This report summarizes one of a series of workshops organized by RAND's Critical Technologies Institute (CTI), on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, to learn from those already implementing new technologies in schools. This particular session explores the educational software market from the demand side and focuses on issues of cost…

This report describes the Adult Literacy Software Working Conference, which was attended by 52 adult literacy practitioners, software developers, hardware vendors, other educational technology specialists, policymakers, and researchers. The conference participants identified market, program and staff, and design and quality issues related to adult…

The Collaboratory Notebook is a networked hypermedia database that allows students to collaborate on scientific inquiries across boundaries of time and space. Developed as part of the Learning Through Collaborative Visualization (CoVis) networking testbed, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, this software expands on the idea of…

The Computer-Assisted Job Skill Evaluation (CAJSE) project was conducted to develop an evaluation software instrument that could be used in career and technical education programs throughout Texas to provide immediate performance evaluations in vocational-technical and career education. Ten instructors selected from vocational-technical education…

While Purdue University Calumet (PUC) (Hammond, Indiana) has been a receiver of distance education for a number of years, a number of faculty expressed interest in developing courseware that would allow PUC to be a provider. After a distance education mission statement and goals were outlined, a pilot course was established. The distance education…

This paper describes one educator's experience with creating multimedia presentation materials for a college computer literacy class. The paper discusses: selecting software--the decision between authoring software and presentation software; selecting hardware--what type of computer systems to select, and issues when classrooms are equipped with…

This report discusses the amount and kinds of Department of Defense (DoD) interactive courseware (ICW) programs that are candidates for transfer to the private sector. Candidates for transfer were identified through an analysis of the Defense Instructional Technology Information System (DITIS). Out of 4,644 ICW programs that have been reported to…

This pamphlet presents brief reviews of 38 population education software and online systems currently available. It includes mathematical models, simulations, databases, problem-solving games, online systems, and associations. The review includes a description of the program, the level at which it is aimed, required computer hardware, the vendor's…

A gender gap between boys and girls has been reported in computer usage. Graphics may play a role in bridging that gap because of their motivational value. The literature reports gender differences regarding graphic content, color, detail, size, and movement. Based on these findings, preliminary design guidelines for graphics in computer-based…

This report is one of a series from a project entitled "Case Studies in Evaluating the Benefits and Costs of Mediated Instruction and Distributed Learning," funded through a Field-Initiated Studies Educational Research Grant. The case study subject is the use of Daedalus courseware, an interactive program that allows all participants to…

This paper describes the ongoing project EONT--Experiment in Open and Distance Learning using New Technologies. The main objective of the project is to examine whether ODL using new technologies is effective. EONT will achieve its goals through experimentation, using an ODL environment based on some of the available new technologies (i.e.,…

The University of the Balearic Islands (Spain) has continued in recent years to extend and broaden its efforts in the revitalization of its undergraduate education program. The University's location (it covers three different islands) makes it a particularly appropriate testbed for examining the application of information technologies to…

This document reports a study of the processes involved in providing information services on curriculum resources to educational communities. In the first part, the development of the system for exchanging information within the Australian educational community is described, and the purpose, method, and results of a survey of American, Canadian,…

This paper establishes the roots of computers and automated teaching in the field of psychology and describes Dr. S. L. Pressey's presentation of the teaching machine; B. F. Skinner's teaching machine; Meyer's steps in composing a program for the automated teaching machine; IBM's beginning research on automated courses and the development of the…

The EPIEgram newsletter contains information about educational materials and technology for elementary secondary education. In addition to the continuing feature, "The Educational Software Selector" (TESS), the nine issues contain articles on evaluating educational technology; school reform; publishing; multimedia; hypermedia; the…