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This paper describes the Hawaii Interactive Television System (HITS) program and provides an evaluation of the first year of broadcasts for the advanced placement (AP) calculus course. HITS allows two-way video-audio interaction among origination sites, but the configuration used by the Department of Education for its Teleschool program is the one-way video pattern with audio interaction through a telephone bridge. The purpose of the Teleschool is to deliver televised courses to schools that have low student enrollments in the targeted courses or are unable to secure a qualified teacher for the course. Eleven schools in both rural and urban locations participated in the first year AP calculus broadcasts. Most sites received class broadcasts live, but some schools showed videotapes of the class to enrolled students. Site coordinators and students were able to contact the Teleschool teacher through a toll-free number at his home during nonbroadcast hours. Results of a questionnaire survey of school principals, site coordinators, and students at each of the AP calculus Teleschool sites include: (1) students and site coordinators were particularly positive about the TV teacher's instructional ability; (2) school principals reported problems with transmission and with fitting the HITS class into the schedule; (3) students and site coordinators most frequently criticized the lack of teacher-student interaction; and (4) over 90 percent of the students said they preferred a traditional classroom. (KS)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert