Dr Janet Gale, Lecturer in the Health and Social Welfare Section at the Open University's Centre for Continuing Education, has selected eight articles which she thought might be of interest to readers of Medical Teacher. Her personal comments appear at the end of each review.New Ways with Text‘A new approach to the design of instructional text’Harden, R. M. and Sowden, S.Journal of Audiovisual Media in Medicine1983;6: 124–129.Effective Educational Media‘Learning from audio-visual media’Bates, T.Teaching at a Distance. Institutional Research Review, 1982;1: 33–57.Complementary to‘Effective Educational Media’‘The differential investment of mental effort in learning from different sources' Salomon, G.Educational Psychologist1983;18: 42–50.Technology in Education‘The educational potential of cable television networks in the UK' Boyd-Barrett, J. O.Educational Studies1983;9: 221–231.Medical Education and Independent Learning‘How medical students learn' Vu, N. V. and Galofre, A.Journal of Medical Education1983;58: 601–610.The Teaching Personality‘Personality traits in effective clinical teachers' Kegel-Flom, P.Research in Higher Education1983;19: 73–82.