External Studies has been in operation at Goulburn College of Advanced Education for ten years (1970 - 1980). During this time nearly 1,800 students have been involved in the external programmes. Over half of these students have not completed their studies. This field-study is an attempt to document the actual drop-out rates for the various programmes and to compare the results obtained with statistics available from other tertiary institutions in Australia and overseas. Factors such as student age and sex as related to achievement and time of withdrawal are investigated. The statistics are largely drawn from student files and a questionnaire distributed to a sample of external students. The main thrust of the study is to ascertain the reasons for student withdrawal in an attempt to reduce the attrition rates in the future. Drop-out was found to be the result of a number of contributing factors rather than deriving from any particular reason. The field-study shows that drop-out rates at Goulburn are somewhat similar to those experienced by other tertiary institutions, but that the attrition rate during the first semester of study is excessive.

The present study is an introduction to the Audio-Tutorial approach to instruction for teaching Biology and associated fields and an evaluation of its use. The audio-tutorial system way introduced in the Biology class at Goulburn College of Advanced Education in Spring 1975. The 16 students who enrolled in the Introductory Biology course had no prior knowledge that a self-paced individualized method would be used. The method of course presentation was based on the audio-tutorial approach to learning introduced by Professor Postlethwait at Purdue University. The course material was divided into 10 Study Units each accompanied by a unit quiz. The text was 'Biological Sciences' by Keeton (1972). For each Study Unit a 'Student Study Guide' and an 'Exercise Notebook' were prepared by the author in advance. The Study Guide gives explicit objectives which the students have to achieve and the activities designed to achieve them. When the student has achieved the objectives, he will take a unit quiz. The instructor gives help when needed and administers and reviews each unit quiz with the students as soon as the quiz is completed. The Study Unit III entitled 'Molds, Yeasts and Mushrooms' was taught to two groups of 8 students each, chosen at random from the 16 students who enrolled in Biology course 904111, one continued using the audio-tutorial system and the other was taught by a conventional method. The instructional time was one week. The cognitive achievements of these two groups of students was compared through a pretest-post test approach. The audio-tutorial system did substantially better. Data of this experiment are discussed in the light of the present study and the findings of other workers.