This report describes DVI (Digital Video Interactive) technology, current authoring languages and tools, and the reasons for developing new tools and applications. The work described was performed by Betac Corporation as part of a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research project. Section I provides background information on DVI. DVI technology…

Members of the Association of State Technology-Using Teacher Educators completed questionnaires about the availability of computer programming within the California State University (CSU) system, noting its characteristics if it existed. Though programming still exists in there, it is evolving to include authoring tools and is still taught for…

A verbal and e-mail survey was conducted of 30 senior high teachers in Alberta who teach computer programming courses in the Career and Technology Studies curriculum, in order to ascertain what courses at the intermediate and advanced levels were being offered, what programming languages were being used, why teachers selected the particular…

Discusses how the reverse engineering approach can generate feedback on computer programs without the user having any prior knowledge of what the program was designed to do. This approach uses the cognitive model of programming knowledge to interpret both context independent and dependent errors in the same words and concepts as human programmers.…

Describes a study that examined whether engaging elementary school students in hypermedia authoring would promote their creative thinking. Highlights include Logo programming language; the Torrance Tests of Creativity Thinking; performance assessment; interviews and observations; ability levels; collaborative versus individual learning; and…

This paper presents the use of an XML grammar for two complementary projects--CHAMELEON (Cooperative Hypermedia Adaptive MultimEdia Learning Objects) and EIT (Enabling Informal Teamwork). Areas of applications are modular courseware documents and the collaborative authoring process of didactical units. A number of requirements for a suitable…

Discusses the three-step implementation of an instructional technology tool and associated pedagogy to support teaching and learning computer programming concepts. The Flowchart Interpreter (FLINT) was proven through experiments to support novice programmers better than the traditional textbook approach. (EV)

This paper reports on considerations about the common basic functions and components for building a collaborative authoring environment. The paper aims to specify and systematize the technological issues towards the future standardization of such environments, based on the authors' previous research experiences. Standardization includes many…

A typology of authoring programs in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) with different features (reconstruction, rearrangement, matching, transformation, multiple choice, vocabulary data bank, simulation) is presented. Examples of screen presentation methods and a catalog of teaching/learning software requirements are included. (Contains 12…

Examined instructors' satisfaction with and use of intelligent agent toolkits in the classroom. Found that no single uniform toolkit satisfied the needs of instructors. Moreover, satisfaction levels were influenced primarily by user interactions with the toolkit, followed to a lesser extent by toolkit performance and functionality. (EV)

Reports descriptive analyses of production data gathered from experienced instructional developers who used a commercial authoring package and supplemental coding over a one-year period to produce three separate instructional lessons on thinking skills as part of a larger commercial educational product. (Author/LRW)

Using the same data, which could come from local databases or external sources, such as the Web, virtual museum designers can build different hyperspaces. It is possible that visitors would find some of them more useful than others. Virtual museums designers should be equipped with a tool by which various hyperspaces for virtual museums can be…

Presents a case study of a computer scientist learning and using the Cognitive Walkthrough (CW) technique to assess a multimedia authoring tool. Compares predictions by the analysis to the usability problems found in empirical usability tests. Presents several hypotheses about the cause of low effectiveness, which suggest that additional…

Reports findings of a case study that explored the possible benefits that dyslexic children might have when engaging in the creation of their own multimedia project. Concludes that the open-ended character of a multimedia authoring package can encourage creative thinking and interest for content and style of presentation. (Author/LRW)

Discusses storytelling as a medium for learning about identity and communication. Presents an approach to interactive storytelling called SAGE (Storytelling Agent Generation Environment), an authoring environment for children to create their own storytellers to interact with. Results from empirical studies with fourth and fifth graders are…