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The development of skills for group evaluation and facilitation in today's team environment is an essential component of the learning process for the student of communication. Until recently there has been no integrated model for the consideration of small groups and teams that incorporated findings from psychology, social psychology, management and communication> SYMLOG (SYstem for the Multiple Level Observation of Groups), developed by Robert F. Bales and his colleagues, provides this multidisciplinary approach and has the potential to become the dominant methodology for working with groups and teams. SYMLOG is a theory of personality and group dynamics, integrated with some practical means for measuring and changing behavior and values in a democratic way. It is designed to assess both individual and group functioning and to assist groups in understanding themselves and how they relate to one another. While not designed as a small group communication tool, SYMLOG has much to offer the communication researcher and practitioner, and has begun to be integrated into the communication classrooms and texts. Among its advantages in the classroom are its strong theoretical underpinnings in social-psychological theory, its ease of use, its capability to provide insight into both individual and group perceptions of functioning simultaneously, as well as the graphic visual representation of group dynamics. (Contains 48 references and 5 figures.) (TB)

The name of Ezra Christian Buehler deserves to be added to the list of significant contributors to speech communication education. As an instructor at the University of Kansas, Professor Buehler has distinguished himself through his contributions to basic speech students, graduate students in speech education, and his colleagues. He expressed his belief in the discipline of speech and in speech students in a 1960 essay entitled "Credo--A Declaration of Faith Concerning Speech Education," and in his book, "Speech: A First Course." And he has practiced three basic principles he himself advanced for teachers of the basic speech course: (1) know the students, (2) motivate them, and (3) maintain a congenial classroom. Further showing his dedication to the basic speech course and his desire to recognize and encourage outstanding teachers, Buehler was instrumental in establishing a teaching award for first-year basic speech teachers. Buehler also organized the "Conference of Directors of Basic Speech Courses of Midwestern Universities. Intended as a single meeting in 1961, the conference has agreed unanimously to meet every year since. The learning he encouraged at that first conference has spread to a second and third generation of course directors. (HTH)

National attention has been placed on the need for the improvement of education, and teachers must become aware of the capabilities of computers for improving classroom instruction, choose appropriate software, and have a sufficient number of computers to support the software. The quality of educational computing depends on the quality of software selected and the way in which it is integrated into the curriculum. Universities have the responsibility for insuring that students planning to teach and inservice teachers have experience with software, programming, and learning theory related to computer education. School districts should establish committees to review software, and provide both the opportunity and the hardware for teachers to maintain computer instruction skills. Each district needs a computer education specialist, and each school needs at least one similar specialist to relate the needs and goals of the district to individual teachers. As the use of computers and other information technologies reshapes the fundamental methods of teaching and doing mathematics, developers of high school mathematics curriculum must consider both the changing preparation of their entering students and the changing college and work environments their graduates will enter. Future research should address such questions as ways of using technology to help students model the world better and become more skilled at solving world problems. Another question relates to the mental models people hold of how computers function and how their notions affect their learning about computing. Nine references are listed. (MES)