Background/Context: Many students in the United States need access to effective writing instruction, with some requiring intensive intervention. Results from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) in writing over the past 25 years revealed that most students in the U.S. have yet to attain a proficient level of written expression…

Animated pedagogical agents (APAs) have the potential to provide one-on-one, just-in-time instruction, guidance or mentoring in classrooms where such individualized human interactions may be infeasible. Much current APA research focuses on a wide range of design variables tested with small samples or in laboratory settings, while overlooking…

One principle of applied research is to design intervention programs targeted to teach useful skills to the participants (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968), while structuring the program to promote generalization of the skills to the natural environment (Stokes & Baer, 1977). Proficiency in community skills (e.g., community navigation and…

This paper examines the problem of automatic explanation of reasoning, or the ability of a program to discuss what it is doing in some understandable way, particularly as part of an expert system. An introduction presents a general framework in which to view explanation and reviews some of the research in this area. This is followed by a…

Outlines elements of instruction--knowledge, information, action--and describes each in the context of writing instruction, reviews writing research, and uses these components of instruction to explore possibilities for automated writing instruction. The Writer's Workbench language analysis programs are used to illustrate major points. Program…

This study attempted to implement and validate a 5-month effort to transition 42 pupils with mild and moderate disabilities (most with learning disabilities) out of math instruction in special education resource rooms and into regular education math. A preliminary discussion examines the "cascade of services" model and transenvironmental…

GUIDON is an intelligent computer-aided instruction (ICAI) program for teaching diagnosis, which has been tested using the infectious disease diagnosis rules of the MYCIN consultation system developed at the Stanford University School of Medicine. GUIDON engages a student in a dialogue about a patient suspected of having an infection and thus…

These two serial issues are devoted to the impact of computers on education, and specifically their effects on developmental education programs. First "The Effects of Computer-Based Instruction" summarizes the literature on the impact of computer-based instruction, including a study by James and Chen-Lin Kulik and Peter Cohen, which found that:…

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…

Three adaptive models encompassing variations of instructional support, incentives, and context of presentations were developed and validated through eight separate studies which compared the teaching of statistics under computer-managed instruction or teacher-managed systems. Results indicate instructional support adaptations were effective, but…

Designed to describe effective computer inservice programs and to determine the components that contributed to their effectiveness, this study identified eight school districts from across the country that appeared to be providing outstanding computer training for teachers. Case studies of these eight model districts were conducted in which…

These proceedings include the following papers: "An Assessment of the National FFA Public Service Announcement Program" (Sutphin, Dillon, and Rush); "Educational Objectives and Administrative Criteria for the National FFA Contest Program" (Smith and Kahler); "A National Profile of Agricultural Teacher Educators and State Supervisors of Vocational…