lectures
that had been judged most successful. In a study using tapec11ectures, and
questions on pla.l1t physiology for students to answer and to draw the iT own
conclusions from, Marinos and Lucas (1971) found that students who had
audia-visual aids consistently retained information better; but it is not clear
how the assessment related to teaching methods or the teachers' aims.

Fl'eeman and Byrne (1973) have reported on a succession of courses [or new
entrants to general practice at one of tbe now numerous postgraduate training
centres. They devised tests to evaluate changes in knowledge, skills and
attitudes on a pre-course and post-course basis. The first battery was given
both to general practitioner trainees and to their general practitioner tutors;
some social scientists were also tested. In tests of medical kno\vledge the
two groups proved equally good, but the tutors exceeded the trainees in
medical skills. In more general tests of ability, the GP trainees proved
stronger diagnostically than verbally, and were far more articulate in oral
than written verbal performance; the reverse held, in each case, for social
scientists. In personality the trainee GPs were characteristically 'convergent'
in their orientation but were well bab-need on measures of introvcrsioni
extroversion.

Change in attitudes Or e:-:pectations during courses has been the major concern
of other investigators. Barraclough and Lippiett (1972) used a multiple choice
test to assess gain in knowledge and a standardised scale to measure conjec-
tured change of attitude by curates attending a psychiatry COurse. There Was
a significant gain in knowledge, but their attitudes which were initially favour-
able did not become significantly more so. Cox and Kontiainen (1974) com-
pared attitudes of trained trainers, untrained trainers, and trainees, to
teaching in general practice. They found that they could discriminate between
these groups on two dimensions: on attitude on the part of GPs toward trainees
as fellow colleagues 31ld participants in practice vs viewing the student as an
observer; and on a dimension contrasting process-orientation with product-
orientation. Trained trainers moved towards seeing their Tole as involving
more active teaching, but had not become so much like medical-school
teachers as the trainees seemed to expect. In:ll1 earlier study (Kontiainen
and Cox, 1973) trainers' attitudes changed on the whole in the di:.-ections
viewed as desirable by course tutors. Sheldrake (1974) discusses at some
 98

length the diversity of expectations of medical students studying a behavioural

sciences COurse and considers some of the factors contributing towards
students' attitudes.

A course for freshmen engineers (Langholz and Sekay, 1975) seems too
vaguely defined in its aims. It is therefore not surprising to find that an
attempt to evaluate changes in students' Orientations and motivations showed
that it had little impact.

Many attempts to evaluate courses include, or are limited to, inquiries into
'consumer satisfaction'. In this respect medical schools in London had
already made considerable progress in the late 19608, for the majority of
teachers replying to a questionnaire reported that they 'always' (25 percent),
'frequently' (25 percent) or 'sometimes' (27 percent) invited criticisms or
suggestions from their students about COurses Or teaching (Beard, 1967b).
Teachers in three dental schools probably corresponded mOre nearly with
the majority of university teachers, the respective percentages being approx-
imately 20, 16, and 28.

Student satisfaction with courses and teaching is negatively related to the

amount of coercion their teachers use (Jamieson and Thomas, 1974). Yet
coercion appears to be widespread at all educational levels and appears to
be accepted and even e).-pected. Reid-Smith (1969) attempted to measure
student satisfaction with a course in librarianship taught chiefly by lectures,
seminars, and syndicate method. Opposing opinions were recorded, but
mature students were uniformly mOre appreciative. It was clear that
students had not thougllt about the purpose of this COurse beyond aiming to
get a qualification. Except for sessions spent in reporting back, syndicates
were the most popular. Discussions in the local bar were more popular than
those elsewhere.

In a postgraduate school where very item of a teaching programme Was graded

on a three-point scale, a fall was reported in the number o[ dissatisfied
Course members, staff were stimulated by knowing that they were assessed,
and students co-operated more willingly (Gauvain, 1968). In the later report
Gauvain (1970) concludes that the aims of a course should be made known to
students. Students should be asked to state their aims in applying to attend,
a.'1d COurse assessments by students should always be followed by discussion.
In a further study, Gauvain, Brook, and Aldridge (1971) evaluated an experi-
mental course in psychiatry [or industrial medical officers by use of a
questionnaire concerning the organisation of the course, its relevance,
methods of teaching, <U1d the aims of the course members. In addition an
anonymous lexamination' was given to assess gain in knowledge of psychiatry
and participants' ability to make diagnoses on medical and psychodynamic
models Or to consider a psychodynamic approach in more detail. On the whole,
course aims seemed to be achieved and participants were satisfied.
 99

An inquiry to medica! students following a brief experience in general prac-

tice (Dean, 1971) showed that more than 90 percent of the students considered
this experience valuable, and 57 percent thought more favourably of general
practice as a result. About twice as many students having experience of
general practice, compared with controls, selected it as first choice of Career.

Students of engineering given the opportunity to comment on a design COlll'Se

(Holgate, 1971) rated the tie-in with theory and other subjects as rather
unsatisfactory. They desired an introductory talk, in addition to notes, to
help them get under way with the design exercise. Students also commented
on an excess of formulae in notes, use of jargon, and excessive background
material, and criticised marking in general.

The difficulty of satisfying all the students in a course of lectures is stressed

by Falk (1967) who recorded comments by four students on the same series of
lectures in history:-
(1) 'Made a fascinating period of history very flat. 1
(2) 1Congratulations on an exceedingly workmanlike job of teaching
as opposed to purely lecturing.'
(3) 'Gives students impression that they are back in the schoolroom.
By this I mean over-simplification, over-clarification. 1
(4) 'These lectul'es were the best 11ve had this year. I

It is true that the range of ability among first-year students in Australia is

very wide, but even in England the opinions of teaching capacity of lecturers
tends to vary from student to student and as classes change from year to
year.
 100

CONCLUSIONS

Our claim in 1971 that research iuto teaching methods in higher education
would expand rapidly seems to have been justified. In the bibliography to the
third edition of this monograph, 7 references had been published before 1950,
20 were from between 1950 and 1959, and over 280 from the decade from
1960 to 1969. In the fourth edition the number of references exceeds five
hundred, despite omission of some earlier editions, and although the decade
is not yet complete.

The growth of educational research has been accomprulied in recent years by

a growth in criticism of its methods and consequently of its results. There
are so many variables that it is impossible to control all of them; even
obviously important variables may sometimes remain uncontrolled. In
addition, there are lmpredictable effects. Human subjects when assigned to
experimental and control groups differ [rom the biologists I wheat grains in
being autonomous. They may choose to remove themselves, to compare
notes with other students who are subjected to a different treatment; or they
may so resent, or enjoy, a new method that their motivation and performance
are significantly affected while it retains its novelty. Fatigue, pressure
from other work, or some kind of distraction may also affect results. Even
when experiments seem to be conducted successfully, the results usually
apply only to certain groups of students. They provide little information
about individuals and rarely establish causal relationships. And it is often
difficult to draw conclusions having general application.

Sometimes the approach which comes nearest to obtaining generalisations is

to compare results from many similar eX'Periments. Thus, Hartley sum-
marises findings from numerOus experiments in programmed learning, and
Bligh is able to judge the relative advantages of large and small classes by
conSidering results of more than one hundred investigations. As we said in
conclusion to the third edition, what is needed is a concerted effort in study-
ing each teaching method, collating information already available and
experimenting with variations of the method to see under what circumstances
each is effective.

It seems unlikely that there will be a fifth edition of this monograph.As

research results accumulate within the next few years, a series of volumes
will be needed. Almost certainly there will be volumes on individualised
learning and on evaluation of courses. Other volumes may be needed to sUr-
vey results of experiments on study skills, the development of higher mental
abilities, audio-visual aids and computers in teaching and learning, and,
perhaps, of e}"'Periments in the use of simulation and games in teaching.
There is already a volume on projects published by the Society for Research
in Higher Education (Adderley et al, 1975).
 101

Thus while it is true that we seem almost as far as ever from developing a
theory of instruction, there is at least a fairly substantial body of informa-
tion to provide ideas for teachers who wish to try new methods, and to
indicate possible outcomes.
 102

REFERENCES rPages' referred to are those in this volume

ABBOTT, F.R, COOK, G.B., HARTLEY, J.R, RAWSON, M., and SHAW,
M. (1972) 'Computer-based learning in the physical sciences'
Physics Education 7 (3) 136-142
Page 53
ABERCROMBIE, M.L.J. (1965) The anatomy of jUdgment London,
Hutchinson
Pages 64, 82
ABERCROMBIE, M. L.J. (1970) Aims and techniques of group teaching
London, Society for Research into Higher Education (3rd edition 1974)
Page 64
ADAMS, B. G., DANIEL, E. E., HERXHEIMER, A., ~nd WEATHERALL. M.
(1960) 'The value of emphasis in eliminating errors r British
Medical Journal (2) 1007-1011
Pages 22, 38
ADDERLEY, K., ASHWIN, C., BRADBURY, P., FREEMAN, J.,
GOODLAD, S., GREENE, J., JENI(JNS, D., RAE, J., and UREN, O.
(1975) Project methods in higher education London, Society for
Research into Higher Education
Pages 7. 77. 100
ALDERMAN, G. H. (1926) lImproving comprehension ability in silent reading'
Journal of Educational Research 13 (1) 11-21
Page 58
ALLEN, H. G. (1968) 'Engineering projects for engineering undergraduates'
in Innovations and experiments in univerSity teaching methods
London, University Teaching Methods Research Unit
Page 75
ALLEN, P. S. (1975) 'A two channel slide method for lecture presentation'
PhYSics Education 10 (1) 52-55
Page 44
AMARIA, RP., BIRAN, L.A., and LEITH, G.O.M. (1969) 'Individual
versus co-operative learning: I: influence of intelligence and sex'
Educational Research 11 (2) 95-103
Page 32
Al\tI.ARIA, R. P., and LEITH, G. O. M. (1969) 'Individual versus co-operative
learning: II: the influence of personality' Educational Research
11 (3) 193-199
Page 32
AMSWYCH, R.J. (1967) 'The use of tape-recorded programmes for craft
trainingl Programmed Learning and Educational Technology 4 (4)
196-201
Page 35
-
103

ANDERSON, J, (1967) 'Testing clinical competence' British Journal of

Medical Education 1 (5) 345-347
Page 85
ANDERSON, J., BUKITT, D., GEAL, M.A., and COCKER, P. (1968)
'How clinical students spend their time' British J curnal of Medical
Education 2 (1) 4-10
Page 21
ANDREW, R. (1975) 'An attempt at improvement in undergraduate teaching'
International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 12 (4)
298-301
Page 45
APPLEBY, E. C .• and POLAND, J. (1968) 'Some observations on the use
of tape-recorded programmes in teaching veterinary pathology' in
UTMU (ed) Irmovations and experiments in university teaching
methods London, University Teaching Methods Research Unit
Page 45
APTER, M. J .• and MURGATROYD, S. (1975) 'Concentration, personality.
and self-pacing in programmed learning' Programmed Learning and
Educational Technology 12 (4) 208-215
Page 31
ARMSTRONG, R.H. R., and TAYLOR, J. (eds) (1970) Instructional
simulation systems in higher education (Cambridge Monographs on
Teaching Methods. 2) Cambridge Institute of Education
Page 73
ASH, P., and CARLTON, B. J. (1953) 'The value of note-taking during film
learning' British Journal of Educational Psychology 23 121-125
Page 51
ASHLEY, B. (1968) 'Group dynamics in human relations trainingt Case
Conference 15 (2) 64-67
Page 82
AUSTRALIAN VICE-CRANCELLORS' COMMITTEE (1963) Teaching
methods in Australian universities
Pages 40, 90, 92
BAILEY, A. G., BEYNON, J. D. E., and SIMS, G. D. (1975) 'Examinations
and continuous assessment' International Journal of Electrical
Engineering Education 12 (1) 13-24
Pages 25, 62
BARCLAY, T. B. (1957) 'Effective reading' University of Edinburgh
Gazette 17 22-30
Page 57
BARNETT, S. A. (1958) tAn experiment with free-discussion groups'
Universities Quarterly 12 (2) 175-180
Pages 68, 80
 104

BARON, J, (1975) I Some theories of college instruction' Higher Education

4 (2) 149-172
Page 94
BARRACLOUGH, B., and LIPSEET, V. (1972) 'Psychiatry for curates'
British Journal of Medical Education 6 (1) 20-21
Page 97
BARRINGTON, H. (1965) 'A survey of instructional television researches'
Educational Research 8 (1) 8-25
Page 49
BARRINGTON, H. (1971) 'An evaluation of the effectiveness of instructional
television presentation variables' British Journal of Educational
Psychology 41 (2) 219-220
Page 49
BATES, A. W. (1974) 'Success and failure in innovation at the Open
University! Programmed Learning and Educational Technology
11 (1) 16-23
Page 96
BAUME, A. D., and JONES, B. (1974) Education by objectives (Curricular
Study 1) London, Nelpress
Page 8
BEACH, L. R. (1974) 'Self-directed student groups and college learning'
Higher Education 3 (2) 187-200
Page 57
BEARD, R. M. (1967a) An inquiry into small group discussion methods in
three disciplines London, University Teaching Methods Research
Unit
Pages 11, 38, 63, 75
BEARD, R. M. (1967b) 'On evaluating the success of teaching' British
Journal of Medical Education 1 (4) 296-302
Pages 24, 66, 85, 89, 98
BEARD, R. M. (1969) 'A conspectus of research and development' in
Assessment of undergraduate performance London, Universities
Conference convened by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and
Principals and the Association of University Teachers
Page 84
BEARD, R. M. (1976) Teaching and learning in higher education
Harmondsworth, Penguin
BEARD, R. M., HEALEY, F. G., and HOLLOWAY, p.J. (1974) Objectives
in higher education (3rd edition) London, Society for Research into
Higher Education
Page 10
...
105

