CBESS (Computer-Based Educational Software System) is a set of 22 programs addressing authoring, instructional delivery, and instructional management. The programs are divided into five groups: (1) Computer-Based Memorization System (CBMS), which helps students acquire and maintain declarative (factual) knowledge (11 programs); (2) Language Skills…

The Processing Services department of the Library of Congress initiated a project to learn about expert systems technology and to examine potential applications of expert systems to functions in their department, e.g., acquisitions, cataloging, and serials control. (An expert system is defined as an artificial intelligence computer program which…

The six "thought pieces" presented in this document summarize the personal perspectives of conference participants on issues raised in formal or information discussions, but not part of the central themes of the conference or conference papers. They include: (1) "Assuming That..." (Anne Nicol, Apple Computer, Inc.); (2) "A…

This paper describes Connect Ed, a program offering graduate and undergraduate courses for credit via computer conferencing. It is noted that these courses are offered in conjunction with the Masters Degree in Media Studies at the New School for Social Research and the Polytechnic Institute, both in New York City. A progress report on Connect Ed's…

Describes the development of ScriptWriter, a computer program designed at the University of Southern California to help create software for computer assisted instruction. Topics discussed include the graphics editor; text editor; font editor; a programming language called IQ; its use with interactive video and speech; and current applications.…

The concepts of usability and user-centered design (UCD) have grown in popularity over the past 20 years as measured by the number of research and mainstream articles devoted to their discussion. As with all new developments, however, there are always the questions of how things work in practice compared to theory. A survey of 83 software…

This paper looks at the analysis leading to and design of a Web-based "hint system." The hints are designed to help middle-grade teachers participating in a mathematics professional development effort, called InterMath, achieve a high degree of success when working open-ended mathematical investigations. The model upon which InterMath is…

Providers of online information with a high visual content face an uncompromising dilemma--how to achieve fast delivery while maintaining good picture quality. As storage space or bandwidth increases, the demands placed on it by the user are always two steps ahead. Since limited bandwidth for communicating images looks like it may remain a problem…

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to investigate the effects of visual information, background knowledge, and academic reading experience, and (2) to identify the non-native readers' problems in comprehending Japanese academic texts. Sixty-three foreign students studying at universities and graduate schools in Japan participated in this…

The aim of this exploratory study is to identify the skills needed by developers of Electronic Commerce (e-Commerce) systems. The paper proposes a framework pertaining to three categories of e-Commerce development knowledge: technical, human, and organizational. The initial findings reveal that there are some 16 possible e-Commerce skills tapping…

Regulatory agencies around the world require that those involved in producing pharmaceutical products be adequately trained. E-learning can accomplish this, providing consistent delivery and learner assessment. However, there are some unique expectations that regulators and the pharmaceutical industry have of e-learning solutions. These include…

This research begins to refine a cognitive model of interactive information seeking for use in the design of information retrieval (IR) systems. The research reported in this paper critically examines several interactive information seeking and retrieval models that have emerged over the last two decades. Building primarily on the stratified…

The authors developed a Web-based negotiation system that is closely modeled on real-world transactions. This paper illustrates the generality of the system by discussing two disparate applications of the system: one taken from business and the other from collaborative e-learning. The application generates, in real time, transparency-controlled…

In this study, the Bystander Turing Test (BTT) paradigm is used to determine whether participants rate particular dialog moves in tutoring transcripts to be generated by a computer tutor, AutoTutor, or by a skilled human tutor. Currently, AutoTutor initiates a conversation with the learner by posing a question or presenting a problem for the…

"Design Inspection Reviews" are structured meetings in which participants follow certain rules of procedure and behavior when conducting detailed readings of design plans to identify errors and misunderstandings. The technique is widely used in the software engineering industry, where it is demonstrably more effective than testing at…