Examined instructors' satisfaction with and use of intelligent agent toolkits in the classroom. Found that no single uniform toolkit satisfied the needs of instructors. Moreover, satisfaction levels were influenced primarily by user interactions with the toolkit, followed to a lesser extent by toolkit performance and functionality. (EV)

Proposes a conceptual framework for analyzing students' knowledge of programming. The idea is to integrate three types of programming knowledge from educational computing literature with three forms of knowledge from cognitive psychology literature. A study is described that determined types of knowledge required to answer exam questions, and…

Describes Chomp, an educational strategy game for use in high school programming courses that can encourage cooperative learning. Discusses rules of the game; Chomp players; Chomp board programs; Chomp tournaments; Chomp strategies; and extensions of the activity that can involve more advanced mathematics. (LRW)

Discussion of tutorial interactions in intelligent tutoring systems focuses on an empirical study of university students that identified five considerations human tutors take into account when they plan tutorial interventions to correct student bugs, or errors, in computer programming. Tutorial goals and strategies are described, and future…

Discusses the integration and use of video technology in five schools where student involvement in all planning and production processes is stressed. Projects include daily news programs, orientation videos for parents, video versions of school newsletters, entertainment news programs, video yearbooks, monthly local business programs, and cultural…

Describes Photo CD Portfolio, an Eastman Kodak product that provides interactive multimedia CD-ROM production capability. The article focuses on the capabilities of the tool's simplest authoring system, Create It, which allows users to work with Photo CD, PICT, or TIFF images, add graphics, text and audio, and create menus with branching. (KRN)

Describes Extensible Markup Language (XML), a subset of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) that is designed to make it easy to interchange structured documents over the Internet. Topics include Document Type Definition (DTD), components of XML, the use of XML, text and non-text elements, and uses for XML-coded files. (LRW)

Considers a "hybrid" approach to the modeling of uncertainty in deductive databases. The model, deductive IST (DIST) is based on an extension of the "Information Source Tracking" (IST) model for relational databases. Proves that the complexity of testing containment of conjunctive DIST queries remains the same as in the…

Explores elements of folkloristics that are applicable to the understanding and construction of computer software systems and programs. Discusses a similar tension between structuralism and contextualism in the study of folkways and by examining software pattern languages in comparison with narrative functions. (Author/LRW)

Describes the satirical cartoon television series called "South Park." Discusses who watches this program, noting its immense popularity and the way it has entered the everyday lives of school children the world over. Looks at its cult appeal, and speculates as to reasons why some children might enjoy watching the program. (SR)

Proposes a model for constrained computerized adaptive testing in which the information in the test at the trait level (theta) estimate is maximized subject to the number of possible constraints on the content of the test. Test assembly relies on a linear-programming approach. Illustrates the approach through simulation with items from the Law…

Illustrates public television's early commitment to children's programming, discussing the popularity of "Sesame Street" and noting other shows launched under Joan Ganz Cooney, president of CTW from 1970 until 1988. Discusses the erosion of television network ratings by cable television in the mid '80s, and concludes by posing questions…

Unlike most program assessment systems, Program Assessment using Specified Solutions (PASS), evaluates student C programs by assessing the way a problem was solved by performing a comparison of the submitted program with a solution plan. This article describes PASS, its use of instructor specified solution plans, assessment and feedback systems,…

Describes XML (extensible markup language), a new language classification submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium that is defined in terms of both SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) and HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), specifically designed for the Internet. Limitations of PDF (Portable Document Format) files for electronic journals…

Examines GTE (Generic Tutoring Environment) from an authoring perspective, describes how GTE may be used to create courseware, and reviews potential difficulties that authors face when using such a tool. Summarizes two studies that investigated how authors used GTE and concludes that GTE designs are difficult for authors to test and evaluate.…