Instructional Technology and Continuing Engineering Studies

Abstract

New teaching techniques are available that have been observed to increase the effectiveness of instruction; CES practitioners should examine these techniques and use them where they are applicable. There are at least three instructional strategies that impart instruction without the continuous presence of the traditional lecture-type instructor, and hence these strategies should be considered as a means of preparing CES materials to be used at remote locations. None of these strategies, incidentally, depends on hardware. Instruction systems that are dependent on hardware offer a wide variety of ways in which instructional material could be presented without a knowledgeable instructor present. Other instruction systems use hardware to extend the live classroom to remote locations by telephone line or microwave. No instructional strategy or system is a panacea; each has its own potential area of application and each must be evaluated in the context of the proposed application to determine if its use is justified.