Book Reviews IzIHarold E, Hill Editor
Educating All Handicapped Children, E d i t e d b y Robert Heinich. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Educational Technology Publications, 1979. 361 pages. $14.95.
Reviewed by Joan Hassenflu Educating All Handicapped Children alerts readers to many of the finer points of using educational technology to work out the provisions of P.L. 94-142, Education for All Handicapped Children Act, passed by Congress in 1975. The editor, Robert Heinich, is professor of education at Indiana University and has been a consultant to the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped since 1966. The 15 papers incorporated in this book originally were commissioned by the Learning Resources Branch of the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped, Office of Education, to provoke discussion among professionals in the field. Emphasizing the processes and techniques of instructional technology, the individual chapters expand on two key concepts of P.L. 94142--providing the least restrictive envi-
Joan Hassenflu is associatedean of the Learning Resources Center, Eastfield College, Dallas County Community CollegeDistrict, Mesquite, Texas.
ronment for each student and creating individual programs. All the contributors are practitioners, researchers, and respected professionals in the educational arena. In the preface Heinich mentions several hopes and concerns of those involved with the public education of handicapped children, or "mainstreaming." He points out, "The handicapped child is going to make us aware of the distinction between individualized instruction and independent study" (p. xiii). That recognition alone would be worth the efforts being exerted to implement this legislation! Educators will find the suggestions in these papers helpful as they proceed at what appears a nearly insurmountable task of implementing this "blockbuster" law throughout the nation. The intricate planning, organizing, and delivering of individualized instruction will be tremendously difficult but critical to the success of handicapped students. Public school educators, professors in teacher training programs, and practitioners of educational technology will applaud the thoughtful strategies outlined in these chapters. All the chapters are well written and thought provoking; I have chosen to comment on a few that serve as samples of the entire theme. Readers will find unique meaning in those chapters that are closely related to their particular situation.
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In the introductory chapter. "On the Bill of Rights and Related Matters," Burton Blatt speaks of the ways "different" people have been treated in our nation's history. "Like the blacks, the severely handicapped especially were not considered persons as you and I are persons" (p. 5). P.L. 94-142 became the Bill of Rights for Handicapped Children. Several major elements of the law are outlined, and those who are unfamiliar with its text and averse to legislative language may find this listing a valuable "quick study." While acknowledging the obvious pitfalls and loopholes in any legislation that attempts to change society's behavior, the writer supports this attempt to begin impressive action at righting centuries-old wrongs committed against the handicapped. Teachers" Role
Public school teachers concerned about the effects of mainstreaming will find a sympathetic treatment of their position in "The View of P.L. 94-142 from the Classroom" by Anna L. Hyer. More than any other individual, the dassroom teacher will be attempting to find the time, assistance, and stamina for putting into practice the changes required to meet the provisions of the law. Hyer reemphasizes that teachers are unprepared because they lack specialized training and notes that teachers already concerned about their regular students' achievement and growing criticism from taxpayers now face the pressure of preparing individual educational plans for handicapped students. Predictions that it will be difficult to integrate mainstreamed students into classroom routines may be an understatement of the true situation; many of these conflicts eventually will become points of negotiation in bargaining sessions as teachers increase their demands to become involved in making decisions that affect themselves and their students. Instructional Materials: Critical Variable
Kenneth Komoski's contribution, "How Can the Evaluation of Instructional Materials Help Improve Classroom Instruction Received by Handicapped Learners?" is, in
my opinion, the crowning achievement of the book. Komoski expresses very clearly the d e p e n d e n c y of successful individualized instruction on instructional materials. The purposes of this chapter are to: (a) "focus on aspects of that process of material development, selection, and use . . ."; (b) help in understanding "how certain shifts of focus in the values and the criteria used . . . can lead not only to needed improvements in materials, but also to the possibility that the instructional demands can be successfully implemented in the classroom"; and (c) "review current efforts to improve the development, selection, and use of materials for handicapped l e a r n e r s . . . " (p. 189). Research on the evaluation abilities of special education teachers and regular classroom teachers reveals an appalling lack of teacher expertise in selection of appropriate materials. Komoski believes that teachers cannot be faulted when their training does not indude the development or application of criteria for making responsible choices of materials. An interesting question is raised regarding the absence of consumer feedback from the potential user--the student. Four levels of decision making about a piece of instructional material are presented: developer/producer, screener/ adopter, chooser/prescriber, and user/ student. Attached to each level is a value system with a set of questions, which, if honestly answered, could explain why many students (handicapped or not) are being awarded diplomas without having learned. According to this model, under current conditions when materials are screened and adopted, evaluation depends on the item's profitability or its acceptability according to prevailing social standards rather than on its appropriateness as a prescription for the learning problem of a particular student. Unfortunately, according to Komoski, "the evaluative questions being asked today of instructional materials are not very directly focused on the issue of improving the quality of dassroom instruction being delivered to individual learners" (p. 213). Komoski cites a few examples which hold promise for large-scale identification
BOOK REVIEWS
of appropriate materials. Efforts by a few commercial developers to design materials for a specific learning problem are credited. Federally funded initiatives such as the National Instructional Materials Information System and the Materials Analysis Project represent good models to be replicated. Two statewide efforts aimed at assisting teachers are the Ohio HELPS project and the Specialized Education Resource System (SERS) of Texas. Conclusive evidence on the effects of these and other programs is not yet available. Komoski states the problem clearly, offers a model that relates current selection processes to value systems, and concludes with four recommendations for disseminating the work that must be done to "implement P.L. 94-142 with deliberate speed." Evaluators of instructional materials for all students can learn from this chapter.
