Describes the variety of types of products produced by instructional designers, discusses the role of the designer, lists the critical instructional design attributes needed by instructors who design and implement loosely structured instructional products, and discusses prototype evaluation methods for less flexible, instructor-centered products.…

Defines eight software production stages, and argues that the key to the production of a higher quantity of reasonable quality software lies in development of support technologies to assist teachers in software development. Three approaches--software toolboxes, computer assisted instruction (CAI) program shells, and software CAI analysts--are…

Describes and compares 12 microcomputer-based authority languages and systems that are being marketed to elementary and secondary school teachers to assist them in developing their own courseware for computer-assisted instruction. Evaluation criteria are reviewed, and future development and research needs are discussed. (Author/LRW)

This study evaluated the Computer Aided Grading Exercises (CAGE) authoring system on ease of creating programs, popularity of such programs, ease of progression through created exercises, and transfer of learning. Subjects were 12-year-olds with moderate learning difficulties. It was found that the system produced popular exercises and engendered…