Describes a pregraphics course for freshman engineering majors weak in three-dimensional spatial visualization skills. Freshman students scoring less than 60% correct on the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations (PSVT:R) were counseled into the course. Gain scores for students after the course on the PSVT:R were shown to be statistically…

Describes the development of an online developmental reading course with asynchronous interaction among the students and instructor. Recommends using research on effective readers and effective reading instruction to dictate course curriculum and instruction; using online course packages to deliver the course; and piloting the course on-campus…

Discusses a three-year research project in which a virtual environment to teach radioactivity in secondary schools in the United Kingdom was developed and tested. Emphasizes the importance of involving teachers through the development process and confirms the importance of school-based evaluation studies in the development and evaluation of…

This status report on instructional software accessibility for individuals with disabilities notes current initiatives to further instructional technology accessibility and reports on a survey of 19 major companies producing instructional software. Only two responses reflected awareness of accessibility considerations and all the remaining…

Describes development of the Courseware Engineering Methodology (CEM), created to guide novices in designing effective courseware. Discusses CEM's four models: pedagogical (concerned with the courseware's pedagogical aspects), conceptual (dealing with software engineering), interface (relating to human-computer interaction), and hypermedia…

Examined whether there was a significant difference in learner outcomes from the use of Arthur (Gilbert & Han, 1999), a computer-based adaptive instructional system that provides personalized instruction to each learner. Found that Arthur does provide a significant difference in learner outcomes. (EV)

Early in his library career, John Shank realized that not only were students choosing Internet resources over library, resources, but Faculty members were, too. Shank is now widely recognized as a librarian who's likely to change that. In his current positions as instructional design librarian at Penn State Berks--Lehigh Valley College and…

Recent developments in digital rights enablement for video, plus inexpensive purpose-built applications such as the Media on Demand system, are now adding video to the montage of rich media objects for learning online. Video libraries and repositories can be customized and stored on local servers for access by place-based or distance learners as…

We propose to use didactical theory for the design of educational software. Here we present a set of didactical conditions, and explain how they shape the software design of Cabri-Euclide, a microworld used to learn "mathematical proof" in a geometry setting. The aim is to design software that does not include a predefined knowledge of problem…

This study describes an investigation of the intellectual property policies of a stratified random sample of public and private Carnegie Doctoral Research-Extensive Universities. Current copyright law was reviewed as well as the status of the "academic exception." University policies were examined to determine whether or not they…

Critical in virtually all educational arenas, gaming and simulation techniques and distance learning are major areas of interest in today's U.S. Army training. The U.S. Army Armor School at Ft. Knox, KY contracted with the University of Louisville and Northrop Grumman Mission Systems in 2003 to develop online training for Army Captains. They…

Based on the decomposed theory of planned behavior, this study used path analysis to examine the relative strength of the factors that influence teachers' use of instructional technology. The study focused on teachers' use of word processors, spreadsheets, presentation software, e-mail, and Web browsers. A path analysis was performed on…

This document plus diskette product provides nine interactive puzzles and games that both teach and provide practice with simple addition and subtraction concepts. The activities address these skills through carrying in addition and regrouping in subtraction. The activities address cognitive skills such as problem solving, planning, visual pattern…

Gender bias in education remains widespread and has multiple forms. The purpose of this study was to examine current popular mathematics computer programs (n=12) intended for grades K-6 with attention to the symbolic representations and graphics used in the instructional part of the program. The review form tallied the number of main characters,…

CatTutor is an interactive tutorial for training catalogers in the descriptive cataloging of computer files. The program is comprised of a tutorial that allows the novice cataloger to build bibliographic records and that is linked through hypertext to key reference tools, including the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, the MARC format for computer…