Discussion of Web databases, or search engines for the Internet, presents a series of questions that can be used to analyze these tools based on library literature. Six search engines are analyzed; collection methods, indexing, and abstracting are compared; and a proposal for a future ideal Web database is included. (Author/LRW)

Summarizes the activities, contents, and overall outcomes of an international seminar organized jointly by two working groups of SEFI--the Working Group on Women in Engineering and the Working Group on Information and Communication Technologies. Replaces traditional teaching methods and concentration on narrow technical contents with a more…

Challenges a critique of phenomenography and the idea that college students approach studies in ways leading to either "deep" or "surface" learning. Finds the description of phenomenography to be unrecognizable and based on inadequate review of the literature. Sees this attempt to invalidate this approach to research about…

Pathfinder is a graphic theoretic technique used to analyze proximity data. This study evaluates its validity: (1) for representing and comparing individuals' navigation through a computer-based hypermedia environment; and (2) for generating an empirically-derived path that represents a set of individual navigational paths during computer-assisted…

Asks if technical writers can predict results of a reader-focused text evaluation. Asks 15 technical writers to point out reader problems in a public information brochure, which was also evaluated by 30 readers from the target audience. Finds little overlap and little agreement among writers as to their problem detections. (PA)

Discusses Web-based learning tools and reports results from a study at the University of Victoria that compared and evaluated two commercially available learning tools. Considers usability issues and discusses navigation, customization, student management, content creation, and students' perceptions. (Author/LRW)

Discussion of information retrieval, query optimization techniques, and relevance feedback focuses on genetic algorithms, which are derived from artificial intelligence techniques. Describes an evaluation of different genetic algorithms using a residual collection method and compares results with the Ide dec-hi method (Salton and Buckley, 1990…

Research compared effectiveness of two different approaches of conjoint consultation using a manual versus a videotape series as the main components of training parents and teachers to treat children's behavioral difficulties. Parent and teacher reports characterized students as meeting their overall behavior goals; and reported high rates of…

Describes a study of college students that examined how the use of computer mediated communication affected the transmission of performance and interpersonal appraisal information. Examined whether interpersonal judgments obtained through face-to-face communication resulted in greater positivity, but compromised accuracy, relative to…

Examined the behavior of item and person statistics from item response theory and classical test theory frameworks through Monte Carlo methods with simulated test data. Findings suggest that item difficulty and person ability estimates are highly comparable for both approaches. (SLD)

Four students (ages 10-14) with moderate mental retardation learned chained tasks with constant time delay and with the system of least prompts. Both strategies produced criterion-level performance; however, constant time delay was more efficient than least prompts in terms of number of sessions, percent of errors, and direct instructional time to…

Discusses the results of a study designed to observe, compare, and assess the teaching practices used in two language programs (French and Spanish). The study was conducted to find out just how different proficiency-oriented and acquisition-oriented classes are. (five references) (GLR)

A general process for faculty to use in comparing the relative efficacy of college outcomes assessment instruments for gauging student progress toward goals is outlined. Analysis of two standardized general education exams, the American College Testing College Outcome Measures Project and the Educational Testing Service Academic Profile,…

An experiment compared three approaches to error correction in college-level written composition and found that the ideal approach would be to combine, in a simple and realistic formula, the best features of the three models. (Author/MSE)

Three studies compared self-instructional training with classroom-oriented, traditional approach to skills training for teaching basic counseling skills to graduate student counselor trainees. Results of three studies revealed that two instructional methods were equally effective methods of teaching such skills to this population of students.…