This paper offers an interpretive microanalysis of university students' work session with "Philippe," a multi-media instructional program for foreign language learning. The main objective of Philippe is to provide French-as-a-Foreign-Language learners with what is widely assumed to be what they need most: contacts with native speakers of the…

In October 1994, the New Hampshire Department of Education, in conjunction with the Legislative Study Committee on Interactive Communications, conducted a survey to determine the technology infrastructure of New Hampshire Schools. The survey elicited information about technology plans, instructional and administrative use of personal computers and…

Whole language and cooperative learning are effective ways to help students develop and integrate academic skills. The computer makes available the possibility of multimedia opportunities to apply these and other strategies to develop cognitive, affective, and social skills. The project reported in this paper explored a successful strategy for…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of the Expressive Arts Project for Young Children with Disabilities, which developed and evaluated a CD-ROM, ArtSpace. The program, developed on a Macintosh platform, allows the child to either view or make art. It offers real time video, music especially produced to accompany images,…

This paper discusses the effectiveness of mediated instructional strategies in culturally and linguistically diverse learning environments, focusing on the use of computer-mediated instruction and its relationship to various learning styles. It examines learning style dimensions and reviews related literature on the relationship between…

Scaffolding refers to the instructional support that instructors or more skillful peers offer learners to bridge the gap between their current skill levels and the desired level. An aspect of scaffolding that is often ignored is the fading of support as the learner masters the skill. It has been suggested that there is a risk of over-relying on…

Papers from a conference on small college computing issues are: "Ethics, Privacy, and Security in Higher Education Technology" (John A. Anderson); "Multimedia in the Classroom: Recollections After Two Years" (Stephen T. Anderson Sr.); "Creating a Computer Competency Requirement for Mary Washington College Students" (David J. Ayersman, Ernest C.…

This exploratory study had two goals: (1) to identify signs of abstraction and consolidation of abstractions of functional concepts in students in a situation-based curriculum; and (2) to use theoretical arguments as well as experimental evidence in order to shape notions of abstraction and consolidation of abstractions. The methodology was…

This paper discusses the increasing use of computers and multimedia since 1989 in the foreign language classroom in the Czech Republic. Three categories of questions are discussed: (1) questions about computer use in classrooms that were common in Germany 10 years ago; (2) questions about computer use in relation to new foreign language…

A multimedia pilot program at Laramie County Community College, Wyoming, used a series of instructional modules with testing units to allow freshman composition students to review their own particular areas of weakness, to test themselves, and to move on at their own pace. The program used the technologies available in the school's…

This book addresses the fundamental changes occurring in higher education, centering on productivity, quality, access, and competitiveness. The 15 chapters illustrate how public and private institutions are providing leadership for the higher education revolution. Chapters include: (1) "The Learning Revolution: (Diana G. Oblinger and Sean C.…

The SchoolTech initiative, a state-funded pilot project, was designed to empower teachers to develop innovative approaches to academic and extracurricular activities using technology. Elementary and secondary schools (n=10) in North Carolina were provided with hardware and software that had the capability of accessing Internet resources. Teachers…

This practicum project involved working with four preschool children with mental disabilities to increase their cognitive abilities through the use of computer-based instruction and use of manipulative materials. It also sought to improve the children's social-emotional development and self-esteem. The developmental levels of the four students…

Rapid advancement in computer technology in recent years, including easy accessibility, expansion of computer networks, and diversity of applications, support the use of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in second language education. All secondary schools in Japan now have computers and computer instruction. Misconceptions about computers and…

When computers are relegated to a single room in a school where children use them only occasionally, their potential impact on children's learning is minimized. When computers are integrated into the curriculum and are applied to real problems, however, children gain the ability to use computers as natural tools for learning. For example, when a…