Animated pedagogical agents (APAs) have the potential to provide one-on-one, just-in-time instruction, guidance or mentoring in classrooms where such individualized human interactions may be infeasible. Much current APA research focuses on a wide range of design variables tested with small samples or in laboratory settings, while overlooking…

The emerging field of advanced distance education delivers academic courses across time and distance, allowing educators and students to participate in a convenient learning method. "Methods and Applications for Advancing Distance Education Technologies: International Issues and Solutions" demonstrates communication technologies, intelligent…

Synthetic speech-like articulations were presented to normal hearing adult subjects (N=13) via the visual modality with computer generated animations. Results indicated that most subjects categorically labeled the animations of speech articulations with sharp transitions between phonemic categories. Results have implications for speechreading.…

This paper describes a Prolog execution model which serves as the uniform basis of textbook material, video-based teaching material, and an advanced graphical user interface for Prolog programmers. The model, based upon an augmented AND/OR tree representation of Prolog programs, uses an enriched "status box" in place of the traditional…

Reactions of 50 2-year-old and 46 4-year-old Japanese children to selected experimental television programs were examined in two studies. The child was placed with his or her mother in a room where the experimental program was shown on one television and a fast-moving animation without sound was shown on a second television as a distractor. The…

The purpose of this study was to test the principle of modality by using audio to deliver verbal information when that information is designed to support non-verbal information such as animations in a computer-based lesson. This was done by comparing the effect of two types of audio support mechanisms- a simple support mechanism consisting of…

Reactions of preschool children from urban and rural Quebec to several animated and other representational television characters were obtained. Visual elements consistently appealing are identified, and responses are reviewed for sex, cultural, and location differences. Application of results in the production of a televised antismoking promotion…

A study was carried out at Pennsylvania State University to examine the effects of both textual and computer animated orienting activities--i.e., mediators through which new information is presented to the learner--and practice on the application and problem solving skills of elementary school students. It was hypothesized that students provided…

These proceedings contain 48 presentations and 15 poster abstracts. Papers include "Computer Tasks Required in Selected Undergraduate Agriculture Courses" (Johnson, Ferguson, Vokinnns, Lester); "College of Agriculture Faculty Perceptions of Electronic Technologies in Teaching" (Dooley, Murphy); "Steering Through Turbulent…