BEARD, R. M., LEVY, P. M., and MADDOX, H. (1964) 'Academic

performance at university' Educational Review 16 (3) 163-174
Pages 61, 88
BEARD. R. M .• and POLE, K. (1971) 'The content and purpose of bio-
chemistry examinations 1 British Journal of Medical Education (5)
13-21
Pages 13, 79, 84
BENNET, W. A. (1968) 'The use of closed-circuit television for second
language teaching! in UTMU (ed) Innovations and experiments in
university teaching methods London, University Teaching Methods
Research Unit
Page 51
BENT, H. A. (1974) 'No easy way: experience with a modified-Keller
physical chemistry course' Journal of Chemical Education 51 (10)
661-664
Page 25
BEIUWWITZ, L., LEVY, B.I., and HARVEY, A.R. (1957) 'Effects of
performance evaluations on group integration and motivation t
Human Relations 10 (2) 195-208
Page 65
BETHLEHEM. D. W. (1973) 'Prediction and improvement of academic
performance in a developing country' British Journal of Educational
Psychology 43 (3) 305-308
Page 56
BETTS, D.S., and WALTON, A.J. (1970) 'A lecture match or 'Anything
you can do I can do better" Physics Education 5 (6) 321-325
Page 40
BlRAN, L. A. (1966) 'A comparison of a scrambled and sequential presenta-
tion of a branching programme' Research Report on Programmed
Learning 9 National Council for Programmed Learning, University
of Birmingham
Page 30
BlRAN, L. A .. and PICKERING, E. (1968) 'Unscrambling a herringbone:
an experimental evaluation of branching programming' British
Journal of Medical Education (2) 213-9 ---
Pages 17, 30
BLACK, J. (1974) Course scheme for BSc degrees in engineering,
engineering with modern languages. and engineering with education
UniverSity of Bath School of Engineering
Page 13
BLACK, P.J. (1968) 'University examinations' Physics Education 3 (2)
93-99
Page 84
 106
--
BLACK, P.J., DYSON, N,A,. and O'CONNOR, D.A. (1968) 'Group studies'
Physics Education 3 (6) 289-293
Page 76
BLACK, P.J., GRIFFITH, J.A. R., and POWELL, W. B. (1974) 'Skills
sessions' Physics Education 9 (1) 18-22
Page 56
BLAUG, M. (1968) Universities and productivity Universities Conference,
March 1968. Convened by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and
Principals and the Association of University Teachers (London)
Page 14
BLIGH, D. A. (1 970a) 'The case for a variety of teaching methods in each
lesson' British Journal of Medical Education 4 (3) 202-209
Page 40
BLIGH, D. A. (1970b) fA pilot experiment to test the relative effectiveness
of three kinds of teaching methods I Research in Librarianship
3 (15) 88-93
Page 45
BLIGH, D.A. (1971) 'Teaching students in groups' (Typescript available
from University Teaching Methods Unit, University of London Institute
of Education)
Page 89
BLIGH, D. A. (1972a) What's the use of lectures? Harmondsworth, Penguin
Pages 15, 37
BLIGH, D.A. (1 972b) 'Teaching decisions with small groups in large classes'
London Educational Review 1 (1) 69-74
Page 73
BLIGH, D. A. (1973) 'Techniques in small group discussion' in BLIGH, D. A.
(ed) Background papers: introductory Course for lecturers London,
University Teaching Methods Unit
Page 63
BLIGH, D. A. (1974) 'Are varied teaching methods more effective?'
(PhD thesis) University of London
Pages 15, 37, 38, 39,40; 43, 45, 48, 50, 89
BLIGH, D. A. (1 975a) Gropings for a design of objective tests of the effective-
ness of teaching methods London, University Teaching Methods Unit
Page 89
BLIGH, D. A. (1975b) 'The reliability yet invalidity of students' opinions of
teaching' (Paper rend to the British Psychological Society Education
Section at Sheffield) Exeter University Teaching Services
Pages 36, 37, 43
 107

BLlGH, D.A., EBRAHIM, J.G., JAQUES, D., and WARREN PIPER, D.

(1975) Teaching students Exeter University Teaching Services
Pages 8, 21, 32, 63, 66
BLIZARD, P.J., and BLUNT, M.J, (1975) The development. initial and
long-term assessment of a teaching-learning programme in anatomy
University of New South Wales Tertiary Educational Research Centre
Page 8
BLOOM, B. S. (ed) (1956) Taxonomy of educational objectives: I: cognitive
domain New York, David McKay
Pages 8, 29
BLUNT, J. M., and BLIZARD, P,J. (1973) !Development and initial assess-
ment of a teaching-learning programme in anatomy 1 British Journal
of Medical Education 7 (4) 244-250
Pages 24, 96
BOUD, D. J. (1973) 'The laboratory aims questionnaire - new method for
course improvement' Higher Education 2 (1) 81-94
Page 11
BaUD, D. J. (1976) Objectives in applied science education (Report to the
Leverhulme Trust)
Pag'e 13
BRANDT, D., ANSELL, M., and CRYER, N. B. (1974) 'Minicourses in a
first year physics lab.' Physics Education 9 (1) 23-26
Page 45
BREWER, L M. (1974) 'Recall, comprehension and problem solving:
evaluation of an audio-visual method of learning plant anatomy'
Journal of Biological Education 8 (2) 101-112
Pages 24, 96
BRISTOW, T (1970) 'A reading seminar' The Library College Journal
3 (3) 13-22
BRITISH MEDICAL STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION (1965) Report on medical
education: suggestions for the future London, British Medical
Assoc~iation
Pages 27. 35, 91
BROCKBANK, J. P. (1969) 'New assessment techniques in use - the arts'
in Assessment of undergraduate performance Universities Conference
convened by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the
Association of University Teachers, London
Page 85
BROWN, G.A. (1976a) Microteaching. Impetus. Newsletter No.4 2-11
Page 50
 108

BROWN, G.A. (1976b) IUsing microtenching to train new lecturers'

University Vision (15) 24-31

BRYANT, K. H. J., and HOARE, D. E. (1970) First year chemistry in

Australian universities The Australian Vice-Chancellors'
Committee
Page 79
BUCKLEY-SHARP, M.D., HARRIS, F. T. C., TEPSQN, J. E., SMITH,
W.R.D., and WALKER, S. (1969) 'The evaluation of a programmed
learning course' British Journal of I\'Iedical Education 3 (2) 151-154
Page 30

BURKE, R. J. (1969) 'Some preliminary data on the use of self-evaluations

and peer ratings in assigning ulliversity course grades I Journal of
Educational Research 62 (10) 444-448
Page 66
BURKE, W. H. (1967) 'The new course and its development' Design
Education (2) 19-24
Page 10

CANTRELL, E. G. (1971) 'Thirty lectures' British Journal of Medical

Education 5 (4) 300-319
Page 89
CARPENTER, N. (1975) 'Continuous assessment and student motivation
in management studies' International Journal of Electrical
Engineering Education 12 (1) 5-12
Pages 25, 62
CARRE, C. G. (1969) 'Audio-tutorialsas adjuncts to formal lecturing in
biology teaching at the tertiary level' Journal of Biological
Education 3 (1) 57-64
Page 46
CARTER, G., and LEE, L. S. (1975) 'A study of attitudes to first year
undergraduate electrical engineering laboratory work at the
university of Salford International Journal of Electrical Engineering
Education 12 (3) 278 289
Page 56
CASTLE, W., and DAVIDSON, L. (1969) 'An evaluation of programmed
instruction in a new medical faculty' British J ournat of Medical
Education 3 (4) 359-361
Page 31
de CECCO, P. (1964) 'Class siZe and co-ordinated instruction' British
Journal of Educational PsycholOgy 34 (1) 65-74
Page 14
---
109

CENTRE FOR INFORl\IATION OF LANGUAGE TEACHING (1974) Survey

of research and materials development in vocational uses of English,
French and German See LUNT. H. (ed)
Pages 46-47
CHADWICK, G. (1974) 'Students may decide course objectives themselves'
Times Higher Education Supplement 3 May 1974
Pag'e 7

CHALMERS, RA" and STARK, J, (1968) 'Continuous aSsessment of

practical work in the Scottish HNC course in chemistry' Education
in Chemistry 5 (4) 154-155
Page 78
CHILD, D. (1970) 'Some aspects of study habits on higher education'
International J ournul of Educational Science 4 (1) 11-20
Page 20
CEU, G. H .• and SCHRAMIvI, W. (1967) 'Learning from televiSion: what the
research says' Stanford Institute for Communication Research
Pages 14. 48
CLOSSICK, M. (1967) 'Student residence: a new approach at the University
of Essex' London, Society for Research into Higher Education
Page 21
COEKIN, J. A. (1970) 'Teamwork with an industrial context in the second
year electronics laboratory' International Journal of Engineering
Education 8 (2) 123-125
Page 75
COLES, p., and FOSTER, J. (1975) 'Typographic cueing as an aid to
learning from typewritten text' Programmed Learning and
Educational Technology 12 (2) 102-108
Page 60
COLLARD, M., GRIFFITH, J., LIDDY, B., SHUK, V., and SWINBURNE, E. S.
(1969) 'The use of models and programmed learning in organic
chemistry' Education in Chemistry 6 (4) 130-132
Page 18
COLLIER, K. G. (1966) 'An experiment in university teaching' Universities
Quarterly 20 (3) 336-348
Page 76
COLLIER, K. G. (1969) 'Syndicate methods: further evidence and comments'
Universities Quarterly 23 (4) 431-436
Page 76
COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION (1963) Higher education London,
HMSO
Page 6
 110

CONNOR, D. J. (1968) 'Teaching engineering students by machine and text'

Programmed Learning and Educational Technology 5 (2) 129-135
Page 34
CONNOR, D. V. (1967) fA study of problem solving in physics! Australian
Journal of Higher Education 3 (1) 55-67
Page 74
CONNORS, B. (1972) fTesting innovations in course design' British Journal
of Educational Technology 1 (3) 48-52
Page 67
COOMBS, M. J. (1974) 'The promotion of learning from complex televisual
materials by the use of expectancies t Programmed Learning and
Educational Technology 11 (3) 133-139
Page 26
COOPER, C. L. (1968) 'A study of the role of the staff trainer in human
relations training groups I (Unpublished PhD thesis) University of
Leeds. Department of Management
Page 81
COOPER, B., and FOY, J. M. (1967) 'Evaluating the effectiveness of
lectures' Universities Quarterly 21 (2) 182-185
Page 42
COOPER, B., and FOY, J. M. (1969) 'Students' study habits, attitudes and
academic attainment' Universities Quarterly 23 (2) 203-212
Page 21
COPE, E. (1969) 'Students and school practice' Education for Teaching
No. 88 23-25 Autumn 1969
Page 12
COPELAND, W. D. (1975) 'The relationship between microteaching and
student-teacher classroom perfor~::lance' Journal of Educational
Research 68 (8) 289-293
Page 50
CORNWALL, M. G. (1975) 'Authority versus experience in higher education:
project orientation in some Continental universities! UniVersities
Quarterly 29 (3) 372-398
Pages 13. 76
COSTIN, F. (1972) 'Lecturing versus other methods in teaching' British
Journal of Educational Technology 1 (3) 4-31
Page 38
COTTRELL, T. L. (1962) 'Effect of size of tutorial group on teaching
efficiency' University of Edinburgh Gazette 33 20-21
Page 15
 111

COWAN, J., McCONNELL, S, G., and BOLTON, A. (1970) !Learner

directed group work for large classes' Heriot-Watt University
Department of Civil Engineering
Pages 51, 76, 79
COWAN, J., and MORTON, J. (1973) 'MOCO - a structural game for
undergraduates 1 Programmed Learning and Educational Technology
10 (4) 267-273
Page 72
COWIE, A. p .. and HEATON, J, B. (eds) (I9??) English for academic
purposes: papers on the language problems of overseas students in
higher education in the UK BAAL (British Association for Applied
Linguistics) SELMOUS
Page 47
COX, M., ELTON, L.R.D., and GRAY, R.G. (1974) 'Use of computer
methods in an introductory quantum mechanics course 1
International Journal of Mathematical Education 5 (2) 157-160
Page 19
COX, R. (1967) 'Examinations and higher education' Universities Quarterly
21 (3) 292-340
Page 84
COX, RJ., and KONTIAINEN, S. (1974) 1Comparison of attitudes of
trained trainers, untrained trainers, and trainees in general practice 1
British Journal of Medical Education 8 (2) 103-111
Page 97
COYLE. J.D .• and SERVANT, D.M. (1975) 1A film-based notional practicaP
Education in Chemistry 12 (3) 82-83
Page 54
CRAIG, W. R (1968) 'Experiment in television teaching and its reaction!
International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 6 (2) 306-8
Page 48
CROMBAG, H.F.M., DE WlJKERSLOOTH, J.L., and VAN TUYLL VAN
SEROOSKERKEN (1972) 'On solving legal problems' in Over het
oplosson van casusposities Gronignen, H. D. Tjeenk Willink
Page 72
CROSSLAND, A. (1967) Speech by the Secretary of State for Education and
Science, University of Lancaster
Page 6
CROSSLEY, C.A. (1968) 'Tuition in the use of the library and of subject
literature in the University of Bradford 1 Journal of Documentation
24 (2) 91-97
Page 61
 112

