Describes study which investigated peer interaction in relation to microcomputer use with 11- and 12-year-old children in a comprehensive secondary school in England. Highlights include the use of micro-PROLOG, a questionnaire to test students' attitudes towards computers, gender differences, and pretest and posttest results. (LRW)

Describes study of two online graduate courses designed and delivered via a computer conferencing system at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). Advantages and disadvantages based on student responses are examined, new learning strategies for computer-mediated courses are discussed, and topics for future research are suggested.…

This description of computer conferencing in its educational context as a tool for encouraging greater autonomy in the learner highlights programs in Britain's Open University and at Bath University. Topics discussed include teaching and learning trends in higher education and the role of conferencing in education in the future. (Author/LRW)

Describes design principles followed in developing an interactive microcomputer-based simulation to study financial and economic aspects of the Dutch social security system. The main goals are to improve participants' insights into the formal simulation model, and to improve policy development skills. Plans for future research are also discussed.…

A modified version of the Approaches to Studying Inventory was administered to students in an innovative medical school. It was found that, although the inventory was not predictive of academic success for this group, it might be helpful in student counseling, and student responses were consistent with the school's philosophy. (LRW)

Provides an overview of the design, production, and preliminary testing of a microcomputer-controlled interactive learning workstation developed at Simon Fraser University to teach French as a Second Language. Criteria and guidelines are discussed; the authoring system is explained; and field testing with grades four through seven is described.…

This comparison of students' learning from reading books and from watching television uses Gavriel Salomon's model of learning effects, which is based on the amount of mental effort invested (AIME) in a medium as determining how deeply the information from that medium is processed. Mental effort, in turn, is predicted to depend on two perceptions…