American Annals of the Deaf

Foreword Robert E. Stepp, Jr. ROBERT E. STEPP, JR. is at present the Project Director of the Media Development Project for the Hearing Impaired; Director of the Barkley Memorial Center; and Professor, Educational Administration, University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Previously, he was Director of the Specialized Office for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (1974-1977); Director of the Midwest Regional Media Center for the Deaf (19661974 ); Director of the University Bureau of Audiovisual Administration; and Assistant Director of the Extension Division, all of the above at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Dr. Stepp has an A.B. degree from Central College (Missouri), an M.A. from the State University of Iowa, and his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Dr. Stepp has been active in both state and national audiovisual organizations. As an author, speaker, consultant , and media specialist, Dr. Stepp's involvements in the education of the deaf are numerous. The Thirteenth Symposium on Research and Utilization of Educational Media for Teaching the Deaf was held on April 8, 9, and 10, 1980 at the Nebraska Center for Continuing Education in Lincoln. This conference was sponsored by the Captioned Films and Telecommunications Branch of the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped and the Media Development Project for the Hearing Impaired, Barkley Memorial Center, Teachers College, University of Nebraska - Lincoln. A series of similar symposia were held annually from 1965 through 1974 at the Nebraska Center. After an interim of 3 years, the series was renewed in 1978. Themes of the previous conferences, conducted by the Midwest Regional Media Center for the Deaf and now the Media Development Project for the Hearing Impaired, were as follows: 1965—An Overview of Audiovisual Research Affecting Deaf Education 1966—Systems Approach in Deaf Education 1967—The Educational Media Complex 1968—Designing Instructional Facilities for Teaching the Deaf: The Learning Module 1969—Individualizing Instruction for the Deaf Student 1970—Communicative Television for the Deaf Student 1971—Programmed Learning for the Deaf Student 1972—Affecting the Human Potential of the Deaf Student: Another Role for Educational Media 1973—Career Education and Educational Media for the Deaf Student 1974—Update '74: A Decade of Progress 620 A.A.O. I September 1980 Foreword 1978—Developments in Communication Technology for the Hearing Impaired 1979—Educational Technology for the '80's If the reader is interested in studying these reports , they may be found in one of the fall issues of each of these years in the American Annals of the Deaf. The Tenth Symposium report in this journal contained not only the scholarly papers but also a cumulative index of the papers of the previous 10 Symposia. The reference for this information is the October 1974 issue of the American Annals of the Deaf, Volume 119, No. 5, pages 626-656. The theme for the 1980 Symposium was "Back to Media: How to Use Better What You Already Have." The conferences for the past several years have been aimed to look at the future, such as the 1978 Symposium on "Developments in Communication Technology for the Hearing Impaired" and the 1979 conference on "Educational Technology for the '80's." The 1980 Symposium was designed to look back and review the progress that had been made and to suggest alternate ways to improve the use of the technology already available in schools and classes for the hearing impaired. From the first symposium in 1965 to the 1979 meeting the program had been planned for administrators, supervisors, media specialists, and college educators. The intent of that plan was to reach the decision makers and through the years keep them abreast of the current and future applications of technology in teaching the hearing impaired. The 1980 conference was a departure from this plan. The program was designed for supervisors, teachers, and media specialists. A glance at the program reveals the fact that both the keynote and concurrent sessions are, in the main, classroom-type demonstrations. The presentations are examples of actual utilization practices in the provision of educational media and technology for acoustically handicapped students. More than 36 demonstrations were presented , in addition to five general sessions. All program participants were required to prepare a paper which is...