CROWN, S .• LUCAS, C,J., and SUPRAl\1ANIAlVI, S. (1973) 'The delineation

and measurement of study difficulty in university students' British
Journal of Psychiatry 122 (569) 381-393 and British Journal of
Guidance and Counselling Abstracts 2 (2) NO.237
Page 57
CROXTON, p,e.L. t and lVIARTIN, L,H. (1965) 'Away with notes l :
(Programming in Higher Education) New Education (I) 25 -27
Page 34
CROXTON, P. C. L .. and l\lARTIN, L. H. (1968) 'Progressive evaluation
and the control of programmed classes in degree com'ses' in
TOBIN, M. J. (ed) Problems and methods in programmed learning
Proceedings of the Association of Programmed Learning/National
Centre for Programmed Learning 1967 Birmingham Conference
(3) 83
Page 34
CRUIKSHANK, D. R. (1963) 'Simulation' Theory into Practice 7 (5) 190-193
Page 73
CULLEN, J. B. (1973) 'Social identity and motivation I Psychological
Reports 33 (1) 338
Page 83
CURETON, L. (1968) IT-groups, inter-groups in teacher training'
(Unpublished MPhil theSiS) University of Sussex
Page 80

DALLOS, R. (1975) 'Programmed learning and personality: a review and a

preliminary study' Programmed Learning and Educational Technology
12 (1) 12-20
Page 31
DAVEY, A. G. (1969) 'Leadership in relation to group achievement'
Educational Research 11 (3) 185-192
Page 65
DAVIDSON, J.K., and THOMPSON, G.D. B. (1970) 'Closed-circuit tele-
vision in teaching diagnostic radiology' British Journal of Medical
Education 4 (1) 23-28
Page 94
DAVIE, R. S" and RUSSELL, J. 1<. (1974) 'Attitudes and abilities of
co-operative students' The Australian Journal of Education 18 (2)
150-171
Page 95
DAVIES, B. M., and MOWBRAY, R. M. (1968) 'Medical students' personality
and academic achievement' British Journal of Medical Education
2 (3) 195-199
Page 86
 113

DAVIES, G, N. (1967) 'Changing concepts in dental education' New Zealand

Dental Journal (63) 107-112
Page 80
DEAN, T.1L (1971) 'Medical students' responses to undergraduate instruction
in g'eneral practice' British Journal of ivIedical Education 5 (4)
269-272
Page 99
DEUTSCH, M. (1949) 'Experimental study of effects of co-operation and
competition upon group process Human Relations 2 (3) 199-231
Page 65
DICK, W. (1963) 'Retention as a function of paired and individual use of
programmed instruction' Journal of Programmed Instruction 2 (3)
17-23
Pages 32, 33
DIGGINS, F. W. E. (1974) 'The use of haemoglobin as a model for teaching'
the relationship between structure and function' Journal of
Biological Education 8 (5) 250-8
Page 28
de DOMBAL, F. T., HARTLEY, J. R., and SLEEMAN, D. H. (1969)
'A computer-assisted system for learning clinical diag'nosis' The
~ 1969 1 Jan 18 145-148
Page 53
DONALDSON, G. W. (1974) Teaching and assessing 200 2nd-year electrical
engineering students International Journal of Electrical Engineering
Education Vol. 11 (3) 223-226
Page 25
DOSKIN, V.A., and LAURENT'EVA, N.A. (First Moscow Institute) (1974)
'Rizm fiziologicheskildl funktsu i rezhim obucheniya t (The rhythm of
physiological functions and teaching arrangements) Vestnik vysshei
shkolv (5) 76-79
Page 15
DOWDESWELL, W. H. (1970) 'Inter-university biology teaching project'
Journal of Biological Education 4 (3) 197-203
Page 78
DOWDESWELL, W. H. (1972) 'Inler-university biology project' Nature
238 (5363) 313-315
Page 9
DUBIN, R., and HEDLEY, R.A. (1969) IThe medium may be relegated to the
message: college instruction by T. V.' Eugene, University of
Oregon Press
Page 48
 114

DUDLEY. H. A. F. (1970) 'Taxonomy of clinical educational objectives r

British Journal of Medical Education 4 (1) 13-18
RIge 12
DUNN, W. R. (1969) 'Programmed learning news: feedback devices in
university lectures' New University 3 (4) 21-22
Page 24

ECKERT. R. E .• and NEALE, D. C. (1965) 'Teachers and teaching'

Review of Educational Research 35 304-317
page 3
EDWARDS, C, H. (1967) 'Experience with an integrated first six months
clinical training' in UTMU (ed) Teaching for efficient learning
(report of a conference held at the University of London Institute of
Education) London, University Teaching Methods Research Uuit
page 76
EDWARDS, C. H, (1975) 'Changing teacher behaviour through self-instruction
and supervised micro-teaching in a competency based programme'
Journal of Educational Research 68 (6) 219-222
Page 50
EGGLESTON, J. E. (1969) 'A strategy for the identification and communica-
tion of teaching objectives in SOCiology' in UTMU (ed) Conference
on objectives in higher education London, University Teaching
Methods Research Unit
Page 12
EGGLESTON, J. F., and KELLEY, P.J. (1970) 'The assessment of project
work in A-level biology' Educational Research 12 (3) 225-229
Page 77
ELKINS, T. H. (1974) 'Developments in interdisciplinarity' Group for Research
and Innovation in Higher Education Newsletter No.4 London, The
Nuffield Foundation
Page 7
ELLEY, W. B. (1966) 'The role of errors in learning with feedback'
British Journal of Educational psychology 31 (3) 296-300
Page 23
ELLIOTT, A. G. P. (1958) An experiment in group dynamics (mimeograph)
Simon Eng., Ltd.
page 81
ELLIS, H. P., and JONES, A. D. (1974) 'Anxiety about lecturing! Univer-
sities Quarterly 29 (1) 91-95
Page 35
 115

ELTON, C. F. (1965) 'The effect of logic instruction on the Valentine

Reasoning Test' British Journal of Educational Psychology 35 (3)
339-341
Page 69
ELTON, L. R. B. (1968) 'The assessment of students - a new approach'
Universities Quarterly 23 (3) 291-301
Page 85
ELTON, L. R. B" HILLS, P.J., and O'CONNELL, S. (1970) 'Self-teaching
situations in a university physics course' in International congress
on the education of teachers of physics in secondary schools
Eger, Hungary
Pages 25, 76, 92
ENGEL, C.E., LOWE, G.D.O., MARSHALL, P.B., and WAKEFORD, R.E.
(1974) 'Teaching basic pharmacology to medical students: an
experimental self-instructional approach' in Medical and
Biological lliustration 24 (3) 130-134
Page 45
ENTWISTLE, N.J., and ENTWISTLE, D. (1970) 'The relationship between
personality, study methods, and academic performance' British
Journal of Educational Psychology 40 (2) 132-143
Page 86
ENTWISTLE, N.J., PERCY, K.A., and NISBET, J.B. (1971) Educational
objectives and academic performance in higher education (summary
of a preliminary report) University of Lancaster Department of
Educational Research
Pages 6, 11, 20, 21
EPSTEIN, H. T. (1970) A strategy for education Oxford University Press
Page 28
EPSTEIN, H. T. (1972) 'An experiment in education' Nature 235 Jan 28
203-205
Page 28
ERAUT, M. (1970) 'Course development: an approach to the improvement
of teaching in higher education' Journal of Educational Technology
1 (3) 195-206
Page 8

ERSKINE, C.A., and O'MORCHOE, C.C.C. (1961) 'Research on teaching

methods: its significance for the curriculum' The Lancet 1961 2
Sept 23 709-711
Page 22
ERSKINE, C.A., and TOMKIN, A. (1963) 'Evaluation of the effect of the
group discussion method in a complex teaching programme'
Journal of Medical Education (38) 1036-1042
Page 17
 116

FALK, B. (1967) 'The use of student evaluation' The Australian University

5 (2) 109-121
Page 99
FARRELL, W. H. (1965) 'Programmed learning in the Royal Canadian Air
Force' Programmed Learning 2 (3) 176-181
Page 29
FELDMAN, K. A., and NEWCOMB, T. M. (1973) The impact of college on
students: Volume 1 Jossey Bass
Page 94
FLEMING, J. (1975) 'Computer-aided design teaching experiment'
(Strathclyde Department of Architecture)

FLETCHER, S" and WATSON, A.A. (1968) 'Magnetic tape recording in the
teaching of histopathology British Journal of Medical Education 2 (4)
283-292
Page 45
FLOOD PAGE, C. (1971) Technical Aids to Teaching in Higher Education
London, Society for Research into Higher Education (2nd edition 1976)
Pages 43, 52, 53
FLOOD PAGE, C. (1974) Student evaluation of teaching: the American
experience London, Society for Research into Higher Education
Page 42
FORSYTH, H. A. (1973) 'Computers as an aid to teaching nutrition' Journal
of Biological Education 7 (3) 31-36
Page 53
FOSTER, J. (1968) 'A note on the visibility of black-an-white and white-on-
black photographic slides' British PsYchological Society Bulletin
21 (72) 173
Page 43
FOULDS, K. W. B., HARLOW, R. G., JACKSON, D. F., and WBORLOW. R. W
(1969) 'Undergraduate physics projects at the University of Surrey'
Physics Education 4 (6) 344-345
Page 76
FOY, J. M. (1969) 'A note on lecturer evaluation by students' Universities
Quarterly 23 (3) 345 -348
Pages 42, 88
FRANCIS, R.D., COLLINS, J., and CASSEL, A.J. (1973) 'Theeffecto!
reading tuition on academic achievement: volunteering and methods
of tuition' British Journal of Educational psychology 43 (3) 298-300
Pages 57, 58
-
117

FREEMAN, J", and BYRNE, P. S. (1973) The assessment of post-graduate

training in general practice London, Society for Research into Higher
Education
Pages 12, 97
FREYBERG, P. S. (1956) 'The effectiveness of note-taking' Education for
Teaching' 39 February 17-24
Page 59
FRY, E. (!963a) Teaching faster reading London, Cambridge University
Press
Page 57

FRY, E. (1963b) Reading faster London, Cambridge University Press

Page 57

GAGNE, R. (1965) The conditions of learning Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Page 28
GALLEGOS, A. M. (1968) 'Experimenter pacing and student pacing of
programmed instruction' Journal of Educational Research 61 (8)
339-342
Page 33
GANE, C. P. (1969) 'Educational technology v. the technology of education'
The Royal Television Society Journal 12 (5) 101-104
Page 26
GANE, C. P., HORABIN, 1. S., and LEWIS, B. N. (1966) 'The Simplification
and avoidance of instruction' Industrial Training International July
Page 70
GARBUTT, D. (1963) 'An investigation into students' understanding of some
accountancy terms' The Vocational Aspect of Secondary and Further
Education 31 (15) 69-169
Pages 55, 69
GARDINER, Q., BODDY, F.A., and TAYLOR, J. (1969) 'An orientation
course for first-year medical students' British Journal of Medical
Education 3 (3) 199-202
Page 20
GAUVAIN, S. (1968) 'The use of student opinion in the quality control of
teaching' British Journal of Medical Education 2 (1) 55-62
Page 98
GAUVAIN, S. (1970) Questionnaire techniques in course evaluation (paper
given to Symposium on Automation in Medical and other Higher
Education, Multiple-Choice Questions and Research, June 1970)
Page 98
 118

GAUVAIN, S., WOOD, C.H., WALFORD, J., and SCHILLING, R,S.F.

l
(1965) 'Experiment in postgraduate education to evaluate teaching
and examining techniques' Journal of Medical Education 40 (1)
516-523
Page 98
GESSNER, F. B. (1974) tAn experiment in modified self-paced learning'
English Education 64 (5) 368-370
Page 97
GIBB, G. O. (1968) 'Account of an experiment designed to test the effective-
ness of a commentary superimposed over a televised classroom
situation' Educational Television International 2 (2) 173-179
Page 49
GillSON, J, N, (1970) 'Paper in a symposium on attitude measurement in
exploratory studies I Bulletin of the British Psychological Society
23 (81) 323-324
Page 69
GILBERT, T. (1975) 'The effect of dictated notes on the recall and
comprehension of connected and disconnected verbal material'
British Journal of Educational Technology 1 (6) 62-65
Page 59
GILLll..AND, 1. C., and GIBBONS, J. L. (1971) 1The assessment of advanced
courses of medical education 1 British Journal of Medical Education
5 (4) 305-306
Page 97
GLYNN. E. (1965) 1Keys to chemistry (a personal effort in programming)'
New Education (1) 21-22
Page 32
GOMES da COSTA, B., SMITH, T. M. F., and WHITELEY, D. (1974)
1German language attainment: a sample survey of universities and
colleges in the UK I N. E. London Polytechnic
Page 47
GOODHUE, D. (1969) 'Tape-recorded lectures with slide synchronization:
a description of the method! Journal of Biological Education 3 (4)
311-319
Page 54
GOODLAD, S. (1970) 'Project work in developing countries: a British
experiment in engineering education t International Journal of
Electrical Engineering Education 8 (2) 135-140
Page 75
GORBUTT, D. (1974) 'The new sociology of education' in REID, I., and
WORMALD, E. (eds) Sociology and teacher education Social
SCience Section: Association of Teachers in Colleges and Depart-
ments of Education (London)
Page 1
 119

