Current issues in educational communications and technology are addressed in this collection of 35 papers, in which research reports predominate. Topics discussed include factors related to the learner, e.g., field dependence/independence, reading ability, learning strategies, and cognitive style. Presentation format and media and stimulus characteristics are also addressed, including information cueing, color realism, aptitude sensitive instruction, advance organizers, visual testing, and imagery form. Several papers examine innovative educational media such as teleconferencing, videotapes, and microcomputers. Additional papers discuss the use of fear in persuasive messages, design of instructional visuals, visualization, patterns for mapping cognitive structure, task analysis, naturalistic inquiry as a research methodology, aptitude treatment interaction research, brain research, and nonverbal communication. References and data tables are included with many papers. Cumulative indexes of authors and descriptors covering the first five AECT conference proceedings volumes (1979-1983) are provided). (LMM)