Cost-effectiveness considerations in the use of computer assisted instruction for adult basic education

摘要

What does it cost to provide adult basic education (ABE) with computer assisted instruction (CAI) and how do we know when we are “getting our money's worth” from such technology? This paper examines these issues in the context of data drawn from a community based adult literacy project employing extensive CAI in a Technology for Literacy Center (TLC). The study reported in this paper was undertaken as part of a larger formative and summative evaluation project of TLC. It illustrates an accounting framework for estimating costs in ABE, presents some benchmark cost data for making inter-project comparisons, and offers some preliminary observations on the cost-effectiveness of CAI in both TLC and ABE.