Three articles discuss the use of computers in education: (1) "References for a Broader Vision" (Henry F. Olds, Jr.); (2) "What Every Teacher Should Know About Computer Simulations" (David Grady); and (3) "The Computer as Palette and Model Builder" (Interview of Alan Kay). (CJ)

Evaluates the effectiveness of student interaction in computer assisted instruction (CAI) in enhancing achievement in chemistry laboratories. One group of students interacted with the computer in simulated laboratory activities; a second group did not interact. Advantages of interactive CAI were found for tasks requiring interpretation and…

Presents the background, database, user instructions, design criteria, hardware, and commands of the online catalog system at the University of New Brunswick (Canada) library, as well as self-instructional features of the system. Evaluation of systems use and potential applications are discussed, and sample displays are provided. (RBF)

Course Progress Survey (CPS) is a scheme allowing students to assess their progress during a course by taking multi-choice answer cards and producing for each student a report sheet listing the correct answers and offering remedial advice for incorrectly answered questions. (Author/MLW)

Discusses computer assisted instruction programs that deal with the specific area of the modeling of systems and the programing techniques that affect their educational value. An environment intended to increase the impact of interactive CAI is described and developed. (Author/CHC)

The basic office skills will be more necessary than ever in the office of the future, says the author in describing basic skills that should be taught for the word processing system: business English, language and communication skills, proofreading and editing, letter-writing principles, and communication psychology. (MF)

Outlines the technological evolution and the use of computers and telecommunications in information transactions and data storage. (CWM)

To improve services and reduce costs, Babson College (Massachusetts) has begun continuous quality improvement and reengineering, moving rapidly toward a client/server information technology environment and Internet/Intranet-enabled business processes. The evolution of the strategy and its products, underlying technologies, and development process…

Presents a stratified model of information retrieval interaction that views interaction as a dialog between participants (user and computer) through an interface. Discusses traditional and interaction models, and extension to relevance, user modeling, search term selection, and types of feedback in information retrieval. (AEF)

Explores the systemological approach of dialogism as a new way of couching the problem of person-machine dialog in human-computer interaction. Concludes that a human-computer interaction community reflecting upon the future of interface will gain bona fide self-awareness from conceptualizing the machine as a component of society, rather than a…

Describes the development of learning companion systems and their contributions to the class of social learning systems that integrate artificial intelligence agents and use machine learning to tutor and interact with students. Outlines initial social learning projects, their programming languages, and weakness. Future improvements will include…

Maintains that diagnosis, explanation, and tutoring, the functions of an interactive learning environment, are collaborative processes. Examines how human-computer interaction can be improved using a distributed cognition framework. Discusses situational and distributed knowledge theories and provides a model on how they can be used to redesign…

Describes the Okapi projects and the work of the Centre for Interactive Systems Research at the City University of London (England). Okapi, an experimental text retrieval system, has been used as the basis for a series of projects addressing aspects of user information-seeking behavior and user-system interaction, as well as system design.…

Describes study of students at a two-year community college that was conducted to examine descriptive references to a computer for differences in interactive styles when reporting success and failure experiences while using a computer for word processing. Differences that relate to gender and computer experience are also analyzed. (18 references)…

Discusses the integration of videodisc technology into classrooms and presents criteria for evaluating the interactivity of videodiscs. Three levels of interactive videodiscs (IVD) are described, and a criteria checklist is included that evaluates skill development, simulation, feedback, the interaction of the student manual with the electronic…