Over the past decade there has been a lot of discussion about the rising cost of textbooks in higher education, which has resulted in an increased interest in electronic textbooks and digital coursework. When classes moved to a virtual environment in 2020, due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, many campuses needed to quickly provide students with…

The role of distance education is shifting. Traditionally distance education was limited in the number of people served because of production, reproduction, and distribution costs. Today, while it still costs the university time and money to produce a course, technology has made it such that reproduction costs are almost non-existent. This shift…

Compares two authoring tools that were developed to enable users without programing experience to create and modify software. HyperCard, designed for Macintosh microcomputers, and ToolBook, for microcomputers that run on MS-DOS, are compared in the areas of programing languages, graphics and printing capabilities, user interface, system…

Provides an overview of developments in authoring tools and describes ways to categorize products by platform, type of end-product, sophistication of end-product, and authoring metaphor. Discusses products from AimTech, Allegiant, Allen Communication, Asymetrix, Corel, Discovery Systems International, Enigma, Harrow Media, Horizons, Innovus,…

Reviews computer software programs that are useful for teaching history. Three categories are examined: reference libraries on CD-ROMs and videodisks; multimedia electronic textbooks; and single-event programs. A chart that indicates publisher, hardware requirements, price, grade level, program information, print capabilities, and special features…

The University of Canberra (Australia) has made courseware on the subject of computer operating systems available on the World Wide Web for a number of years, using a very simple hypertext format. Server logs have previously been analyzed to determine the amount of student usage. This paper reports on a restructuring of the courseware designed to…

Interviews were conducted with educational leaders in seven of the Caribbean islands during August and September 1994 concerning the development of a regional Curriculum Development and Materials Production and Equipment Centre (CAMPAEC). Visits to several sites, reading of background documents, and additional research were also completed. The…

This article provides a discussion of issues confronting institutions of higher education in their efforts to reduce costs and improve the quality of instruction for large classes. Blended learning is described with examples of technology applications referenced to existing courses at various universities. A discussion of cost reduction strategies…