Presents highlights from a panel discussion by well known San Francisco Bay area documentation writers, instructional designers, and human performance technologists. Three issues on user performance and documentation are addressed: whether people avoid reading user manuals and why; major human factors influencing documentation use; and…

Suggests that students can learn the physics of a musical note by learning how to synthesize sounds on a computer. Discusses ADSR (attack, decay, sustain, and release of a note) and includes a program (with listing) which students can use to examine ADSR on a Commodore 64 microcomputer. (JN)

Discusses advantages and pleasures of utilizing a personal computer at home to receive electronic mail; participate in online conferences, software exchanges, and game networks; do shopping and banking; and have access to databases storing volumes of information. Information sources for the services mentioned are included. (MBR)

Presents a list of Apple software that helps students develop specific skills through supplemental learning at home. Software, including program, manufacturer, grade level(s), and price, is provided for: writing; spelling; grammar; vocabulary; reading comprehension; computational mathematics; and mathematics concepts/applications. Also provides…

Discusses the progress of computer integration in the United States' educational system. Computer-oriented programs and courses, instructional and software considerations, rationale for using microcomputers in classrooms, computer uses in specific subject areas, and problems are examined. An annotated list of federally funded computer-oriented…

Presents a set of classroom activities and a computer program that have been used to help students intuitively grasp, in a minimum of instructional time, such fundamental concepts as hypothesis testing, random sampling, statistical inference and p-values. The lesson shows students how statistical thinking and microcomputers can be used in…

Offers suggestions for designing and writing educationally effective computer lessons, outlining the instructional applications of computers. Also presents directives on lesson preparation, program format, graphics use, screen design and question schemata. Problem solving and integrative aspects of computerized instruction are stressed. (ML)

Makes suggestions and forecasts relating to the nature of the developing partnership between teachers, students, and microcomputers and to the development and use of educational software to truly optimize learning in United Kingdom schools. (MBR)

Offers suggestions for developing and implementing a plan to integrate microcomputers in higher education humanities curricula. Ways to introduce faculty to microcomputers and have them devise methods and applications for classroom use are explained. Specific software packages useful for writing instruction are discussed. (Author/MBR)

Describes RECOMP, a computer program developed at Louisiana State University which provides researchers with new ways of studying the composing process by analyzing and charting elements of the process as it occurs. Types of data gathered, RECOMP's place in current composition research and potential value of studies using RECOMP are also…

Project SERAPHIM (Systems Engineering Respecting Acquisition and Propagation of Heuristic Instructional Materials) aims to help chemical educators by collecting, producing, and disseminating instructional software for microcomputers. Project activities, accomplishments, and possible future endeavors are described. (JN)

Formative evaluation has become an acceptable process to use in curriculum development. The article synthesizes the extant literature and reports the application of formative evaluation in the development of microcomputer instructional software. (Author)

The Department of Administrative Programming Services of Clemson University investigated products available in user-friendly retrieval systems. The test of INTELLECT, a natural language query system written by Artifical Intelligence Corporation, is described. (Author/MLW)

Describes a quantitative evaluation of an interactive videodisc program in which students measure the temperature dependence of the solubility product of lead chloride by titration of chloride with silver nitrate using a Mohr titration. Student reaction (based on responses made using the program, quiz answers, and laboratory performance) was…

Key tailors, desk organizers; text-oriented database programs, outlining programs, thesauruses, spelling checkers, and punctuation and style checkers are described. The functions these programs perform will probably become more common as application programs absorb the functions into their own operation. (Author/MLW)