The role pictures and graphics can play in making Telidon, a Canadian home information retrieval videotex service, a viable communications medium is discussed. This report concentrates on contributions of theories of perception and cognition to knowledge of how different kinds of visual images can most effectively be used on Telidon. The issues of…

A controlled experiment studying effects of adding voice-over sound to a silent electronic text service tested program acceptability and memory retention. Results indicate no significant differences in ratings for acceptability although the test for memory retention resulted in significantly higher scores for the sound group on recall and…

In a study designed to see how students accommodated a new technology, 27 eighth graders used a microcomputer in a middle school science class to access a commercial videotex service containing an electronic encyclopedia as part of an assignment to write a theme. Field observations of computer use and student interviews were used to collect data.…

This field experiment begins to build a theoretical framework for exploring the effects of media characteristics on subjects' understanding and integration of information. Students in two eighth-grade science classes wrote term papers with one class using a print encyclopedia and the other an electronic encyclopedia to conduct their research. A…

As part of the TV Ontario Telidon and Education Field Trials, a study was made of the application of the Telidon videotex systems to computer-assisted learning (CAL), including the future directions of these applications and differences in achievement between advanced and general-level students. Subjects were 129 middle- to upper-middle,…

This study of microcomputer use to access an online encyclopedia revealed attitudes of eighth-graders towards computer technology and videotex. Electronic searching is compared to searching with traditional library print materials for a science course, the role of computer printouts is discussed, and research methods including observation and…

This field study examined learning effects attributable to instructional design characteristics when eighth-grade science students used a print encyclopedia or a videotex version of the encyclopedia to write term papers. Results suggest that specific effects of instructional design characteristics of a delivery system are of a limited nature. (MBR)

A study examined the use of Telidon, the Canadian videotex system, as a delivery vehicle for computer-based distance education in an introductory high school mechanics course. Specifically analyzed were (1) the relative educational effectiveness of Telidon, traditional correspondence, and traditional, in-school modes of instruction; (2) the…

The purpose of this study was to examine how learners with different levels of prior understanding of a topic interact and learn from computer-assisted video instruction systems when they have control of content, sequence, pace, and mode of instruction. Based on pretest scores, 80 subjects were randomly selected, half with low prior conceptual…