GRADDON, J. t SNOW, T., and WATTS, A. G, (1974) 'Careers education

in higher education: an experiment' British Journal of Guidance
and Counselling 2 (1) 96-100
Page 73

GRAVES, J. and V. (eds) (1963) Report on conference on the use of tape

in medical teaching at the College of General Practitioners
Chelmsford, Royal College of General Practitioners Medical
Recording Service and Sound Library
Page 44
GRAVES, J. and V. (1965) Medical sound recording London and New York,
Focal Press
Page 44
GRAVES, J. and Y (eds) (1967) Report on second conference on the use of
audiotape in medical teaching Chelmsford, Royal College of General
Practitioners Medical Recording Service and Sound Library
Page 44
GRUBB, R. E. (1968) 'Learner-controlled statistics' Programmed Learning
and Educational Technology 5 (1) 38-42
Page 53
GRUGEON, D. et al (1972) Draft unit on course tuition Open University
Page 25
GRUNEBERG, M. M., and STARTUP, R. (1975) 'First year university
students' preconceptions of their teacher's week' Vocational Aspect
of Education XXVII (67) 45-48
Page 88
GUILD, R. E. (1966) 'An experiment in modified programmed self-
instruction' Journal of Dental Education 30 (2) 181-189
Page 30
GUST, T., and SCHUl\1ACHER, D. (1969) 'Handwriting speed of college
students' Journal of Educational Research 62 (5) 198-200
Page 40

HALE, P. R. (1965) 'Using closed-circuit television' Cambridge Institute

of Education Bulletin 3 (1) 5-11
Page 50
HALL, W. C. (1975) 'De-mystifying curriculum development' Universities
Quarterly 29 (2) 166-170
Page 9
HALSEY, A. H., and TROW, M. (1971) The British academies London,
Faber
Page 88
 120

HALLWORTH, H.J. (1957) 'Group discussion in its relevance to teacher

training' Educational Review 10 (1) 41-53
Page 80
HAMMERSLEY. J. H. (1968) 'On the enfeeblement of mathematical skills by
'modern mathematics I and by similar soft track in schools and
universities I Bulletin of the Institute of Mathematics and its
Application 4 (4) 1-22
Page 78
HANDY, J., and JOHNSTONE, A. (1974) 'Project assessment' Education
in Chemistry 11 (2) 56-57
Page 77
HANSON, R. W., and SIMMONS, G,A. E. (1972) 'An integrated laboratory
project' Chemistry in Britain 9 (2) 58-59
Page 77
HARDEN, R. MeG., DUNN, W. R., HOLROYD, C., LEVER, R., LINDSAY,
A., and WILSON, G. M. (1969) 'An experiment involving substitution
of tape/slide programmes for lectures' The Lancet 1969 1 May 3
933-935
Page 18
HARDEN, R. McG., WAYNE, Sir E" and DONALD, G, (1968) ~n audio-
visual technique for medical teaching' Journal of lVledical and
Biological Illustration 18 (1) 29-32
Page 46
HARDING, A, G. (1973a) 'The objectives and structure of lmdergraduate
projects' British Journal of Educational Technology 4 (2) 94-105
Pages 13. 77
HARDING, A. G. (1973b) 'The project: its place as a learning' situation'
British Journal of Educational Technology 4 (3) 216-232
Page 77
HARDING, A. G" and SAYER, S. (1975) 'The objectives of training university
teachers' Universities Quarterly 3 Summer 299-317
Page 13
HARGREAVES, S. (1970) 'The Esso students' business game' The Technical
Journal 8 (5) 14-16
Page 73
HARRISON, M.1. (1968) 'A computer-based learning system' Design
ElectroniCS 5 (1) 30-33
Page 53
HARTLEY, J, R. (1968) 'An experiment showing some student benefits against
behavioural costs in using programmed learning' Programmed
Learning and Educational Technology 5 (3) 219
Page 16
 121

HARTLEY, J. (1968) 'Some factors affecting student performance in

programmed learning' Programmed Learning and Educational
Technology 5 (3) 206-218
Pages 32, 33
HARTLEY, J. (1974a) 'Programmed instruction 1954-74: a review'
Programmed Learning and Educational Technology 11 (6) 273-291
Page 32
HARTLEY, J. (1974b) 'Psychology teaching' Bulletin for the Association
for the Teaching of Psychology 2 (1) 206-250
Page 96
HARTLEY, J. (1976) 'Lecture handouts and student note-taking' Programmed
Learning and Educational Technology (in press)
Page 59
HARTLEY, J .• and CAMERON, A. (1967) 'Some observations on the
efficiency of lecturing' Educational Review 20 (1) 30-37
Page 59
HARTLEY, J., and !vIARSHALL, S. (1974) 'On notes and note-taking'
Universities Quarterly 28 (2) 225-235
Page 60
HAWKINS, J. D. (1969) 'A survey of student opinion on practical biochemistry'
in WILLS, E. D, (ed) Practical biochemistry in the medical course
(report of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies at
St, Bartholomew'S Hospital, London)
Page 91
HAWKRIDGE, D. (1974) 'Problems in implementing computer managed
learning' British Journal of Educational Technology 5 (1) 31-43
Page 53
HAYES, D. M. (1964) 'Objective evaluation of a subjective teaching method:
the student dissertation' Journal of Medical Education (39)
1083-1089
Pages 76, 77
HAYTHORN, W., COUCH, A., HAEFNER, D" LANGHAM, P., and
LAN NOR, F. C, (1956) 'The behaviour of authoritarian and egalitarian
personalities in groups' Human Relations 9 (1) 57-74
Page 65
HEARNSHAW, T., and ROACH, D, K, (1974) 'A self instructional course in
audio-visual techniques' British Journal of Educational Technology
3 (5) 60-72
Page 96
HELFER, R. E., and SLATER, C. H. (1971) 'Measuring the process of
solving clinical diagnostic problems' British Journal of Medical
Education 5 (1) 48-52
Page 72
 122

HENSHAW, E.M., LANGDON, J., and HOLMAN, P. (1933) Manual

dexterity: effects of training (Independent Health Research Board
Report 67) London, HMSO
Page 55
HEWARD, C •• MASH, V., and HEYWOOD, J. (1968) 'Student reaction to
sandwich courses for the diploma in technology' Bulletin of
Mechanical Engineering Education 7 (3) 253-268
Page 20
HEYWOOD, J., YOUNGMAN, M. B., MONK, J. D., and OXTOBY, R. (1973)
Summary and results of an investigation into the classification of
objectives for the, training of technologists and technicians
(Industrial Research Training Project) University of Lancaster
Department of Educational Research
Page 13
HEYWOOD, J. (1975) 'Towards the classification of objectives in training
technologists and technicians' International Journal of Electrical
Engineering Education 12 (3) 217-233
Page 13
HILL, K. R., and SCHEUER, P.J. (1965) 'A rapid reading course' Roval
Free Hospital Journal (29) 23-25
Page 57
HIRST, K., and BIGGS, N. (1969) 'Undergraduate projects in mathematics'
Educational Studies in Mathematics 1 (3) 252-261
Pag'es 76, 77
HOARE, D. E., and INGLIS, G. R. (1965) 'Programmed learning in
chemistry: IT: an experiment' Education in Chemistry 2 (1) 32-35
Page 29
HOARE, D. E., and REVANS, M. M. (1969) 'Measuring attainment of
educational objectives in chemistry' Education in Chemistry 6 (3)
78-80
Page 29
HOBEROEK, J. L. (1971) 'Personalised instruction in mechanical engineering'
Journal of Engineering Education 81 (6) 506-507
Page 97
HOGG, D. R. (1973) 'Student attitudes to programmed learning' Education
in Chemistry 10 (1) 7-9
Page 30
HOLGATE, A. (1971) 'Teaching design to engineers: presentation and
reception' Australian Journal of Higher Education 4 (2) 110-115
Page 99
 123

HOLLAND, W. W., GARRAD, J., BENNETT, A. E., and RHODES, P. (1966)

'A clinical approach to the teaching of social medicine: an evaluation
of an experimental method' The Lancet 1966 1 Mar 5 540-542
Page 27
HOLLOWAY, P.J. (1964) lA test of the use of a teaching aid for the instruc-
tion of undergraduate dental students in operative techniques 1

The Dental Practitioner 14 375-377

Page 44
HOLLOWAY, P.J. (1966) 'The effect of lecture time on learning' British
Journal of Educational Psychology 31 (3) 255-258
Page 38
HOLMES, E. L. (1970) tCo-operative engineering education at the University
of Waterloo! International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education
8 (1) 3-10
Page 20

HOLMES, P. G. (1969) tAn open-ended electrical machine laboratory for

second-year undergraduates! International Journal of Electrical
Engineering 7 (3/4) 431-437
Page 75
HOOPER, R. (1974) !The computer!s role as a manager of learning!
Education 144 (16) 454-456
Page 19
HOOS, I. R. (1975) tThe costs of efficiency: implications of educational
technology! Journal of Higher Education 46 (2) 141-159
Page 14
HOPKINS, A. D. (1967) The training of professional metallurgists (Lancaster
Studies in Higher Education No.2) University of Lancaster
Page 13
HORNSBY-SMITH, M. P. (1973) 'Styles of teaching and their influence upon
the interests of students in science! Durham Research Review
7 (31) 807-815
Page 37
HOUSTON, J. G., and PILLINER, A. E. (1974) 'The effect of verbal teaching
style on the attainment of educational objectives in physics! British
Journal of Educational Psychology 44 (2) 163-173
Page 37
HOWE, M. J. A. (1974) !The utility of taking notes as an aid to learning!
Educational Research 16 (3) 222-227
Page 60
HOWE, J. and SINGER, L. (1975) !Presentation variables and student!s
activities in meaningful learning' British Journal of Educational
Psychology 45 (1) 52-61
Page 58
 124

HUBER, Paul B. (1974) 'An internal measure of productivity in the university'

Dalhousie university Department of Economics
Page 21
HUDSON. L. (1966) Contrary imaginations: a psychological study of the
English schoolboy London, Methuen
Pages 74, 75
HUGHES, D.O., and MORGAN, E. D. (1970) 'A student exercise in X-ray
crystallography! Education in Chemistry 7 (2) 59-61
Page 78

INHELDER, B., and PIA GET , J. (1958) The growth of logical thinking
London, Routledge and Kegan Paul
Page 69
IVEY, A. E. (1974) 'Microcounselling: teacher training as facilitation of
pupil growth' British Journal of Educational Technology 2 (5)
16-21
Page 50

JARODA, M., and THO:MAS, L. F. (1966) 'The mechanics of learning'

New Scientist 30 April 14 114-117
Page 58
JAMES, D.W., JOHNSON, M.L. (nowABERCROMBlE, M.L.J.), and
VENNING, P. (1956) 'Testing for learnt skill in observation and
evaluation of evidence' The Lancet 1956 2 Aug 25 379-383
Page 68
JAMES, P. E. (1970) 'A comparison of the efficiency of programmed video-
tape and instruction booklet in learning to operate a desk calculator'
Programmed Learning and Educational Technology 7 (2) 134-139
Pages 32, 33, 35, 94
JAMIESON, D. W .• and THOMAS, K. W. (1974) 'Power and conflict in the
student/teacher relationship' Sociology of Education Abstracts
10 (4) 707
Page 98
JAMIESON, a.H., JAMES, P. E., and LEYTHAM, a. W. H. (1969)
'Comparisons between teaching methods at the postgraduate level T

Programmed Learning 6 (4) 243 -244

Page 30
JEFFRIES, T. 0 .• and LEECH, D.J. (1969) 'A student design contract'
International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 7 (2)
182-191
Page 75
 125

JENKINS, D. E. P. (1968) 'The efficient USe of laboratory time in the teaching

of engineering' in Innovations and Experiments in University Teaching
IVlethods London, University Teaching Methods Research Un
Page 79
JEPSON, J. (1969) 'Some methods of teaching practical biochemistry' in
WILLS, E. D. (ed) Practical biochemistry in the medical course
Report of the Federal European Biochemical Society Summer School,
April 1968
Page 79
JEWELL. B. R. (1970) 'Logistics of organizing a practical course' British
Journal of Medical Education 4 (3) 210-215
Page 79
JOHNSON, H. C., RHODES, D. H., and RUMERY, R. H. (1975) 'The aSsess-
ment of teaching" in higher education' Higher Education 4 (2) 173-200
Page 89
JOHNSTON, J.O., and CALHOUN, J.A.P. (1969) 'The serial position effect
in lecture material! Journal of Educational Research 62 (6) 255-258
Page 39
JOHNSTONE, R. E. (1974) 'A note on students' design projects' Chemical
Engineer (286) 390

JONES, G. (1965) 'Organic research projects in an undergraduate course'

