Considers whether current definitions of interactivity in educational software are optimal and suggests a new model of interaction based on how learners interact mentally with new schema and on educational psychology. Discusses knowledge acquisition; production, or the creation of new knowledge; collaboration; and applying the learning interaction…

Explains a general theory of mathematical knowledge and its acquisition, and discusses the design of instructional computer use, including software, based on that cognitive theory. A programing language called ISETL is described, and preliminary investigations are presented on students' learning about sequences, convergence, and limits. (five…

The author describes a teacher training program developed collaboratively by John I. Leonard High School and Tandy/Radio Shack. The program, based on Tandy/Radio Shack's existing classes for teachers, allows teachers to learn about the school's new computers before the computers are used in instruction. (CH)

Six software products are reviewed including multimedia packages for history/geography and science. Other products include a coloring program, riddle-maker, word puzzle generator, a lesson on counting money, and a math game equipped with animation and sound effects. (IAH)

Examines new types of educational software. Topics addressed include electronic performance support systems (EPSSs); other examples of electronic support; a systems approach and a human approach to identifying a common category for EPSSs; users' activities and needs; feedback; hybrid EPSSs; and design guidelines. (35 references) (LRW)

Explains the "Point and Query" (P&Q) Interface which trains students to develop good questioning strategies, decrease search time and increase retention and recall. Navigation and knowledge organization in the P&Q interface are explained; and two experiments demonstrating P&Q use are presented. (Contains 16 references.) (SLW)

Discusses reasons for the failing of the computer in schools and universities, including: hardware emphasis, little focus on learning, little focus on students, software-based failure (elitist programs and weak interaction), the "idea of the moment," relation between information and learning, failure of teacher education, lack of empirical…

Describes an Environment for Courseware Use (ECU), an information system that requires that a courseware product be adaptable within the environment in which it is going to be used. The use of computers in educational organizations is discussed; the use of adaptable products in an ECU is considered, and information modeling of environments for…

Discussion of computer-based online help systems for instructional software focuses on three types of learner support: for optimizing use of a computer program; for learning content; and for monitoring and enhancing learning. Proposes a multi-dimensional model of learner-support space defined by the intrusiveness of the delivery methods and…

Describes a PC-based teaching module designed to instruct engineering students in transient one-dimensional conduction heat transfer analysis. The discussion considers problem formulation, nondimensionalization, discretization, numerical stability and the time-step restriction, program operation, and program verification. (MES)

Analyzes claims with regard to GTE's (Generic Tutoring Environment) epistemological foundations and suggests that GTE's assumptions reveal a reductionist bias through the use of formalism. Implications for courseware design and instructional modeling are discussed. (Author/LRW)

Discusses GTE (Generic Tutoring Environment) and knowledge-based courseware engineering from an epistemological point of view and suggests some combination of the two approaches. Topics include intelligent tutoring; courseware authoring; application versus acquisition of knowledge; and domain knowledge. (LRW)

Discusses GTE (Generic Tutoring Environment) and courseware engineering and argues that GTE's theoretical knowledge base focuses on teaching as a good model for any kind of instruction and thus reduces its generic nature. Two examples of weak automation for instructional design are described that have broader knowledge bases. (Author/LRW)

Outlines the object-process approach to designing and analyzing studyware in organic chemistry. Object-process diagrams are used to visualize the relationships between objects and processes within a system. (Author/MKR)

Accounting students received either traditional instruction (n=46) or used computer-mediated communication and WebCT course management software. There were no significant differences in attitudes about the course. However, computer users were more positive about course delivery and course management tools. (Contains 17 references.) (SK)