points emerge: first, problems of pos- ture and vision are intimately inter- related, and second, in many jobs the visually and posturally critical tasks concern not the VDU screen but the documents which are used in the job.

There is a very full discussion in the final chapter of the potential health hazards from VDUs. In general the the VDU is given a clean bill of health, but the danger of postural strain leading to long term damage and the possibility of high mental work-load producing strain and fatigue are dealt with. The question of eyestrain is explored thoroughly and the conclusion is reached that there is no insuperable problem provided the operator's visual defects have been corrected and the task and workplace have been pro- perly designed. Also in this chapter is a necessarily brief survey of a very large topic: the effects of computerization of work on alienation and job satisfaction. Presumably lack of space precluded the thorough presentation of findings characteristic of the rest of the book. All that is possible is to alert the reader to this important aspect of job design.

Check list as design aid

The task of presenting ergonomic and allied knowledge to designers operating within particular technolo- gies has long been recognized as diffi- cult. Research findings must not only be presented: they must be evaluated for their relevance to the application in hand, and interpreted for the parti- cular readership. The method adopted here is to summarize the relevant research, highlighting the particular problems and constraints of the VDU application, and to back this up with a bibliography and a comprehensive checklist. The checklist is a design aid with pitfalls. It cannot provide answers where parts of the design problem inter- act and compromise or trade-off is necessary, but it may help the designer to avoid missing out parts of the prob- lem. The book has a full bibliography but lacks a comprehensive system of references. This may help some read- ers but will be a hindrance to others, such as students.

In its earlier form, the book has already acquired a reputation among ergonomics practitioners and computer people. Indeed, the review copy has been in constant demand! There is no doubt that computer tech- nology will eventually affect the jobs of nearly everybody in the informatior handling business and of a good many other people. The VDU is thus likely

to become the most common form of man-machine interface. Thus Visual display terminals meets an important emerging need and should be avail- able to everybody who designs, speci- ties, buys or supervises VDUs.

Vision and VDUs consists of four short articles bound together. The first three discuss the well known problem of eyestrain in VDU opera- tors. The conclusions reached are broadly the same as those discussed above, although the authors are rela- tively pessimistic about the possi- bility of achieving satisfactory light- ing in a VDU workplace, but relatively optimistic about the advantages of screen coatings. The fourth article is a suggested eyesight standard and assoc-

Education and design Design education at secondary level, The design Council, London (1980) 24 pp, £1.50

This is a report prepared for the Design Council by a Working Party on Second- ary Education under the Chairmanship of Professor David Keith-Lucas. The Working Party was set up in April 1978 and produced a draft 'consultation' version of their report in June 1979. Those who saw that draft will not find many significant changes in the final version.

The report is the Design Council's attempt at taking an initiative and trying to influence the develop- ment of design as a subject in secondary education. It briefly reviews the devel- opment of design activities in schools over the last decade or so; tries to estab- lish the aims of design education at secondary level ; outlines the require- ments for secondary-level design courses; and comments on examinations and assessment.

Overall, the report is to be welcomed. Design in general educa- tion needs as much support as it can get, from as many quarters as possible. It is in danger of being suppressed by the forces that prefer our schools to concentrate on turning out people 'suitable' for the 'needs' of industry; that is, fodder for the factories, or at least docile dole-queuers. Design, on the other hand, tends to be concerned with independence of thought and with questioning the form, function, and values of the factory products.

The Design Council's report is far from being a radical document, but it does place the intrinsic values of

iated testing scheme for VDU operators. The recommended tests are very similar to tests suggested in Visual display ter- minals, but the latter are to be used to check deterioration, not to apply a standard. The use of a standard has ethical implications to do with hiring and firing people and is not to be recommended lightly.

VDUs and you is a well written six-page pamphlet for VDU operators. It covers problems of visual defects, siting and lighting of equipment and fatigue, from the point of view of visual discomfort and eyestrain. It should contain some reference to work- ing posture and its interaction with vision - otherwise it looks like an effective publication.

design education before 'career prepa- ration' in its statement of aims. How- ever, these aims are stated rather weakly, and need much more develop- ment before they could be a useful basis of discussion of design in general education. More useful is the check- list of 'requirements for future design courses', covering areas such as sensi- bility, skill, problem solving, communi- cation and responsibility.

Incidentally, the report adds one more definition to that burgeon- ing hst of answers to the question 'What is design?' For those who like to collect these things, it is: 'To pres- cribe some form, structure, pattern or arrangement for a proposed thing, system or event.'

Nigel Cross

Individualized learning M Norton, W C Bozeman and G Nadler Student planned acquis- ition of required knowledge Educational Technology Publications, Englewood Cliffs, N J, USA (1980) 86pp

This is about the SPARK system which is aimed at the development of prob- lem-solving ski]Is, interisciplinary learn- ing, flexible learning modes, and the provision of an element of seE-directed learning.

This tits in with the increasing emphasis upon student-centred learn- ing by way of the 'individualized'

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