Education in ChemistrY 2 (5) 238-240
Page 75
JONES, G. O. (1969) 'Physics in the new London BSc degree' Physics
Education 4 (3) 143-150
Page 13
JONES, L., and WYLIE, A. (1976) 'Routes for part time study: student
wastage and comparative costs' Education and Training 18 (3)
77-79, 82
Page 20
JOYCE, C.R.B., and WEATHERALL, M. (1957) 'Controlled experiments in
teaching The Lancet 1957 2 402-407
Pages 17, 94
JOYCE, C. R. B .• and WEATHERALL, 1'1'1. (1959) 'Effective use of teaching
time' The Lancet 1959 1 Mar 14 568-571
Pag'es 17, 36, 93
JOYCE, C. R. B., and HUDSON. L. (1968) 'Student style and teacher style'
British Journal of Medical Education 2 (1) 28-31
Pages 74, 83
 126

KALLENBACH, W, W.o and GALL, M. D. (1969) 'Microteaching VB conventional

methods in training elementary intern teachers' Journal of Educational
Research 63 (3) 136-141
Page 50
KANDEL, 1. (1936) Examinations and their substitutes in the United States
New York, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
(Bulletin 28)
Page 62
KATZ, F. M" and C, N. (1968) 'Students' definition of the objectives of a
university education ( Australian J curTIal of Higher Education 3 (2)
111-118
Page 6
KAUFl\.1AN, RA. (1963) 'The systems approach to programming' in
OFIESH, G.D" and MEIERHENRY, W.C. (eds) Trends in
programmed instruction (papers from The National Society for
Programmed Instruction and Department of Audio-Visual Instruction
Conference)
Page 30
KELLER, F. S. (1968) r trGoodbye, teacher ... II I Journal of Applied
Behaviour Analysis 1 (1) 78-89
Pages v, 8, 25
KENNEL, J. H., TEMPIO, C. R., and WILE, M. Z. (1973) 'Self-evaluation
by first year medical students in a chemical programme I British
Journal of Medical Education 7 (4) 230-238
Page 87
KENSHOLE, G. (1968) 'A teaching experiment in a first-year university
course I Physics Education 3 (1) 49-50
Page 52
KING. B. T .• and JANIS, I. L. (1956) 'Comparison of the effectiveness of
improvised versus non-improvised role-playing in producing opinion
changes I Human Relations 9 (2) 177-186
Page 82
KITCHEN. R. D. (1969) 'A study of teaching methods' Australian Journal
of Higher Education 3 (3) 218-225
Page 94
KLEIN. J. (1961) Worldng with groups London, Hutchinson
Page 64
KLEIN. J. (1965) The study of groups London, Routledge and Kegan Paul
Pages 64, 65
KNIGHT, R.R., and SASSENRATH, J.M. (1966) 'Relation of achievement,
motivation and test anxiety to performance in programmed instruction'
Journal of Educational Psychology 57 (1) 14-17
Page 31
 127

KNOX, J. D. E. (1971) 'The modified essay question' Royal College of

General Practitioners
Page 86
KONTIAINEN. S., and COX, R. (1973) 'Attitudes of trainers and trainees
to teaching in relation to the objectives of a course for teachers in
general practicer London, University Teaching Methods Unit
Page 97
KRUMBOLTZ, J.D., and WEISMAN, R. G. (1962) 'The effect of overt
versus covert responding to programmed instruction on immediate
and delayed retention' Journal of Educational Psychology 53 (2)
89-92
Page 34
KRUMBOLTZ, J. D. (1964) tThe nature and importance of the required
response in programmed instruction' American Journal of
Educational Research 1 (4) 203-209
Page 34

LAIDLAW, B., and LAYARD, R. (1974) tTraditional v. Open University

teaching methods: a cost comparison' Higher Education 3 (4)
439-471
Page 14
LANE, M. R. (1974) 'Designing degree courses' Universities Quarterly
28 (2) 219-224
LANGHOLTZ, G., and SEKAY, A.A. (1975) 'Orientations and motivations
of freshmen engineers 1 International Journal of Electrical
Engineering Education 12 (3) 255-265
Page 98
LAVACH, J. F., (1973) 'The effect of arousal on short- and long-term
memory' Journal of Educational Research 67 (3) 131-133
Page 27
LAWRENCE, G., and ROBINSON, P. (1975) An innovation and its
implementation: issues of evaluation London, Tavistock Press

LAYARD, R.. and OATEY, M. (1973) 'The cost-effectiveness of the new

media in higher education' British Journal of Educational
Technology 3 (4) 158-176
Page 14
LAYARD, P. R. G., and VERRY, D. W. (1975) 'Cost functions for univer-
sity teaching and research' Economic Journal 85 (337) 55-74
Page 14
 128

LE IvIARNE. A. E. (1972) 'Evaluation of a group controlled aUelio-visual

system of programmed learning' Physics Education 7 (4) 218-224
Page 45
LECKEY, R. C. G. (1972) 'An elementary practical course in electronicS
for science students' Physics Education 7 (1) 23-26
Page 56
LEE, L. S. and CARTER, G. (1972) 'A sample survey of departments of
electrical engineering to determine recent significant changes in
laboratory work pattern at first year level' International Journal of
Electrical Engineering Education 10 (2) 131-135
Page 75
LEININGER, G. G. (1975) 'Systems engineering - a motivational approach'
International Journal of Electrical Engineering EdUcation 12 (3)
197-202
Page 83
LEITH, G. 0.1'1'1., and BUCKLE, G. F. (1966) Mode of response and non-
specific background knowledge Birmingham, National Centre for
Research and Documentation of Programmed Learning
Page 33
LEITH, G. 0, 1\1. (1969) 'Programmed learning in higher education' in
Ur-.TWIN, D (ed) Media and methods McGraw Hill
Page 32
LEITH, G. 0. M., and McHUGH, G.A. R (1967) 'The place of theory in
learning consecutive conceptual tasks' Educational Review 19 (2)
110-117
Page 23
LEITH, G. 0. M., and TROWN, E.A. (1970) 'The influence of personality
and task conditions on learning and transfer' Programmed Learning
and Educational Technology 7 (3) 181-189
Page 31
LEITH, G. 0. M., and WISDOM, B. (1970) 'An investigation of the effects of
error making and personality on learning' Programmed Learning and
Educational Technology 7 (2) 120-126
Pages 31, 86
LEKAN, H.A. (1970) 'Index to computer aSSisted instruction' (Stirling Inst.)
Page 53
LEVINE, D., and BENITO, A.J. (1974) 'Impact of clinical training on
attitudes of medical students: self-perpetrating barrier to change in
the system?' British Journal of Medical Education 8 (1) 13-16
Page 80
LEVINE. F.S. (1974) 'Concepts and models' Education in Chemistry 11 (3)
84-85
Page 28
 129

LEWINSON. D. (1970) 'A self-testing device as an aid to learning' British

Journal of Medical Education 4 (2) 126-129
Page 18
LEWIS, B. N .• and PASKo G. (1964) IThe development of communication
sltills under adaptively controlled conditions' Programmed Learning
1 (2) 69-88
Page 83
LEWIS, W. P. (1974) 10bservations of problem-solving by engineering
students' The AUstralian Journal of Education 18 (2) 172-183
Pages 9, 78
LEYTHAM, G. W. H. t and JAMES, P. (1973) 'Programmed learning in the
production and presentation of videotaped recordings' Programmed
Learning and Educational Technology 10 (3) 136-143
Page 96
LEYTON, E. (1966) 'The typical lecturer 1 New Society 7 (193) 12-13
Page 88
LINACRE, E. T. (1973) 'Lessons not lectures' Centre for Advancement of
Teaching Educational MonographS (2) Macquarie University
Page 38
LLOYD, D. H. (1968) fA concept of improvement of learning response in
the taught lesson' Visual Education (October) 23-25
Page 39
LOEWENTHAL, K., and KOSTREVSKI, B. (1973) 'The effects of training in
written communication or verbal skills! British Journal of
Educational Psychology 43 (1) 82-86
Page 63
LUNT, H. (1973,1976) (ed) Language and language teaching: current
research in Britain, 1971-2 London, Centre for Information on
Language Teaching and Research
Pages 1, 46-47
LUNT, E. (1974) Survey of research and materials development in voca-
tional uses of English, French and German London, Centre for
Information on Language Teaching and Research
Page 46

MACFARLANE SMITH, 1. (1968) 'An experimental study of the effect of

television broadcasts on the G. course in Engineering Science:
1 and 2' The Vocational Aspect of Secondary and Further Education
20 (45) 78 85; 20 (46) 89-100
Page 48
 130

MacKENZIE, A. M. (1974) 'Students in remote areas: an Open University

enquiry! Scottish Journal of Adult Education 1 (2) 25-33
Page 61
MacLAINE, A. G. (1965) lA programme for improving teaching and learning
in Australian universities' The Australian University 3 (3) 235-266
Pages 36, 48
MacIv1ANAWAY. L. A. (1968) 'Using lecture scripts' Universities Quarterly
22 (3) 327-336
Page 17
MacMANAWAY, L. A. (1970) 1Teaching methods in higher education -
innovation and research! Universities Quarterly 24 (3) 321-329
Pages 25. 92
McCARTHY. M. C. (1968) The employment of highly specialized graduates:
a comparative study in the UK and the USA Department of Education
and Science Science Policy Studies 3 London, HMSO
Page 6
McCAH.THY, W. H. (1970) 'Improving large audience teaching: the
"programmed ll lecture' British Journal of Medical 'Education 4
(1) 29-31
Page 24
McCARTHY, W. H., and GONELLA, J. S. (1967) 'The simulated patient
management problem' British Journal of Medical Education 1 (5)
348-352
Page 72
McDONALD-ROSS, lVI. (1972) 'Behavioural objectives and the structure of
knowledge' in AUSTWICI<. K., and HARRIS, N.D.C, (eds)
Aspects of educational technology: Vol. VI London, Pitman
Page 9
McDONALD-ROSS, M., and WALLER, R. (1975) 'Criticism, alternatives
and tests: a conceptual framework for improving typography'
Programmed Learning and Educational Technology 12 (2) 75-83
Page 60
McDUFFIE, D. E. (1973) 'Learning through practical work' Education in
Chemistry 10 (3) 87-88
Page 78
McINTOSH, N, (1974) 'Evaluation of mUlti-media educational systems:
some problems 1 British Journal of Educational Technology 3 (5)
43-59
Page 96
 131

McKEACHIE, W.J, (1966) 'Research in teaching: the gap between theory

and practice I in Improving College Teaching American Council on
Education (Washington)
Pages 3, 15, 69
McLEISH, J. (l96Sa) 'Student retention of lectUre material: a methodological
study! Cambridge Institute of Education Bulletin 3 (3) 2-11
Page 26

McLEISH, J. (196Sb) The lecture method (Cambridge Monographs on

Teaching Methods No.1) Cambridge Institute of Education
Pages 26, 39, 93
McLEISH, J. (1970) Students' attitudes and college environments (Cambridge
Monographs on Teaching Methods No, 3) Cambridge Institute of
Education
Pages 90, 93
McNALL, Scott G. (1975) 1Peer teaching: a description and valuation!
Teaching Sociology 2 (2) 133-146
Page 66
McVEY, P. J. (1967) Evaluation of four lectures by means of questionnaire
(Report No. TR3) University of Surrey Department of Electrical and
Control Engineering
Pages 41, 89
MADILL, J. W. (1975) 1The effects of motivational modes and personality
types upon academic performance 1 IEEE Transactions on Education
E-18 (3) 144-148
Page 31
MAGER, R. F. (1971) Preparing instructional objectives Palo Alto,
California, Fearon Publishers
Page 8
MAIER, N. R. F., and SOLEM, A. R. (1952) 1The contribution of a discuSSion
leader to the quality of group thinking1 Human Relations 5 (3)
277-288
Page 65
MALLESON, N. (1967) 'Medical students' study: time and place 1 British
Journal of Medical Education 1 (3) 169-177
Page 86
MALLESON, N., PENFOLD, D., and SAWIRlS, M. Y. (1968) 'Medical
students 1 study: the way they work ' British Journal of Medical
Education (2) 11-19
Page 57
 132

MARINOS. H. G., and LUCAS, A.IV!. (1971) 'An assessment of audio-tutorial

teaching in a plant physiology course' Journal of Biological Education
5 (3) 109-113
Page 97
1'L.A.RION, P. B. (1974) 'Evaluation of study abroad' ERIC Abstracts 9 (8)
(ED 089 634)
Page 81
MARRIS, P. (1965) The experience of higher education London, Routledge
and Kegan Paul
Pages 35, 40, 66, 90, 92
MARTIN, D, G.• and LEWIS, J. C. (1968) 'Effective laboratory teaching'
Bulletin of Mechanical Engineering Education 7 (1) 51-57
Page 78
MEALS, R. A. (1973) 'Teaching clinical judgement - teaching the choice of
surgical procedure in the treatment of arthritis of the hip I
British Journal of Medical Education 7 (2) 100-102
Page 73
MILES, RJ., and BRAMLEY, Major P. (1974) 'Fatigue and efficiency in
learning situations' British Journal of Educational Technology
2 (5) 59-66
Page 27
MILLER, C. M. L., and PARLETT, M (1974) Up to the mark London,
Society for Research into Higher Education
Page 95
MILLER, G. (1970) Success, failure and wastage in higher education
London, Harrap
Page 21
MILLS, D. G. (1966) 'The use of closed-circuit television in teaching
geography and in training teachers of geography' Geography 51 (3)
218-223
Page 49
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (1956) White paper on technical education
(Cmnd 9703) London, HMSO
Page 6
MOORE, D. (1967) 'Group teaching by programmed instruction'
Programmed Learning and Educational Technology 4 (1) 37-46
Pages 16, 33, 35
MORRIS, V.A., BLANK, S.S., McKIE, D., and RANKINE, F.C. (1970)
'Motivation, step Size, and selected learner variables in relation to
performance with programmed instruction' Programmed Learning
and Educational Technology 7 (4) 257-267
Page 31
 133

