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The Rural Satellite Program of the U.S. Agency for International Development was a 6-year effort (1981-87) to explore the potential uses of two way telecommunications facilities, particularly satellite-mediated, telephone-based technologies--to support Third World Development educational endeavors. This program created three audioconferencing networks in Indonesia, the West Indies, and Peru that linked widely scattered locations and allowed for rapid communication and the sharing of scarce human resources. The Indonesian Distance Education Satellite System and the University of the West Indies Distance Teaching Experiment offered primarily undergraduate and graduate courses, while the Peru Rural Communications Services Project provided in-service training to agricultural extension and health care workers, teachers, and government personnel. Each project had its own technical difficulties, with the common problem of noisy local lines for telephone transmissions. The different nature of each of the systems led to different approaches in program planning although each project generally suffered from a lack of optimal funding for central management and program development. Each of the projects had a strong impact upon the areas and institutions involved, with audioconferencing shown to be a reliable, acceptable, and effective tool. Following the end of the pilot periods, the three networks continued with funding by the host agencies and were expanded. (ALL)

In the current communications regulatory and policymaking environment there are several factors of crucial importance to public broadcasting, including (1) the system's increased visibility; (2) the impact of inflation on governmental budget decisions; (3) policymaker assumptions about new technologies, economic forces, and deregulation; and (4) concerns about the system's performance in such areas as financial accountability and public access and participation. These and other factors have been reflected in recent Federal Communications Commission notice and proposed rules, in the "Public Telecommunications Financing Act of 1978," and in the various proposals for the rewrite of the Communications Act. The main participants in this debate have been members of the communications reform, policymaking, and professional public broadcasting communities. The debate has revealed changes and some inconsistency in policy toward public broadcasting, which appear to be leading to a softening of federal support for the system, to its continued politicization, and to certain public service losses. These difficulties suggest the advisability of reassessments among all involved parties--the reformers, the policymakers, and the public broadcasters. (Author/FL)

In spite of apparent successes, it remains questionable whether communications reform groups have had significant impact on public policy toward broadcasting and its role in American society. Historically, the progressive movement and the rise of government regulatory apparatus underlie the communications reform movement. But the effectiveness of progressivism was undermined by the inherent contradictions of its own assumptions, and regulatory action has been constrained by the commitment to an essentially private, commercial, network-oriented industry. An examination of the licensing authority of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reveals both increasing success for reformers in the 1960's and 1970's and strong countervailing trends that are dangerous to the reform agenda. In a decade-long policy review process, major affected industries seem to be emerging relatively unscathed, with the reform movement losing the most ground on several major issues, including questions concerning cable television and the power of regulatory agencies to regulate. The reform movement needs to see itself more clearly to become effective and to prevent itself from being an instrument of the institutions it is attempting to change. (JL)

A project was undertaken to introduce gerontological content into the professional preparation of adult educators in the master's program in adult education offered at the University of Southern Maine. After courses in the existing curriculum of the master's program were analyzed for the appropriateness and currency of their gerontological content, the program was redesigned to include a concentration in educational gerontology. The curriculum for certification in the area of educational gerontology contained courses in social and public policy in aging, the older person as an adult learner, coordination of educational programs for older adults in the community, the aging worker, and gerontology and the helping professions, as well as a summer institute entitled "Social Change for an Aging Population: An Institute in Educational Gerontology." This report focuses on some of the outcomes of this curriculum development project, including the training and development of improved practitioners, an enhanced aging network, an improving university, and better programs for citizens in the community. Appended to the report are a program description of the revised curriculum and an information sheet explaining the content of and requirements for a concentration in educational gerontology at the University of Sothern Maine. (MN)