Current issues in educational communications and technology are addressed in this collection of 31 papers, in which research reports predominate. Topics discussed include factors related to the learner, e.g., aptitude, recall, computer anxiety, field dependence/independence, reading ability, learning strategies, and cognitive style. Presentation format and media and stimulus characteristics are also addressed, including compressed speech, difficulty level, computer assisted instruction and testing, individualized instruction, instructional design, pictorial stimuli, prose, information cueing, color realism, and page layout. Several papers discuss innovative educational media such as rate compressed speech audiotapes and microcomputers. Additional papers discuss research design and models, with particular emphasis on naturalistic inquiry as a research methodology, and publications of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. References and data tables are included with many papers. Cumulative indexes covering the proceedings of this group for 1979-84 are included. (LMM)