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volume emphasizes the comprehensive changes with which our nation's public school system will have to cope during the next 3 to 5 years. As Blatt stated in the opening chapter, "Surely there will be problems. But there will also be opportunities never before possible" (p. 14). []
Challenges and Opportunities The final chapter, "What Directions Should Research Take in Developing Educational Programs for the Severely Handicapped?" by Alan M. Hofmeister, is one of two concentrated on the area of research. Hofmeister proposes several avenues for further study which will have direct benefit for practicing administrators and teachers facing difficult decisions. He emphasizes the need for data which would lead to the development of new programs and the creation of quality control for those already established. He feels these two technologies hold the greatest promise for bringing about improvement. Challenges are issued in the form of recommendations, providing an open-ended conclusion for the book. Read with careful thought and consideration, this volume will give professional educators valuable insight into problems encountered when a significant piece of legislation is implemented. The educational technologies presented in this book could as easily benefit instruction for nonhandicapped students. Numerous bibliographic citations at the close of each chapter lead the interested reader to additional current reading. As a whole, the
Strategies for Improving Visual Learning, b y Francis M. Dwyer. State College, Pa.: Learning Services (P.O. Box 784, State College, 16801). 1979. 266 pages. $20.00 (Instructor's Manual, $4.00; Student's Manual, $5.00). Reviewed by Ray L. Anderton Are educators misusing visuals? Are educational media producers making visuals more complex and spending more money on them than is necessary? In Strategies for Improving Visual Learning Francis M. Dwyer answers " y e s " - - u n d e r certain circumstances all these things are true. He has written a book that will be popular with researchers and very likely
Ray L. Anderton is director of the Auraria Media Center and associateprofessor of education, University of Coloradoat Denver.
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unpopular with those who believe that learning is always improved by adding visuals to a presentation. Design and Use With this book, Dwyer has made a major contribution to the field of visual research. His primary purpose was "to emphasize the interrelatedness of variables associated with the effective use of visual materials and to attempt to draw general trends from prior research for the effective design and use of visual media." By including an Instructor's Manual and a Student's Manual he has extended the usefulness of his book beyond that primary purpose and created tools for teaching visual research methods. The book is well written and well organized. Each chapter contains a list of learning objectives, a summary of the main ideas, some review activities, and a short list of recommended readings. In addition, chapters 2, 5, 6, and 7 suggest optional small-group or individual activities. Dwyer provides a variety of information in the form of tables and figures that will be useful to aspiring and proven researchers and concludes the book with a valuable index of 625 authors and a list of 650 references. Research After describing the "potentials and limitations of visualized instruction," Dwyer provides an overview of research dealing with realism theories and multiple and single channel communication theories. He then proceeds with a strategy for conducting research, a strategy that new researchers would do well to emulate. Chapters 4 - 1 2 e x a m i n e m e t h o d s of pres e n t a t i o n - t e l e v i s i o n vs. slide/audiotape vs. programed instruction; externally paced and self-paced instruction; use of color; general parameters and research on cueing as an instructional strategy in visualized instruction; effect of cueing on student achievement systematically evaluated; relationship of aptitude-byt r e a t m e n t interaction research to the proper design and use of visualized instruction; importance of individual differpnces and their effect on students' abil-
ity to profit from visualized instruction-give a theoretical justification for visual testing, and look at related research findings. The final chapter "suggests a procedure to be followed for the empirical validation of visual materials for instructional p u r p o s e s - - a procedure that will provide a reasonable basis for selecting the types of visual materials possessing the most beneficial cost-effectiveness relationship in terms of facilitating student achievement of predetermined educational objectives." Interrelatedness of Variables Dwyer has met the purposes stated in the preface. By the end of the text, the reader is well aware of the interrelatedness of the variables associated with the effective use of visuals and general trends for the effective design and use of visual media. However, it seems that something is missing. If this book "is intended for those professions whose members actively use or produce materials for instructional and/or training purposes," then a summation of general trends is needed, even if some statements have to be qualified. ! was left with a feeling that the book is incomplete. Nevertheless, Dwyer's book should be welcomed by researchers of all kinds and, in particular, by those involved in strategies for improving visual learning. []
BOOK REVIEWS
Planning for Educational Mass Media, b y Alan Hancock. N e w York: Longman Group, pages. $20.00.
