Despite extensive research on technology's potential to enhance teaching, large-scale studies often report mixed or negative impacts of technology use at school on student learning achievements. This ambiguity is often attributed to previous large-scale studies focusing more on the frequency rather than the quality of technology integration in the…

Cognitive style is a potentially rich, but typically overlooked, source of individualization in computer based instruction (CBI). Using information about learners' cognitive styles in the design, development, and evaluation phases of CBI production can maximize individualization. In the design phase, for example, learners' cognitive styles can be…

Presents specific guidelines for designing instructional programs that will be delivered on microcomputers so that these programs will use the capacity of the microcomputer system in a way that will develop in learners a range of cognitive skills and help learners to evolve useful learning strategies. (Author)

Dynamic instructional planning was explored as a control mechanism for intelligent tutoring systems through the development of the Blackboard Instructional Planner--a blackboard software-based dynamic planner for computerized intelligent tutoring systems. The planner, designed to be generic to tutors teaching troubleshooting for complex physical…

The infrastructure required for the implementation of computer aided instruction is described with particular reference to the distance education environment at the University of South Africa. A review of the state of the art of online distance education in the United States and Europe is followed by an outline of the proposed infrastructure for…

Research in the field of computer based instruction (CBI) has led to conflicting evidence on the efficacy of learner control over instruction. Typical implementations of learner control in CBI allow learners to proceed at their own pace, control the sequence of instruction, choose the amount of practice, or decide the level of difficulty…

It is argued that computer assisted instruction might be an answer to the scheduling problems resulting from the implementation of mastery learning programs in the public schools. The mastery learning model proposed by Carroll and the transformation of this model into a working model by Bloom are described. The difficulty of implementing mastery…

In educational environments, it is desirable to support the mechanism by which people can participate in interesting communities without any trouble and also to promote successful learning activities. Now that Web-based environments have been successively organized under a virtualized communication network or a logical interaction space, the…

This paper explains recommended procedures for establishing a computer based, multimedia, computer managed system emphasizing self-paced, individualized instruction as an approach to learner controlled education. The basic components or modules of such a system are briefly described, including student information, instructional analysis, learning…

Describes a study comparing learner control and program control, and the effects of giving learners information about their achievements in relation to criterion during instruction. Success was measured in terms of posttest scores, time on task, and number of instructional examples required. References are included. (Author/BK)

Continued advances in computerized training technology allow for a better link between instruction and evaluation. The use of computer-controlled audio and video feedback takes the automation of a mastery learning approach with its frequent shifts between instruction and testing a step further and begins to blur the distinction between training…

This report illustrates one way in which the technologies of testing might combine with cognitive science techniques to help steer instruction. Steering testing is brief diagnostic testing that steers, or individualizes, the course of instruction. Steering testing uses simple heuristics for reasoning about the level of a student's competence in a…

This report outlines the stages to be taken in harnessing technology in a way that meets and overcomes many of the shortcomings and problems encountered by the educational delivery systems in use today. A learning system is described that supports a number of delivery modes, including individualization or customization of instruction. The first…

This three-part paper describes the development of a software program called "The Growth Curve of Microorganisms" for a tenth-grade biology class. Designed to improve students' cognitive skills, the program enables them to investigate, through computer simulations, the impact upon the growth curve of a population of three variables: temperature,…

The fourth of four volumes, this report documents the implementation, evolution, and institutionalization of the Individualized Study by Telecommunications (IST) Program, a microcomputer-based system developed by the Educational Telecommunications for Alaska (ETA) Project to provide instruction and a set of core courses for rural high school…