Teachers and students alike would benefit from self-access materials to free up lesson time for activities requiring live face-to-face interaction, but such materials must first undergo thorough testing and evaluation of their pedagogical effectiveness. The present study is part of an ongoing project to develop a series of self-paced, interactive…

This paper provides a short review of the following basic approaches for generating animations so that teachers can determine the way best suited for them and be better prepared to select a tool addressing their needs: (1) using classical presentation tools such as PowerPoint; (2) visual editing using drag and drop or selection of options; (3)…

This paper presents two cases of the use of a World Wide Web-based system designed to support online educational procedures. The system presented, called DVT (Dynamic Virtual Trainer), consists of one or more server machines that store structured educational material in the form of autonomous units that may be accessed, combined, and presented to…

Recent technological advances now make possible the full integration of sound in instructional software. Sounds may gain and focus learner attention, reduce distracting stimuli, and make learning more engaging. In addition, they may help learners condense, elaborate upon, and organize details, highlighting interconnections among new pieces of…

The authors developed a Web-based Adaptive Educational System (Web-based AES) named ITMS (Individualized Teaching Material System). ITMS adaptively integrates knowledge on the distributed Web pages and generates individualized teaching material that has various contents. ITMS also presumes the learners' knowledge levels from the states of their…

Two bodies of literature define the process for developing electronic teaching portfolios to support long-term professional growth: the multimedia development process (decide/assess, design/plan, develop, implement, evaluate) and the portfolio development process (collection, selection, reflection, projection/direction, presentation). As further…

This paper describes the development of a database-driven World Wide Web-based tutorial to support pre/in-service teacher education in learning Web page creation. The paper focuses on querying the tutorial database. Advantages, disadvantages, software and hardware, and revisions are reported. Contains 10 references. (MES)

This paper discusses the development and implementation of a computer-based directed study preservice teacher education course. Specifically, it explains the procedures followed to create the ten multimedia CD-ROMs that comprise the course, and how preservice teachers use the CD-ROMs. Topics to be covered include (1) rationale for course creation;…

This paper on electronic fact books begins with a section that presents background on fact books, dating back to the publication of "Statistics of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities" by the U.S. Office of Education in 1867. The second section considers advantages of fact books as data resources and for decision making, planning, self…

This paper is a case study of Longfellow Elementary, a K-8 school in San Diego (California) that is using the concepts of information architecture to develop its Web site. The site is intended to be a virtual meeting place for all of the school's constituents: parents, teachers, students, and the community at large. The site is a dynamic, ongoing…

While many tools exist for the development of individual Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) pages, few exist for the development of complete hypermedia courses. The HTML Course Creator (HCC), developed by students at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point, New York), allows instructors who are not HTML experts to rapidly develop and easily maintain…

Virtual reality (VR) can create a unique and interesting environment in which students at a distance can explore and investigate objects or scenes via the World Wide Web. Creating these VR components is a process that is much more simple than many believe. This paper outlines when using VR may be appropriate in instructional settings and describes…

What are research-based, pedagogically sound ways to use Web-packaged courseware to impact student learning? This paper deals with these issues, and provides seven different, pedagogically sound ways to use such software in support of higher education. The paper first outlines several features that are common to most courseware products: one-stop…

This paper investigates how computer support for vicarious learning can be implemented by taking a principled approach to selecting and combining different media to capture educational dialogues. The main goal is to create vicarious learning materials of appropriate pedagogic content and production quality, and at the same time minimize the…

This paper discusses instructional design considerations related to learner assessment in multimedia instruction. Topics addressed include: current practice in learner assessment; planning and presenting instructional objectives; objectives' role in learner orientation; objectives and "Just-in-Time" learning; feedback to the learner during…