I'dORRISON, A., and McINTYRE, D. (1967) 'Changes in opinion about

education during the first year of teaching! British Journal of Social
nnd Clinical Psychology 6 (3) 161-163
Pap;e 81
MORSTAIN, B. R. (1973) 'Changes in students' educational attitudes: a study
of an experimental living-learning programme' Research in Higher
Education 1 (2) 141-148
Page 37
IVIOSCOW. D. (19G8) 'The influence of interpersonal variables on the
transfer of learning from the T-group to the job situation' Proceedings
of the International Congress of Applied Psychology Amsterdam,
Swets and Zeitlinger
Page 81
MOSS, J. R. (1973) 'Assessing the learning experience: ulliversity students
evaluate video-tapes' Programmed Learning and Educational
Technology 10 (3) 144-157

MUSGROVE, F. (1969) 'What worries students' Educational Research 12

(1) 56-59
Pag'e 95

NATIONAL UNION OF STUDENTS (1969) Executive report on examinations

London, National Union of Students
Pages 40, 76
NAY, M.A" and CROCKER, R.K. (1970) 'Science teaching and the affective
attributes of scientists' Science Education 54 (1) 59-67
Page 81
NEALE, D. C, (1967) 'Student ratings of televised classroom demonstrations'
Journal of Educational Research 60 (9) 391-393
Page 94
NEWMAN, M.1., WILLlAMS, R. G" and HILLER, J. H. (1974) 'Delay of
information feedback in an applied setting: effects of initially
learned and unlearned items' Journal of Experimental Education
42 (4) 55-59
Page 24
NIBLETT, B (1976) 'Searching the law by computer' SSRC Newsletter
(30) 8
Page 19
NOORDHOF, G. H. (1974) 'The development of self-replay videotape
facilities at BruneI University' Programmed Learning and
Educational Technology 11 (1) 10-15
Page 51
 134

NUFFIELD FOUNDATION. GROUP FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

IN HIGHER EDUCATION (1974a) 'Interdisciplinarity' in
Newsletter No.5 7-13
Pages 7, 74
NUFFIELD FOUNDATION. GROUP FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
IN HIGHER EDUCATION (1974b) 'Broader Education' in
Newsletter No.5 14-19
Page 7
NUFFIELD FOUNDATION. GROUP FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
IN HIGHER EDUCATION (1975) The Drift of Change London,
NuIfield Foundation
Page 7
NUFFIELD FOUNDATION. GROUP FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
IN HIGHER EDUCATION (1976) Units and. Modules London,
Nuffield Foundation
Page 7

OLLERENSHAW, Dame K. (1972) 'Manpower planning - the threat of

spur to education' EACIE Journal 26 (2)
Page 6
OOSTHOEK, H., and ACKERS, G. (1973) 'The evaluation of an audio-tape
mediated Course: IT' British Journal of Educational Technology
1 (4) 54-73
Page 96
ORR, W. G. (1968) 'Retention in comparing programmed and conventional
instructional methods' Journal of Educational Research 62 (1)
11-13
Page 29
OWEN, S. G., HALL, R., ANDERSON, J .. and SMART, G.A. (1965)
fA comparison of programmed learning instruction and lectures in
the teaching of electrocardiography' Programmed Learning 2 (1)
2-14
Page 31

'PALMER, C. R., and WHITE, G. R. (1974) 'Seminar leader/student and

student/student contacts in university small group teaching'
British Journal of Educational Technology 3 (5) 38-42
Page 64
PALMER, C. R. (1975a) 'Attitudes to learning method in first year
chemistry undergraduates r British J curnal of Educational
Technology 6 (2) 47-54
Page 93
 135

PALMER, C. R. (1975b) 'Learning method and preferences in students of

chemistry' British Journal of Educational Technology 6 (2) 54-61
Page 93
PALVA, P. (1975) 'Measuring clinical problem solving' British Journal
of Medical Education 8 (1) 52-56
PANTALEO, D. C. (1975) 'Video-tapes for laboratory instruction in
freshman chemistry' Journal of Chemical Education 52 (2) 112-113
Page 51
PARKER, R. C., and KRlSTOL, D. S, (1976) 'Student peer evaluation I
Journal of Chemical Education 53 (3) 177-178
Page 66
PARLETT, M .• and HAMILTON, D. (1972) 'Evaluation as illumination:
a new approach to the study of innovatory programmes 1 (Occasional
Paper 9) University of Edinburgh Centre for Research in the
Educational Sciences
Page 9

PASK, G.• and SCOTT, B. (1971) Learning strategies and individual

competence London, Systems Research Ltd
Page 9
PEEL, E. A. (1968) 'Programmed thinking! in ROBIN, M. J. (ed)
Problems and methods in programmed learning (Proceedings of the
1967 Association of Programmed Learning and the National Centre
for Programmed Learning Birmingham Conference, 1
Page 31
PERLBERG, A., and RESH, M. (1967) 'Evaluation of the effectiveness of
the overhead projector in teaching descriptive geometry and
hydrology' Journal of Educational Research 61 (1) 14-18"
Page 43
PERROTT, E" APPLEBEE, A,N., WATSON, E., and REAP, B. (1975a)
'A self-instructional microteaching course on effective questioning '
Peterborough, Guild of Sound and Vision 3 vols: teachers 1 handbook,
co-ordinators' guide, and evaluation manual; and 5 Videotape or film
programmes
Page 49
PERROTT, E., APPLEBEE, A. N., WATSON, E., and HEAP, B. (1975b)
'Changes in teaching behaviour after completing a self-instructional
microteaching course' Programmed Learning and Educational
Technology 12 (6) 348-362
Page 49
PERROTT, E., APPLEBEE, A. N., WATSON, E., and HEAP, B. (1975c)
(in press) 'An investigation into teachers' reactions to a self-
instructional micro-teaching course'
Page 49
 136

PERROTT, E., and DUTHIE, J.H. (1969) 'Universily television in action

micro-teaching' Universit,{ Television Newsletter 7
Page 50
PIAGET. J. (1972) 'The epistemology of interdisciplinary relationships t
in Interclisciplinarity - problems of teaching and research in
universities Paris, Centre for Educational Research and Develop-
ment, OEeD
Page 7
PICKFORD, :r1'1. (1975) 'University inputs, outputs and educational technology'
British Journal of Educational Technology 6 (2) 61-70
Page 14

PIKAS, A. (1969) 'Comparisons between traditional and programmed learning

as a function of passive performance and active application, and time
till application' Programmed Learning and Educational Technology
6 (1) 20-25
Page 29

PIPER, D. W. (1967) 'Strategies in Course planning' Design Education (2)

16-18
Page 10
POOLE, Millicent M. (1971) 'Social class differences in code elaboration: a
study of oral communication at the tertiary lever The Australian
Journal of Education 15 152-160
Page 61
POPPLETON, P. K., and AUSTWICK, K. (1964) 'A comparison of
programmed learning and note-taking at two age levels' British
Journal of Educational Psychology 34 (1) 43-50
Page 34
POSTLETHWAIT, S. N., NOVAK, J., and MURRAY, H. (1964) An integrated
experience approach to learning Minneapolis, Burgess Publishing
Pages v, 8
POULTON, E. C. (1961) 'British courses for adults on effective reading'
British Journal of Educational PsychOlogy 31 (II) 128-137
Page 57
POWER, T. V. (1972) 'In search of objectives for introductory courses in
English law' Vocational Aspects of Education 24 (59) 123-131
Page 11
PREECE, D. A., and FLOOD PAGE, C. (1974) 'Sandwich course under-
graduates and industrial experience' Vocational Aspects of Education
26 (65) 95-104
Page 81
PRESTON, B. (1975) 'Attendance beats track record in the degree stakes'
Times Higher Education Supplement 3 Jan 1975
Page 38
 137

PROSSER, A. P. (1967) 'Oral reports on laboratory work! in Teaching for

Efficient Learning (report of a conference held at the University of
London Institute of Education) London, University Teaching Methods
Research Uuit
Page 62

RASHEED, R. N. (1967) 'The relationship between factors of personality

and academic achievement in a programmed learning situation among
college students' Dissertation Abstracts International 31 (4-A) 1646
Page 31
READ, F. (1969) 'New techniques for the teaching of practical physics'
Physics Education 4 77 -81
Page 78
REID-SMITH, E. R. (1969) 'The measurement of level of student satisfaction
by means of a COurse assessment questionnaire' Research in
Lihrarianship 10 (2) 100-107
Page 98
REPIN, V., and ORLOV, R. S. (1967) 'The use of sleep and relaxation in
the study of foreign languages' Australian Journal of Psychology
19 (3) 203-207
Page 27
RICHARDSON, 1. M., and HOWIE, J. G. R. (1972) 'A study of trainee general
practitioners' British Journal of Medical Education 6 (1) 29-31
Page 73
ROBERTSON, R. G. (1969) 'Teaching engineering by television' Chartered
Mechanical Engineer 16 January 15-18
Page 51
ROBINSON, F. P. (1961) Effective study Harper and Row
Page 61
ROSS, D. (1972-6) Courses in legal Practice Melbourne, Leo Cussen
Institute for Continuing Legal Education
Pages 9, 70, 72
ROWNTREE, D. (1973) What is educational technology? (Monograph No.1)
Milton Keynes, The Open University Institute of Educational Technology
Page 8
ROYAL COLLEGE OF GENERAL PRACTITIONERS (1969) 'Report of the
Vocational Training Sub-Committee: educational needs of the future
general practitioner' Journal of the Royal College of General
PractitionerS 18 (89) 358-360
Pages 12, 86
ROYAL COMMISSION ON MEDICAL EDUCATION 1965-66 (1969) The Todd
Report London, HMSO
Pages 85, 90, 91
 138

SAUNDERS, M. et al (1969) Report of the Commission on Teaching in Higher

Education London, National Union of Students
Pages 21, 36, 90, 91, 92
SAVAGE, R. D. (1972) 'An exploratory study of individual characteristics
associated with attainment in medical school r British J curnal of
Medical Education 6 (1) 68-77

SA VA GE, R. D. (1974) 'Personality and achievement in higher education

professional training' Educational Review 27 (1) 3-15

SAYER, S.• and HARDING. A. G. (1974) 'Time to look beyond technology to

better use of human resources Times Higher Education Supplement
20 December 1974
Page 13
SCHONELL, F.J, et al (1961a) 'Australian universitr experiment: problem
and promise' Australian Journal of Science 24 (1) 19-20
Page 87
SCHONELL, F.J. et al (1961b) University teaching in Queensland (Report
of conferences for demonstrators and lecturers) Brisbane, Univer-
sity of Queensland Press
Page 87
SCHONELL, F.J., ROE, E., and MIDDLETON, 1. G. (1962) Promise and
performance Brisbane, University of Queensland Press
Pages 36, 90
SCLARE, A. B., and THOMPSON, G. O. B. (1968) 'The use of closed-circuit
television in teaching psychiatry to medical students' British Journal
of Medical Education 2 (3) 226-228
Page 48
SCOTT, N. C., DONNELLY, M. B., GALLAGHER, R., and HESS, J. W.
(1973) 'Interaction analysis as a method of assessing skill in
relating to patients: studies on validity' British Journal of Medical
Education (7) 174-178
Page 63
SECURRO. S., and WALLS, R. T. (1975) 'Strategies for increasing self-
initiated interaction' Journal of Educational Research 68 (8)
283-285
Page 64
SENTER, R. J. et al (1966) An experimental comparison of an intrinSically
programmed text and a narrative text (Final Report No. AMRL-TR-65-
227) OhiO, Aero-Space Medical Research Laboratories, Wright
Patterson AFB
Page 30
 139

SEYMOUR, W. D. (1937) 'An experiment showing the superiority of a Ught-

coloured flblackboard1! t British Journal of Educational Psychology
7 (3) 259-268
Page 43
SEYMOUR, W. D. (1966) Industrial skills London, Pitman
Pages 54, 55
SHADBOLT, D. R, and LEITH, G. O. M. (1967) 'Mode of learning and
personality' (mimeo) University of Birmingham National Centre
for Programmed Learning
Page 31
SHELDRAKE. P. (1974) 'Behavioural science: medical students' expectations
and reactions' British Journal of Medical Education 8 (1) 31-48
Page 97
SHERMAN, B., and BLACKBURN, R T. (1974) ERIC Abstracts 9 (8)
(ED 089 620)
Page 88
SHOUKSMITH, G. (1969) 'Experimental psychology in large introductory
classes t Bulletin of the British Psychological Society 22 (77)
293-296
Page 79
SIEBRING, B. R.. and SCHAFF. M. E. (1974) fA survey of the literature
concerning student evaluation of teaching' Journal of Chemical
Education 51 (3) 150
Page 42
SIME, M., and BOYCE, G. (1969) 'Overt responses, knowledge and results
of learning' Programmed Learning and Educational Technology
6 (1) 12-19
Page 33
SIMPSON, R. H. (1965) 'The use of self-evaluation procedures by lecturers
in educational psychology' Educational Review 18 (1) 25-33
Page 42
SMITH, A. D .• and JEPSON, J. B. (1972) 1 "Variation of the information game"
for use in a preclinical biochemistry course' The Lancet 1972 2
Sept 16 585-586
Page 63
SMITH, G. (1974) 'Is closed circuit televiSion a worthwhile teaching aid?'
British Journal of Medical Education (8) 218-220
Page 48
SMITH, G., and WYLLIE. J. H. (1965) 'Use of closed-Circuit television in
teaching surgery to medical students 1 British Medical Journal (2)
99-101
Page 48
 140

