The College of Engineering at the University of Cincinnati has evaluated the use of instructional technologies to improve the learning process for students in fundamental engineering science courses. The goal of this effort was to both retain more students in engineering programs and improve student performance through appropriate use of technology. Four modes of instruction were used to teach an engineering fundamentals course in statics. A traditional instructor-led course, a Web-assisted course, a streaming media course, and an interactive video course were all presented using a common syllabus, homework, tests, and grading regimen. Evaluations of final course grades indicate that use of instructional technology improved student performance when compared with traditional teaching methods. Student satisfaction with technology varied considerably with the Webassisted format having the highest student approval rating of the technologies. The results indicate that time on task and interest in content can be improved through the appropriate use of technology.

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General Electric's ' I Hanford Atomic Products Operation in Richland, Washington, is pursuing two educational goals that have become one. The first is the constant improvement of an established course in business and technical report writing. The other is a three-year-old exploration of the possible applications of programmed instruction. Surprisingly, the seemingly parallel lines leading to these separate goals have converged. Among the 300 or so students in report writing classes, there have been several manual writers and others whose job is to prepare instructional materials. These men were, of course, among the more proficient students of report writing. When the need arose to write self-instructional programs locally, these men were logical choices to do the writing. Then what happened?To answer that question, we need a preliminary review of what programmed instruction is and how programs are written.Programmed instruction is a new, effective way to train people. Either through programmed textbooks or through teaching machines, each individual student learns what he needs to know at his own pace. Students receive their knowledge from-a program writer who must do several things. The writer must know precisely and must have stated accurately his own objectives in writing the program. He must, that is, have stated to himself the exact behavior he expects of his students when they have completed the program. He must, in addition, have stated to himself accurate assumptions about the knowledge the students will bring with them when they begin the program.After this preliminary work has been done, the writer must present the subject to the students in small, learnable bits (called frames or items). He must present incremental, or increasingly

The goal of this project, funded by a grant from the General Electric Fund, is to determine whether using new instructional technologies to optimize the learning process for students with different learning styles and personality types. This paper presents the progress made toward this goal in the first year of a three-year project. The student learning styles and personality types were measured and compared to student performance in four sections of a single class (Mechanics I) taught using three different instructional technologies: two interactive video classes, (a local and a remote site), a web-based class and a streaming video class. A standard lecture class was used as the control class. All classes received in-person instruction which varied depending on the specific instructional technology used in that class. The traditional class and the interactive video classes were standard lectures. Students in the web-based class and the streaming video class were required to preview the Mechanics I course material prior to the class. The instructor's role changed from the traditional lecturer to that of mentor; he reviewed difficult concepts, answered questions, worked problems and gave practical examples.