Limited,
1977. 383
Reviewed by Charles B. Klasek Little did I realize a few months ago when I sat chatting with Alan Hancock in the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, that shortly thereafter I would be asked to review his most recent book. As is usually the case in that small kingdom at the "roof of the world," the airplane was late, so we were able to carry on a conversation of some two hours. Our discussion ranged from the new USAID/Southern Illinois University radio project in Nepal, to Alan's recent trip to Sri Lanka, to the rejuvenation of the World Bank/Thailand instructional television project, to mass media developments in India, and finally to reminiscences of our joint efforts in a UNESCO-funded educational television project in Malaysia. I recount our conversation not to impress, but rather to attempt to describe a person who has been at the heart of the d e v e l o p m e n t of mass media projects throughout the world. From his position as Deputy Chief of the Division of Development and Application of Communication, UNESCO, Paris, Alan Hancock has been where mass media development has taken place. More importantly, he has made things happen--especially in developing nations. His experience is not limited to Asia but extends to the developed world as well, with experience in Great Britain, Australia, and the East-West Center in Hawaii where he rubbed shoulders for a year with the revered Wilbur Schramm. As a result, Planning for Educational Media is rich with the author's personal knowledge and expe-
Charles B. Klasek is director, Office of International Education, and associate professor, Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Media, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and project coordinator for the Radio Education Teacher Training Project, Kathmandu, Nepal.
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rience and is carefully supported by documentation and examples from projects with which he was intimately familiar. By Hancock's own word, this book was to be an updating of his earlier volume, Planning for ETV (published by Longman in 1971); but he soon discovered that in the time that had elapsed the field of mass media had changed significantly, and a new approach was necessary. Consequently, the thrust of the current book is toward an integrated, intrasupportive application of mass media--radio, television, and audiovisual services--and away from the examination and utilization of a medium in isolation, the approach of his earlier book. Hancock sought to translate his experience at planning for mass media in developing nations into a matrix that can be used by anyone involved in mass media whether in a developed or developing country. And he got the job done. The book can serve well the ivory tower theoreticians and their graduate classes; the specialists working as consultants in mass media projects throughout the world who need the content, models, and procedures Hancock provides; the education ofricers in governmental "hot seats" in developing nations who are responsibile for using the media to improve formal and nonformal education; and technologists anywhere faced with the task of planning for some kind of mass media utilization.
A Practical Guide for a Wide Audience The book is designed to be used more than read. It is a reference for the practitioner, not a novel to cuff up with. It is a primer for those entering the field, a refresher course for the long-time professional. It is valuable for anyone who wants to "do" mass media and "do" it right. For this reason, Hancock divides the book into four parts. Part 1, a review of former and current thinking about educational mass media and their functions, provides a solid foundation for later chapters. Part 2 deals with the planning process itself and with the selection of media. The text is rife with ma-
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trices and models, highly detailed, and well supported with research citations. He introduces the use of the algorithm, which he attributes to Rudy Bretz, in selecting appropriate media for a given instructional need. The algorithm is a decision-making technique that I have seen applied to the media selection and utilization process only one other t i m e - - i n another British publication devoted solely to its use. Part 3 develops the concept of planning as it applies to media programing. In it, Hancock traces the delivery system that produces the materials for the mass media. With thoroughness and detail he provides a most utile "cookbook." But if it is complete in some areas--especially organization and program development and staffing, recruitment, and t r a i n i n g - - a t the same time it is lacking in an important way. If one hstens to educators at UNESCO and the World Bank, there is, in developing and developed countries alike, a problem that greatly impedes effective utilization of mass media in the educative process. This problem is also the link that is missing between Parts 3 and 4 of the book. This problem, this weakness, is linked to the popular agency term "infrastructure." More specifically, it is the middlemanagement personnel that bridge the gap between producer and user. From the time the mass media were deemed vital to edu-
cation, the producer organized and produced, and the user was always with us. More often than not, media were not used effectively because midlevel media management failed to function properly for any number of reasons. Hancock does not address this problem; if he had, he would have produced a truly outstanding work. Part 4 provides guidelines for the physical e n v i r o n m e n t required for effective media utilization, for utilization patterns and training, and for evaluation and training. A Text for the Future Others in the field--Jamison, Mayo, Hornik, McAnany, Bretz, Suppes, and Wells--write well about their specialties within mass media, and they can be seen emerging from the pages of this book. But Alan Hancock remains the single, foremost authority on mass media planning and utilization. For this reason, his book will become the text in the future development of mass media throughout the world. The next time you're in any airport in the world, look around. You may see Alan Hancock on his way to a new project, having just left another behind. If he has time, take him to lunch. It's a fascinating experience--he's the only human being I've ever seen eat hot green chili peppers as if they were peanuts or popcorn. []
