In the late 1960s and early 1970s a considerable amount of research was conducted on methods for authoring and structuring instructional materials by researchers who did not, at that time, have access to the existing delivery systems necessary to fully implement their ideas. One of these methodologies is Structural Communications, developed by Anthony Hodgson and his associates in the United Kingdom. This authoring methodology was implemented in a paper-based format with great success, but it seems that its potential for computer-based instruction, its true original purpose, has never been fully exploited. This paper outlines the characteristics of this approach and describes the authors' work at Syracuse University over the past two years which applies the principles to interactive video simulations. (33 references) (Author)