The Portable Courseware Project (PORTCO) of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is typical of projects worldwide that require standard software interfaces. This paper articulates the strategy whereby the federal multimedia courseware initiative leverages the open systems movement and the new realities of information technology. The federal…

Educators must take into account the changing social, cultural, and economic trends contributing to high absenteeism and dropout rates. No curriculum can succeed if students are not in attendance to learn, develop, and advance in society. This paper evaluates the researcher's computerized system to track student attendance and prevent unexcused…

Various schools are struggling with the introduction of Object Oriented (OO) programming concepts and GUI (graphical user interfaces) within the traditional COBOL sequence. OO programming has been introduced in some of the curricula with languages such as C++, Smalltalk, and Java. Introducing OO programming into a typical COBOL sequence presents…

This paper presents an architecture for creating, retrieving, and adapting materials on the World Wide Web for learning purposes. There are two major components in the architecture: Authoring Server (AS) and Courseware Server (CS). Associated with the architecture for running dynamic courseware, certain mechanisms are also imposed. These…

This paper presents the basics of "LATEX," a computerized typesetting program popular with mathematicians and other writers of technical papers, and compares it to conventional word processing programs. LATEX, which requires a text editor such as WordPad or NotePad--the text editor is used to produce and input file which the LATEX program…

This book in intended to teach computer understanding in a concise, straightforward manner using techniques children like such as storytelling, games, and activities. The 38 stories are divided into three sections: (1) "Meeting the Computer" -- basic computer use and care; (2) "Hardware" -- basic hardware, keyboarding skills,…

This paper describes the design and implementation of an object-oriented World Wide Web-based CAI (Computer-Assisted Instruction) system. The goal of the design is to provide a flexible CAI/ITS (Intelligent Tutoring System) framework with full extendibility and reusability, as well as to exploit Web-based software technologies such as JAVA, ASP (a…

The 15 lessons in this step-by-step guide for grades 4-8 are intended to promote the development of thinking skills through the use of databases. These lesson plans, which include specific instructions for using Microsoft Works, constitute a complete unit on the states of the United States. A disk containing 16 files for use with the lessons is…

Data for the Oregon Microcomputer Survey were collected in May 1989 via questionnaires for each of the department heads in a stratified random sample of 94 middle and high schools throughout Oregon. Designed to obtain information on the perceptions and reactions of the department heads to the status of microcomputers in their departments, the…

The eight papers presented in this monograph are a result of the Problem Solving and Critical Thinking Research Workshop that was held in conjunction with the 1990 National Educational Computing Conference (NECC). The intent of the workshop was to provide a unique forum for researchers to share ideas in a special area of educational computing. The…

This paper argues that Merrill's instructional transaction theory provides a framework that can decrease learners' problems in using computer simulations by specifying transaction shells rather than frames in designing interactive courseware. The three types of data used in a transaction, i.e., an instructional algorithm, are identified as a…

The development of narrative competence is an important part of the English curriculum in the early secondary school years. A study examined how four seventh-grade girls (two novice and two expert writers) responded to computer-based metacognitive guidance in the form of procedural facilitations. The facilitations were designed to assist the…

This report presents the United States research and development program for 1993 for high performance computing and computer communications (HPCC) networks. The first of four chapters presents the program goals and an overview of the federal government's emphasis on high performance computing as an important factor in the nation's scientific and…

Teaching methods seem to work with some students and fail with others, because every learner is unique. Teachers must be able to identify learning styles and find ways for instruction to match those styles. This paper moves from an overview of different learning styles to a review of the use of computer-assisted instruction. A recent development…

This handbook was written by the Argonne National Laboratory for use with their electronic bulletin board system (BBS) called Newton. Newton is an educational BBS for use by teachers, students, and parents. Topics range from discussions of science fair topics to online question and answer sessions with scientists. Future capabilities will include…