Seminar/Autolecture Experiences

Seminar/Autolecture, an open-ended learning system, combines current advances in educational technology with recent findings in behavioral science. Its dominant features are: (1) maximum student involvement through a potentially error-free and low-distraction medium with emphasis on structure, visual and aural stimuli, a personal approach, and programmed-instructional sequences; (2) simplicity, flexibility, and low cost of production and revision; (3) student interchanges and critiques, (4) individual self-paced instruction, rapid feedback, and retrieval; (5) an interpersonal learner-teacher relationship even at high student-faculty ratios; and (6) possibilities for teacher training. The S/A system has been tested and has met with encouraging success at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, The Goddard Space Flight Center, The Technical University of Denmark, and Harvard University.