Computers, if programed to respond to writer-generated content with heuristic strategies, can guide the writer in the prewriting stage. Heuristics are problem solving strategies that can aid the writer in exploring a topic either through a systematic posting of relevant questions or through an unsystematic process of free-association. To date the…

Because of the need for models to illustrate some possible answers to practical courseware development questions, a specific, three-section model incorporating the Corrective Feedback Paradigm (PCP) is advanced for applying theory to courseware. The model is reconstructed feature-by-feature against a framework of a hypothetical, one-to-one,…

A project involving the evaluation of microcomputer courseware being marketed for school use was conducted in the Microcomputer Resource Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, during 1982 with funding from the Exxon Education Foundation. Every courseware package was evaluated by a team which included a subject matter expert, an…

This report describes a collection of procedures, with illustrative examples, for selecting and portraying microcomputer courseware in a manner that enables others to make their own judgments of courseware quality. Following a discussion of perspective and a report outline, section 3 deals with assumptions underlying the search to identify…

This paper describes the use of commercially-available software for the Apple Computer to augment diagnostic evaluations of learning disabled children and to enhance "learning to learn" strategies at the application/transfer level of learning. A short rationale discusses levels of evaluation and learning, using a model that synthesizes the ideas…

This paper describes the structure and function of the SYS IV PLATO Curriculum Project's (PCP) computer-based management system and justifies the system design. A consideration of features most critical in the design of management systems provides the context for a discussion of specific SYS IV features, which include its ability to deliver any…

This report examines the features and performance of the BUG-FINDing component of MENO-II, a computer-based tutor for beginning PASCAL programming students. A discussion of the use of artificial intelligence techniques is followed by a summary of the system status and objectives. The two main components of MENO-II are described, beginning with the…

This description of an interactive instructional computer program in sentence combining for upper elementary and middle school students begins by summarizing the content of the program, which focuses on the instructional technique in which students are given two or more short simple sentences to combine into one longer, complex and/or compound…

This volume consists of nine conference papers and journal articles concerned with microcomputer applications in the teaching of writing. After a general introduction entitled "Computer-Assisted Composition Instruction: The State of the Art," by Robert Shostak, four papers are devoted to how computers may help with the writing process. In…

Uniting two areas of current interest in educational research, a project tested the effectiveness of computer software in observing the process of comprehension monitoring. Passages with embedded comprehension obstacles were presented to two groups of fifth grade students. Identical in content to those of the controls, the experimental subjects'…

This study examined learning by individuals and groups in a computer environment. Individual interactivity as a function of group size was investigated by focusing on various modes of interaction available to students while they completed activities using a computer. The activities, which involved manipulation of pictures of batteries, bulbs, and…

This report describes activities of the PLATO Education Group (PEG), the educational research and development arm of the Computer-based Education Research Laboratory (CERL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Staff, funding sources, and an overview are presented for the four projects summarized, along with additional,…

Two field trials were conducted to test the effectiveness of instructional materials, which were presented on an Apple II Plus microcomputer interfaced with a videocassette recorder, in teaching mathematical skills to students who had not made normal progress in mathematics learning. In the first field trial, 58 experimental students from a high…

The 98 papers in this collection examine a wide variety of topics related to the latest technological developments as they apply to the educational process. Papers are grouped to reflect common, broad areas of interest, representing the instructional, administrative, and computer science divisions of the Association for Educational Data Systems…

The 30 conference papers in this collection are presented in 6 categories. Five overviews discuss innovative uses of computers in education (Dorothy K. Deringer); microcomputers in instructional research (Alan M. Lesgold); microcomputers in the schools (Mitchell Batoff, Gary G. Bitter); and the courseware crisis (Barbara R. Sadowski). Research and…