It is important for the teacher to choose effective software for students. It is also important for designers to know what features of educational software make it effective. But the results of studies dealing with the effectiveness of educational software are contradictory. One reason for such results might be the fact that meta-analysis covers…

The current paper examines the design process that led to an unusually successful interactive tutorial for older people. The paper describes the issues that make designing for older people different. These include differences between the designer and the target population and the difficulty that older people have in interacting with low-fidelity…

This field test report was completed for a producer of an educational computer software program. The program, designed to help students learn about Canadian history, is outlined. The program simulates the events and atmosphere of the years 1864-1873, formative years in Canada's history; the student user is cast in the role of a journalist on the…

Describes the range of products and services offered by VTLS, a company that offers comprehensive, integrated library automation software and customer support. VTLS's growth and development in the United States and abroad is described, and nine sidebar articles detail system features and applications in public, academic, and virtual libraries. (20…

This article provides a report on NetMeeting as an appropriate fourth-generation tool for interactive language learning in distance mode. It follows on earlier research by Wang and Sun (2000, 2001) on the most urgent problem facing distance language education--lack of provision of oral-visual interaction and the emergence of a fourth-generation…

The identification and integration of reusable and customizable CSCL (Computer Supported Collaborative Learning) may benefit from the capture of best practices in collaborative learning structuring. The authors have proposed CLFPs (Collaborative Learning Flow Patterns) as a way of collecting these best practices. To facilitate the process of CLFPs…

This paper details a study of knowledge-building activities in the domain of computer software. Thirty-six adults--evenly split among beginning, intermediate, and advanced knowledge levels--were videotaped while they attempted to learn a common spreadsheet package. Subjects were asked to think aloud while learning. Each knowledge building activity…

This paper describes how electronic presentations are currently used by business people. Business people in the United States and Sweden were surveyed to determine how they are using the medium. A questionnaire was mailed to 506 business people in the United States (201 returned) and to 80 business people in Sweden (76 returned). Results are…

The use of a model for treatment of English modals in a machine translation system being developed in Europe is discussed. The Eurotra system, sponsored by the Commission of the European Communities, is designed to translate into the nine official languages of the European Economic Community. The report first examines modality, the different ways…

Explains the concept of Public Lending Right (PLR), which provides for payments to authors based on the circulation of their books by public libraries, and describes the British experience with PLR since 1979. Issues involved in PLR and the possibility of its adoption in the United States are also discussed. (MES)

Provides an overview of Quebec's regional library system and the use of the MultiLIS software to manage the collections and resource sharing of remote libraries. The book-related operational functions of the EXCHANGE module of this integrated library system are described, and several sample screens are shown. (MES)

Describes the use of a database management system (DBMS)--dBaseII--to create an enriched title-based keyword index for a collection of news items at the Renewable Energy Resources Information Center of the Asian Institute of Technology. The use of DBMSs in libraries in developing countries is emphasized. (Author/LRW)

Intended for potential business users, this paper describes the main characteristics of expert systems; discusses practical use considerations; presents a taxonomy of the systems; and reviews several expert system development projects in business and industry. (MBR)

This report contains conference papers on geometry teaching. There were five plenary talks given and a review of Hungarian geometry teaching. The plenary talks addressed background theories of the psychology of learning such as constructivism, perceptional psychology, and motivational psychology. The themes of the 21 short talks were on a varied…

Between January and April 2000, Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta, Canada piloted an anonymous online faculty-administered teaching assessment tool. Five instructors volunteered to participate, and 5 students from classes taught by each instructor joined them in focus groups, for a total of 30 focus group participants. The quantitative and…