SMITH, G., WYLLIE, J. H., FORTE, A. V., and CARADIS, D. T. (1966)

'Further studies of the use of closed-circuit television in teaching
surgery to undergraduate students t British Journal of Medical
Education (1) 40-42
page 48
SMITH, P. B. (1964) 'Attitude changes associated with training in human
relations r British J aurua! of Social and Clinical Psychology 2 (2)
104-112
Page 80
SMITH, P. B., and POLLACK, H. B. (1968) 'The participant's learning style
as a correlate of T-group learning' Proceedings of the International
Conference of Applied Psychology Amsterdam, Swets and Zeitlinger
Page 81
SMITH, P. B. (1969a) Improving skills in working with people: the T-group
(Training Information Paper 4) London, HMSO
Page 80
SMITH, P. B. (1969b) 'T-group climate, trainer style and some tests of
learning' in MILES, M. B .• and HJELHOLT, G. (eds) Group
Development National Training Laboratories
Pages 80, 91
SMITH, R. N. (1971) 'Assessment of a programmed instructional text in
clinical pharmacology' British Journal of Medical Education (5)
325-327
Page 96
SMITHERS, A. C. (1970a) 'Some factors in lecturing' Educational Review
22 (2) 141-150
Page 42
SMITHERS, A. C. (1970b) 'What do students expect of lectures? 1
Universities Quarterly 3 Summer 330-336
Page 42
SMITHERS, A. C. (1976) The sandwich course: an integrated experience?
National Foundation for Educational Research
Pages 20, 95
SNADDEN, R. B., and RUNQUIST, O. (1975) 'Simulated experiments'
Education in Chemistry 12 (3) 75-77
Page 73
SOLOFF, Sheila (1973) 'Effect of non-content factors on the grading of essays'
Graduate Research in Education and Related Disciplines 6 Spring 44-54
Page 62
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (1966a) 'Necropsy demonstrations relayed by
television' British Medical Journal (1) 478
Page 50
 141

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (196Gb) 'Closed-circuit television between

medical schools' British Medical Journal 1 1476-1477
Page 50

SPROTT, W. J. H. (1958) Human groups Harmondsworth, Penguin

Page 64
STAHL, S. M., HENNES, J, D., and FLEISCHLI, G, (1975) 'Progress on
self-learning in biostutics 1 J Gurnal of Medical Education (50)
294-296
Page 60
STANSFIELD, J. M. (1971) 'From a postgraduate centre: a multiple choice
examination test on postgraduate lectures' British J Gurnal of
Medical Education 5 (4) 307-308
Page 97
STANTON, H. E. (1975) 'Music and test anxiety: further evidence for an
interaction' British Journal of Educational Psychology 45 (1) 80-82
Page 27
STARTUP, R. t and GRUNEBERG. M. M. (1976) 'The rewards of research'
New Universities Quarterly 30 (2} 225-238
Page 88
STAVERT, G. S. (1969) 'Programmed learning in action' EACIE Journal
23 (1) 16-20
Page 34
STAVERT, G.S., and WINGATE, T.H. (1966) 'Nelsonts Navy needed none
but ... ! t Tutor Age (17) 2-7
Pages 16, 34
STEEDMAN, W. (1974) 'The chemical literature - an undergraduate course!
Education in Chemistry 11 (3) 93
Page 61
STEINBERG, H., and LEWIS, H. E. (1951) 'An experiment on the teaching
value of a scientific film British Medical Journal (2) 465-471
Page 51
STEWART-TULL, D. E. S. (1970) (The setting and marking of microbiology
examinations' Journal of Biological Education 4 (1) 25-42
Page 85
STONES, E. (1966) 'The effects of different conditions of working on student
performance and attitudes I Programmed Learning 3 (3) 135-145
Page 33
STONES, E. (1967) 'Strategies and tactics in programmed instruction' in
TOBIN. M. J. (ed) Problems and methods in programmed learning
(proceedings of the Association of Programmed Learning and National
Centre for Programmed Learning Birmingham Conference) 62
Page 30
 142

STONES, E. (1969) rStudents 1 attitudes to the size of teaching groups!

Educational Review 21 (2) 98-108
Pages 90, 92
STRETTON, T. B .• HALL, R., and OWEN, S. G, (1967) 'Programmed
learning in medical education: comparison of teaching machine and
programmed textbook! British Journal of Medical Education 1 (3)
165-168
Page 34
STUDENTS' SOCIETY COMMITTEE OF ROYAL DENTAL HOSPITAL
SCHOOL OF DENTAL SURGERY (1966) 'Report on opinion poll on
the lecture courses' Supplement to Extract 33 (I)
Pages 36, 39, 90
STUEBNER, E.A., and JOHNSON, H..P. (1969) 'A hospital clerl{Ship
programme for dental students: an exploratory study' Journal of
Dental Education 33 (2) 224-229
Page 20
SULLIVAN, R. M. (1974) tpsychology in teaching' Canadian Journal of
Behavioural Science 6 (1) 1-28
Pages 24. 28, 96
COMMITTEE ON MANPOWER RESOURCES FOR SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY (1968) Swann Report: the flow into employment of
scientists, engineers and technologists London, HMSO (CMND.3760)
Page 6

TANSEY, P.J. (1969) 'SimUlation and teacher education' Education for

Teaching 79 Summer 63-68
Page 73
TAPLIN, G. (1969) 'The Cosford Cube: a simplified form of student feed-
back' Industrial Training International 4 (5) 218-219
Page 24
TAYLOR, J. L., and MADDISON, R. (1968) 'A land use gaming simulation:
the design of a model for the study of urban phenomena' Urban
Affairs Quarterly 3 (4) June
Page 72
TAYLOR, J. L., and CARTER, K. R. (1967) 'Instructional simulation or urban
development: a preliminary report' Town Planning Institute Journal
53 (10) 443-447
Page 72
TAYLOR, R. G., and HANSON, G.R. (1969) 'Pre-college mathematics
workshop and freshman achievement' Journal of Educational Research
64 (3) 157-160
Page 20
 143

TEATHER, D. C. B. (1968) 'Programmed learning in biology I Journal of

Biological Education 2 (3) 119-135
Page 17
TEATHER, D. C. B. (1974) 'Learning from film: a significant difference
between the effectiveness of djfferent projection methods 1
Programmed Learning and Educational Technology 11 (6) 328-334
Page 51
TEATHER. D. C. B .• and :MARCHANT, H. (1974) 'Learning from film with
special reference to the effects of cueing, questioning, and lmowledge
of results 1 Programmed Learning and Educational Technology 11 (6)
328-334
Page 26

THODAY, D. (1957) 'How undergraduates work' Universities Quarterly

11 (2) 172-181
Page 20
THORNDIKE, E. L. (1913) The psychology of learning New York,
Columbia University Teachers College
Page 66
TOBIN, M,J, (1968) 'Technical education and industrial training'
Educational Technology 10 (11) 442-444
Pages 30, 31, 34
TRENAJvIAN, T. M. (1967) Communication and comprehension London,
Longmans
Pages 39, 49
TRENT, J. W., and COHEN, A. M. (1973) 'Research on teaching in higher
education' in TRAVERS, R. M. W. (ed) Second handbook of research
on teaching American Educational Research Association (Rand
McNally)
Page 3
TROPP, A. (1969) 'Objectives from the point of view of a sociologist' in
UT!l.1U (ed) Conference on objectives in higher education London,
University Teaching Methods Unit
Page 5
TROWN, A. (1970) 'Some evidence on the interaction of teaching strategy
and personality' British Journal of Educational Psychology 40 (2)
209-211
Page 86
TUBBS, M. R. (1968) 'Seminars in experimental physics' Physics Education
3 (4) 189-192
Pages 15, 16
TUCKMAN, J., and LORGE, (1962) 'individual ability as a determinant
of group superiority' Human Relations 15 (1) 45-57
Page 65
 144

UNIVERSITY OF BREMEN (1976) Proceedings of the International

Conference on Project Orientation University of Bremen
Page 8

UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMITTEE (1964) Report of the Committee on

University Teaching Methods (Hale Committee) London, HMSO
Pages 5, 35. 38, 90
UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMITTEE, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND
SCIENCE, and SCOTTISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT (1965)
Report of the Committee on Audio-Visual Aids in Higher Scientific
Education (Brynmer Jones Committee) London, HMSO·
Pages 5, 45
UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION (1973) The obiectives
of teacher education Slough, National Foundation for Educational
Research
Page 12
UNIVERSITY TEACHING METHODS RESEARCH UNIT (1968) Innovations
and experiments in university teaching methods (report of the third
conference organized by the Unit) London, UTMU
Page 67

UREN, o. (1968) The use of texts in language skill development: some

problems (report of the third conference organized by the Unit)
London, University Teaching Methods Research Unit
Page 67

VAL VERDI, H. H., and MORGAN, R. L. (1970) 'Influence on student achieve-

ment of redundancy in self-instructional materials Programmed
Learning and Educational Technology 7 (3) 194-199
Page 16
VAN DER KLAUW, C. F., and PLOMP, T. T. (1974) 'Individualised study
system in theory and practice' Higher Education 3 (2) 213 -230
Page 96
VAN ZOOST, B. L., and JACKSON, B. T. (1974) 'Effects of self-monitoring
and self-administered reinforcement on study behaviours' Journal of
Educational Research 67 January 216-218
Page 56
VARAGUNAM, T. (1971) 'Student awareness of behavioural objectives: the
effect of learning' British Journal of Medical Education 5 (2)
213-216
Page 8
VEfu""ION, M. D. (1953) 'Perception and understanding of instructional tele-
vision programmes' British Journal of Psychology 44 (2) 116-126
Page 49
 145

"I.TERNON, P. E. (1946) 'An experiment on the value of the film and film-
strip in the instruction of adults' British J ournnl of Educational
Psychology 16 (3) 149-162
Page 51
WALLIS, D., DUNCAN, KD., and KNIGHT, 1vI.A.G. (1966) 'TheHalton
experiment and the Melksham experiment' in Programmed Instruction
in the British Armed Forces London, HMSQ
Page 16
WALTON, H.J., and DREWERY, J, (1964) 'Teaching psychiatry to under-
graduate medical students' Journal of Medical Education 29 (6)
545-552
Page 11
WALTON, H.J., and DREWERY. J. (1966) 'Psychiatrists as teachers in
medical schools' British Journal of Psychiatry 112 839-846
Page 11
WALTON, H.J., and DREWERY, J. (1967) 'The objective examination in
the evaluation of medical students t British Journal of Medical
Education 1 (4) 255-264
Page 85
WASON, P. C. (1970) 'On writing scientific papers' Physics Bulletin 21
407-408
Page 62
WASON, P. C. (1973) 'Are there rules for writing English?' (ICL Lectures
on Technical Communication) University of Wales Institute of Science
and Technology
Page 62
WASON, P. C. (1974) 'Notes on the supervision of PhDs' Bulletin of the
British Psychological SOCiety 27 (94) 25-9
Page 62
WENDLANDT, W,W., GEANANGEL, R.A., and BARRY, D. (1975) 'Atape-
slide freshman chemistry course for non-science majors' Journal of
Chemical Education 52 (2) 110-111
Pag'e 45
WHALLEY, P. C., and FLEMING, R. W. (1975) 'An experiment with a simple
recorder of reading behaviour' Programmed Learning and Educational
Teclmology 12 (2) 120-124
Page 44
WHITELAND, J. W. R. (1966) 'The selection of research students' Universities
Quarterly 21 (1) 44-47
Page 75
 146

WILBY, P. (1976) 'A rare generosity of spirit' Times Higher Education

Supplement 13 February 1976
Page 7
WILCOX, B. (1974) 'The teaching of serial tasks using chaining strategies!
British Journal of Educational Psychology 44 (2) 175-183
Page 55
WILLIAMS, J. P. (1963) 'Comparison of several modes in a review
programme' Journal of Educational Psychology 54 253-260
Page 34
WILLIS, F., DOBLE, G., SANKARAYA, U., and SMITHERS, A. G. (1977)
Residence abroad and the student of modern languages (University
of Bradford, in preparation)
Page 47
WILSON, J. D. (1971) 'Predicting levels of first year university performance'
British Journal of Educational Psychology 41 (2) 167-170
Page 86
WILSON, J. F. (1966) 'A survey of legal education in the UK' The Journal
of the Society of Public Teachers of Law 9 (1) 1-44
Page 38
de WINTER HEBRON, C. C. (1974) 'Self instruction versus lecturer instruc-
tion using tape-slide in a library induction programme' Bulletin of
Educational Research 7 12-15 (SRHE Abstracts 8 (3) 187)
page 44
WITTERS, D. R., and KENT, G. W. (1972) 'Teaching without lecturing:
evidence in the case of individualised instruction' The Psychological
Record (22) 169-175
Pages 24, 96
WOMERSLEY, J., STENHOUSE, G., and DUNN, W. R. (1974) 'Use of a
response system' British Journal of Medical Education 5 (3) 192-196
page 38
WOOD, C. C., and HEDLEY, R. L. (1968) 'Student reaction to VTR in
simulated classroom conditions' Canadian Educational Research
Digest 8 (1) 46-59
pages 49, 50
WOOD, D. N. (1969) 'Library education for scientists and engineers'
Bulletin of Mechanical Engineering Education 8 (1) 1-9
Page 61
WOOD, K, LINSKY, A. S .. and STRAUSS, M.A. (1975) 'Class size and
student evaluation of faculty' Journal of Higher Education 45 (7)
524-534
 147

