Discusses how using intelligent agents (sets of independent software tools designed to help a user better interact with a computer application) in a course-management software (CMS) environment can diminish some of the current limitations of the CMS systems used in distance education. (EV)

Describes applications of HyperCard, including SuperDuper Gradebook and HyperMedia Information Retrieval System (HIRS). Also described is the creation of an instructional software library called the HyperMedia and Instructional StackWare Clearinghouse (HISC), which will evaluate programs for educators, trainers, and instructional technologists.…

The secondary accounting curriculum must be modified to include computers and software. Educators must be aware of the computer skills needed on the job and of the accounting software that is available. Software selection must be tailored to fit the curriculum and the time available. (JOW)

Due to the opportunities provided by the Internet, people are taking advantage of e-learning courses and during the last few years enormous research efforts have been dedicated to the development of e-learning systems. So far, many e-learning systems are proposed and used practically. However, in these systems the e-learning completion rate is…

Using technology in a developmental classroom, particularly a classroom platform such as WebCT, can help provide a sense of community in a developmental writing course. The rationale for designing a hybrid developmental writing course is discussed as well as the ways in which students perceived themselves as "real writers" as a result of…

Distance education course designers working alone often do not have the luxury of fully developing their instruction before releasing their courses to students. The Individual Iterative Instructional Design (I3D) model is useful for educators who both develop and present their distance learning instructional units in areas ranging from higher…

Spatial ability, which is positively correlated with retention and achievement in engineering, mathematics, and science disciplines, has been shown to improve over the course of a Computer-Aided Design course or through targeted training. However, which type of training provides the most beneficial improvements to spatial ability and whether other…

Interactive computer simulations with complex representations and sophisticated graphics are a relatively new addition to the classroom, and research in this area is limited. We have conducted over 200 individual student interviews during which the students described what they were thinking as they interacted with simulations. These interviews…

This study examined the integration of technology enhanced formative assessment (FA) into teachers' practice. Participants were high school physics teachers interested in improving their use of a classroom response system (CRS) to promote FA. Data were collected using interviews, direct classroom observations, and collaborative discussions. The…

There is no shortage of online learning platforms available today. Whether it is Blackboard (www.blackboard.com), Desire2Learn (www.desire2learn.com), Sakai (www.sakaiproject.org), Moodle (www.moodle.org), Angel Learning (www.angellearning.com), Datatel (projected to be a CMS player in Q4 2008; www.datatel.com, or another product, chances are that…

In the past decade, researchers have attempted to develop computer-assisted learning and testing systems to help students improve their learning performance. Conventional testing systems simply provide students with a score, and do not offer sufficient information in order to improve their learning performance. It would be of more benefit to…

An all-volunteer organization called the Opensource Opencourseware Prototype System (OOPS), headquartered in Taiwan, was initially designed to translate open source materials from MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) site into Chinese. Given the recent plethora of open educational resources (OER), such as the OCW, the growing use of such resources by the…

The application of computers to education has a history dating back to the 1950s, well before the pervasive spread of personal computers (Reiser, 1987). With a mature history and varying approaches to utilizing computers for education, a veritable alphabet soup of terms and acronyms related to computers in education have found their way into the…

In this article, the authors describe how a Java applet can help to build learners' intuitions about basic ideas of algebra. "Matchbox Algebra" is a Java applet the authors have designed to enable learners to grasp a key idea in learning algebra: that the letter "x" may be thought of as representing an as-yet-unknown number. They describe the…

The Physical Chemistry in Practice (PCIP) DVD contains video programs (modules) and experimental data that present the research of scientists working in applications of physical chemistry. The DVD allows students to learn about cutting edge research in physical chemistry while making connections to the theoretical concepts learned in lecture.…