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The purpose of this study was to determine the long-term perceived effectiveness of three types of teaching methods for enhancement programs in community and junior colleges: lecture method, combination method, and individualized laboratory method. Community and junior colleges were selected randomly and called for the purpose of selecting two colleges using each of the three teaching methods.
Seventy-five alumni members, who had completed their program of study during the past five years from each of the selected colleges, were randomly selected and surveyed. The survey resulted in the following conclusions: (1) Based on teaching methods, a research of literature and a telephone call placed to the academic officers of each randomly selected community or junior college, the three most used teaching methods are lecture, combination, and individualized laboratory. A majority of the community and junior colleges are using two or more of the methods. (2) Based on age, it is concluded that students between 20 and 40 are more likely to finish an enhancement program. It is also concluded that computer-assisted instruction is a more successful intervention technique with younger students that with more mature students. Furthermore, multimedia is an effective intervention technique with all ages when used with lecture and individualized laboratories. (3) Based on gender, males are more likely to finish an enhancement program than females. It is also concluded that computer-assisted instruction can be used successfully with both males and females. Furthermore, multimedia is an effective intervention technique with the female population when used with lecture and individualized laboratories. (4) Based on teaching methods, all three teaching methods are successful at preparing students for the next level courses. (5) Based on teaching methods, findings show that computer-assisted instruction is more widely used in enhancement programs that multimedia. (6) Based on teaching methods, the level of the success of the enhancement program is improved with the use of an individualized laboratory. Also, respondents to the survey who experienced both computer-assisted instruction and multimedia prefer multimedia.