WOODFORD, F. p, (1972) 'Experiences in teaching scientific writing in the

USA' Journal of Biological Education 6 (1) 9-12
Page 62
WOODFORD, G. A. (1969) 'Teacher influence in a college of education'
Educational Research 11 (2) 148-152
Page 93
WOODING, E. R. (1968) 'Third-year laboratory projects in physics' in
UTMJ (ed) Innovations and Experiments in University Teaching
Methods 75-80 London, University Teaching Methods Research Unit.
Page 76
WOODS, C. S .• and NORTHCOTT, P. H. (1970) An audio-visual innovation in
undclrgraduate teaching: a progress report Australian Geography
Teachers Association
Page 46

WOOLFENDEN, P.J. (1969) 'Objectives in medical education' in UTMU

(ed) Ob;ectives in higher education London, University Teaching
Methods Unit
Page 9
WRAGG, E, C. (1970) 'Ll"J.teraction analysis as a feedback system for student
teachers1 Education for Teachi,l"J.g 81 Spring 38-47
Pag'e 89
WRIGHT, E. A. (1968) 1A research project for clinical medical students 1
in Innovatione and experiments in university teaching methods
see UNIVERSITY TEACHING METHODS UNIT above
Pages 58, 76, 78
WRIGHT, P. (1967) 'The use of questions in programmed learning1
Programmed Learning and Educational Technology 4 (2) 103-107
Page 34
WRIGHT, P. (1968) 'Reading to learn' Chemistry in Britain 4 (10) 445-450
Page 58
WYATT, H, V. (1975) 'An introductory microbiology course based on the
Clothier Report' Journal of Biological Education 9 (1) 21-25
Page 96

ZILL:MAN, D., and CANTOR, J. R. (1973) 1Induction of curiosity in

rhetorical questions and its effect on the learning of factual materials!
British Journal of Educational Psychology 43 (2) 172-180
Page 37
 143

INDEX

Aim!; 3, 5-13 Essays 18, 61-62, 84, 85, 86, 87,

Arts 1,14, 76, 95 94
Assessment 25, 75, 77 Evaluation, of teachers 87-88
- continuous 25, 62, 85, 87
- <)f courses 94-99 Feedback 23-26, 38, 39,62
- at practical work 84-85 Films 45,49, 54, 57,91
- of teaching 84-8'/, 88-90 - filmstrip 51-52
Arousal 27, 49, 67, 100 - filmloops 52,79
Attitudes. the teaching
of 15, 80-82, 97 Games 72, 82, 100
- of sttldents to - ~ Groups 15, 25, 32, 34, 35, 38,49,
students' opiniollB 63-66, 79, 80-82
- of teachers to "- ~~
teaehers' opinions Hale Report 35,36, 37, 38, 63, 90
Audio-tape 2~/, 35, 39, 4-4-47 Handouts 24, 25, 92
Audio-visual 18, 40, 43-53,58-59,
63,89, 91, 97, 100 Information 11, 15, 19, 25, 26, 27,
29,37,39,42,54,58, 63, 65, 66,
Backward chaining 55 ·67, 68, 84, 87, 100
Biology 1,9,10,11,17, Innovations in leaditlg 2, 63
S3, 77, 78 Inte!:'disciplinarity I, '7

Blackboard 43. 44, 46

Keller Method 25
Chemistry I, 13, 18, 25,28, 29
30, 32, 42, 64, 72, 75, 79, 84, 91 Laboratory teaching 11, 16, 17,
Computer assisted instruction 26, 34, 38, 45, 46, 51, 54, 55, 61,
19, 52-53, 72, 100 67, 72, 73, 75, 78, 79, 92
Cosford Cube 24 Law 19,38,63,70, 72,180
Counselling 63 Languages 1,20,46-47, 53
Curriculum 1, 9 Language laboratory 46-47
Learning 22-35, 56-t31 , 82, 92, 94,
Demonstration 48, 76, 91, 94 97, 100
Discussion 15,17,18,32-33,38 - activity in 26-28, 29, 33, 34
63-66, 56, 62, 78-79, 80-82, 93 - errors in 22-23
- free group 63, 65, 68-69 - feedback on 23-26, 62
- structure 28-29, 35, 38
Economy and efficiency 2, 14-21, LectUres 14,17,20,24,25,26,
35, 52 29
- of new media 14 - comparisons with other
Engineering 1, 7, 10, 11, 13, 19, methods 15, 17, 25-26, 29-31,
21, 31, 33,48, 54, 56, 62, 63, 36, 45
72, 75, 78, 83, 95, 98, 99 - delivery 39-40
Errors in learning 19, 22-23, 26, - dialogue lecture 40
30-31, 45, 53, 62, 69 - evaluation of 40-43
 149

Lectures (ecotd.) Questions 24, 25, 26, 33, 37, 44,

- function 35-38 58, 68, 79, 84
- place and length 38-39
- speed 39,40, 41, 42 Reading 16, 17,19,34,37,38,51,
- step-by-step lectures 24 56,57-59, 64, 79, 93
Research 1, 2, 19, 88
Mathematics 19, 20, 32, 45, 46, Robbins Report 90
53, 63, 72, 77, 78 Role play 72, 82, 83
Medical education!, 9,12,16,17,
18, 20, 21, 22, 27,28, 31, 35, Seminars 56, 63, 90, 91, 92,
44, 50, 53, 57, 63,66, 72, 73, 93, 98
76, 77, 79, 80, 84,85, e6, 89, Science 1,2,7, 21, 35, 37, 38, 45,
91, 97-98, 99 48, 53, 63, 68, 95
Microteaching 49-50 Simulation techniques 72, 73, 86,
Motivation 34,47,53,57, 67, 100
82-83, 86, 88 Size of classes 14, 14-15, 50, 79,
MCQ 23, 24, 37, 39,44, 46, 100
84,85,97 Skills 29, 49, 54-79, 97
- critical skills, 59, 66-70, 80, 82,
Notetuking 17,24,56,59-60,92 84, 93
- decision making 67, 70-73
Objectives 5-13, 26, 29, 40,60, - diagnostic skills 70-73, 8"5, 86
66, 79, 82, 84,96 - interpersonal skills 57
- arguments in favour 8 - laboratory skills 56
- arguments against 9 - mechanical and manual
- Bloom's Taxonomy 11,29 skills 54-55
- intermediate 10 - oral skills 18, 56, 63-66, 82,
- of students 6, 60,64 84, 85
- of teachers 6 - problem solving 56-67, 70-79,
Objective tests 18, 23, 37, 83 84
Overhead projector (OHP) 43-44 Social sciences 1, 7, 14, 76, 95
Statistics 1, 16
Physics 1, 13, 45, 76, 77, 84, 85 Students t objectives 6
Problems 15, 26, 27, 34, 45; 46, Students t opinions 5
55, 62, 65, 83,87 - and class size 15
Programmed learning 2,16-17,19, - of teaching
24. 26, 29-35, 45, 46, 53, 70, 72, 3, 15, 39-40, 41, 42-43, 87-88,
94 - of teaching methods 29, 30, 34,
- branching programmes 36-37, 48, 50, 87-88, 90-94
17, 30-31 Study habits 15, 16, 20-21, 56,
- comparisons with other 60-61, 62, 68, 86
methods 16, 29-30
- and individual T-groups 63, 80-81
differences 30, 31-32 Tape-recording ~ audio-tape or
- principles 24, 32-34 videotape)
Projects 7-8, 56, 61, 72, 75-79, Ta-pe-slide teaching 18, 45
83, 91 Teachers I opinicns
2, 5, 15, 36, 42
 150

Television 19, 40, 46, 48-51,76, Tutorials 34, 62, 78, 79, 85, 90, 91,
93, 94 92, 93
- comparison with other Videotape 35, 49, 51, 82, 94
methods 48
TIme 3, 15-18, 31, 34, 38-39,52 WritL.'1g 61-62, 79
SOME SRHE PUBLICATIONS
(First prices those payable by non-members, second those by members of the Society; p & P additional as
noted)
REGISTER OF RESEARCH INTO HIGHER EDUCATION IN WESTERN EUROPE 1974-7 (excluding the UK)
Gives details of 380 current and recently completed research projects. Includes research worker and institution
indexes £4.80, £3.60 (+3(1p)
RESEARCH INTO HIGHER EDUCATION ABSTRACTS
A quarterly publication providing abstracts of the more important literature in the relevantjoumals Annual
subscription' £7.50, £5.50 (+35p) Single numbers £ 1.90 (+15p)

RESEARCH INTO HIGHER EDUCATION MONOGRAPHS

2 Research into teaching methods in higher education 24 Project methods in higher education edited by
by Ruth M. Beard. Donald A. Bligh and Alan Harding Sinclair Goodlad £3.60, £2.70 (+15p)
£4.50, £3.40 (+15p) 25 Social scientists at work by Adam Westoby, David
6 Objectives in higher cducation (2nd edition) by Webster and Gareth Williams £4.00,£3.00 (+2Op)
Ruth M. Beard, F.G. Henley and P.J. Holloway 27 People in polytechnics: a survey of polytechnic
£3.20, £2.40 (+20p) staff and students 1972-3 by Julia Whitburn,
7 Participation and staff·student relations· a seven· Maurice Mealing and Ca~oline Cox £4.00, £3.00
year study of sociul changes in an e~panding college (+25p)
of education by M.D. Shipman £1.00, 80p (+lOp) 28 Science for arts students: a case study in curriculum
8 The education of scientists for industry· report development by John Heywood and Hubert Mont·
of a survey of the views of professional scientists agu·Pollock £3.90, £2.90 (+15p)
by D.T.L. Jones£ 1.00, SOp (+ lOp) 29 An experiment in teacher education by David
9 Higher education research in Australia and New McNamara, Alec Ross and Jean Whittaker £4.15,
Zealand· a discussion of the research literature £3.10 (+20p)
and other studies by Gordon W. Miller £1.50,
£1.10(+10p) 30 Personal tutoring in higher education by Wyn
Bramley £4.)0, £3.05 (+2Op)
14 Concentrated study - a pedagogic innovation
observed by Malcolm R. Parlett and John G. King 31 Microtcaciling in higher education: rcscarch, deve-
£ 1.50, £ 1.10 (+ lOp) lopment and practice by Elizabeth Perrott £3.75,
£2.80 (+lOp)
IS Technical aids to teaching in high~r education
(2nd edition) by Colin Flood Page and John Kitch- 32 Talking to learn by M.LJ. Abercrombie and Paul
ing £2.90, £2.20 (+15p) Terry £4.20, £3.15 (+2Op)
19 Patterns of change in graduate employment edited 33 Learning through small group discussion by Jean
by Harriet Greenaway and Gareth WilJiams£3.60, Rudduck £4.20, £3.15 (+2Op)
£2.70 (+2Op) 34 The growth of policies for staff development by
20 The assessment of postgraduate training in general Harriet Greenaway and Alan G. Harding £4.50,
practice (2nd edition) by James Freeman and P.S. £3.50 (+20p)
Byrne £3.60, £2.70 (+20p) 35 Study courses and counselling: problems and
22 Student evulualion of teaching: the American possibilities edited by PJ. Hills £5.00, £3.80 (+2Op)
experience by Colin Flood Page £3.40, £2.50 36 The reform of teacher education in the United
(+.l5p) Kingdom by James Lynch £5.75,£4.30 (+35p)
23 Art education: documents and policies 1768-1975 37 The first year ofpostgruduate rcsearch study by
edjtlJd by Clive Ashwin £3.60, £2.70 (+20p) Jennifer M. Welsh £3.00 1 £2.25 (+ZOp)

OCCASIONAL PUBLICATIONS
The four volumes of SRAE annual conference papers 1968·71 may be obtained as a set for £3.30, £2.20 (+6Op)
Power and authority in higher education (SRHE eleventh annual conference 1975) edited by Colin Flood Page
and Mary Yates£3.60,£2.70 (+15p); Staff development in higher education (SRHE twelfth annual conference
1976) edited by Lewis Elton and Kerren Simmonds £3.80, £2.80 (+20J); Course design and student learning
(SRHE thirteenth annual conference 1977) edited by David Billing£4.bO,£3.00 (+20p); Students in nced .
essays in memory of Nicolas MalIeson £5.50, £4.15 (HOp); Evaluating the new B.Ed. edited by Gerald Collier
£4.80, £3.60 (+2Op)

PAMPHLETS
Training of university achers by Harriet Greenaway £ 1.00, SOp (+ 1Op)
How long is a picce of string? Research into the evaluation of teaching practice £1.20, 90p (+lOp)
Interdisciplinarity (SRHE European Symposium on Interdisciplinary Courses in European Education 1975)
£2.15, £ 1.60 (+20p)

Printed by Direct Design (Bournemouth) Ltd.• Butts Pond Industrial Estate, Sturminister Newton, Dorset