Most boys and girls interact differently with educational software and have different preferences for the design of educational software. The question is whether the usage of educational software has the same consequences for both genders. This paper investigates the characteristics of drill-and-practice programmes or drills that are efficient for…

The Chinese National Quality Course Plan is a large-scale project by the Ministry of Education, which has led to the production of more than 12,000 courses from some 700 universities since 2003. This paper describes in detail the purpose of the project and how it is organized at all levels, including how individual courses get selected at…

In the digital age, instructional designers must possess both a sound instructional design knowledge base and solid project management skills that will enable them to complete courseware projects on time, on budget and in conformance with client expectations. Project management skills include the ability to apply repeatable processes, along with…

Activity theory (AT) is a powerful tool for investigating "artefacts in use", ie, the ways technologies interrelate with their local context. AT reveals the interfaces between e-learning at the macro- (strategy, policy, "campus-wide" solutions) and the micro-organisational levels (everyday working practice, iterative change, individual…

A review is undertaken of what different commentators have written about the evaluation of educational courseware in higher education. Speculation is made on the reasons for the lack of such evaluations. The role of checklists for evaluating online courseware is discussed despite the acknowledged limitations. Checklists have been developed at…

Presents a group of semiotic principles for software design and uses them to show how they explain different educational possibilities. Discusses interface design and describes Theater in the Computer, a software environment for children, to illustrate semiotic-based principle of interface design. (Author/LRW)

Provides a summary of research on the effectiveness of animation in computer-assisted learning, suggests guidelines and strategies for implementing animation for specific materials in both educational and training environments to assist instructional designers and developers, and includes examples for the strategies. (Contains 17 references.) (LRW)

Examines the methodological common denominator among several models for courseware development and discusses in detail both the design and the validation phases. Emphasizes the need for a systematic approach in which multiple authors' skills are exploited and the cost-benefit ratio is kept at an acceptable level. (AEF)

Describes a dedicated method for the design of multimedia courseware, called PROFIL, which integrates instructional design with software engineering techniques and incorporates media selection in the design methodology. The phases of development are outlined: preliminary investigation, definition, script, technical realization, implementation, and…

Outlines stages in the development of computer aided instruction in the University of Waikato French department, including the creation of the authoring language Proforma. Adaptations of Proforma to allow parallel versions of test materials are discussed, screen layout is described, and some aspects of test administration and timing are outlined.…

Examines factors affecting the cultural appropriateness of Web-based course-support sites. Identifies a strategy for accommodating different values of these factors in Web-based course-support systems, based on a set of 10 design guidelines. Describes and evaluates the TeleTOP Method from the University of Twente (The Netherlands) to illustrate…