Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 16. 12th July 1973
To: The Faculty of and Administration Subject: Toward a studentio of 100/1
At a recent faculty meeting I [ unclear: sugges] we establish as one fo our goals, the attainment of a largre student/staff ratio rather than a smaller one. [ unclear: Because] [ unclear: sebbled] primarily to consider our Quinquennial Submission, there was not time to consider the mattre with the [ unclear: caes] I did accept an invitation to prepare a memo on the subject. This note is a partial response to that [ unclear: invitation]
My proposal has two major elements [ unclear: mance] and technology.
[ unclear: th]
[ unclear: nstructional]
objective is cast in this way, When you have completed this learning unit, you will know x', or this[ unclear: Wve]
completed this learning unit, you will be able to do y'. What we teach is measured against these performance[ unclear: otoes]
our teaching contribute to the attainment of the objective? (How do we know) What our student learn is also[ unclear: meinst]
them. What counts in a performance-based learning system is what a student knows and following simples statement:When [ unclear: yopleted] this learning unit you will [ unclear: tolve] system of linear, [ unclear: inhomoge] the method of determinants.
Collection of such statements [ unclear: denaged] [ unclear: nventory] of learning units. From these, presented to him in advance, each student selects those he prefers. The [ unclear: inver] [ unclear: naged] with the aid of technology.
It is not easy to write a [ unclear: performance] [ unclear: ve]. It is not easy to produce ordered collections of performance objectives and the learning resources used by [ unclear: student] them. It is not easy to measure and evaluate the performance of learning resources. Since this memo is not [ unclear: at] [ unclear: manee], I will defer to a later time additional remarks about the subject and present some suggestions for your [ unclear: conside]
This memo is about technology, [ unclear: ai] [ unclear: ance] of its use in an educational institution as reported in the May 1973 issue of Saturday Review of Education. [ unclear: Ac] [ unclear: e] article is attached. (You might find it interesting to examine more of the issue much of which is devoted to [ unclear: "edua] technology.
I chose this article to present [ unclear: my] [ unclear: illy)] because it mentions 1) a higher-than-average student/staff ratio of 36/1; 2) a lower-than-average cost per [ unclear: student] [ unclear: oved] student performance; and 4) Staff satisfaction. That does sound like the millenium, I know, a chimera, [ unclear: but] [ unclear: nd] it to your attention anyway.
I see the technology-as-an-aid-to- [ unclear: e] [ unclear: roblem] first and foremost as an investment problem: 1) What is the return [ unclear: on] the investment? and 2) Where do [ unclear: v] [ unclear: capital]? It seemed appropriate to make my remarks in the context of our quin quennial submission and to [ unclear: bring] [ unclear: u] attention, now, in preparation for the coming budget exercise.
Robert M. Gordon
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