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)

Describes a model of instructional simulation design where designers create models in a system dynamics package and then transfer them into a general instructional authoring system for the addition of instructional support features. Topics include building versus using simulations; procedural versus conceptual simulations; and discovery versus…

Notes that fewer than 10% of American high schools offer radio production opportunities. Describes several high school radio stations. Discusses Radio as a major, how the stations raise grant money, and the special status for low-power radio stations. Includes a sidebar by Amy Medlock concerning procedures for radio stations. (RS)

Describes how at Rice University's radio station, students talk about artistic vision while administrators talk about responsibility. Discusses the heated events following Rice's demand that a university-paid general manager be placed at the station, raising the issue of whether the station is a university asset or something held in trust for…

Computer science students need to learn how to write high-quality software. An important methodology for achieving quality is design-by-contract, in which code is developed together with its specification, which is given as class invariants and method pre- and postconditions. This paper describes practical experience in teaching design-by-contract…

This article introduces the architecture and implementation of an authoring system capable of modular and standard compatible course development. This system enables the aggregation of learning objects into higher course structures and reuse in different learning scenarios. The concept of modular course development is based on the construction kit…

This paper reports on an ongoing effort to incorporate a programming component into exploratory mathematics courses and analyzes some of the many practical considerations required for successfully managing such a course in large lecture hall classes. Two pedagogical paradigms (top-down and bottom-up) are compared and contrasted for teaching Visual…

ITEA's Standards for Technological Literacy (STL) document is generally thought of as a tool for K-12 schooling that identifies what students should know and be able to do in order to achieve technological literacy. And that is true. However, the standards in STL are moving into another, broader venue, one that will potentially reach youth and…

The authors suggest that "CSI," a public mass media product, and other television programming have greatly influenced how students, especially female students, perceive scientists at work. Perhaps the increased airing of television programs focusing on laboratory sciences has caused student perceptions of scientists to shift away from the "mad…

In the past, it took the library staff of the University of Bath in United Kingdom around two weeks each autumn to produce cards for the main intake of its undergraduates. In this article, the author describes how he transformed the school's traditional library card production into a low-cost self-service system. He also describes how the new…

This article presents a general framework for building conceptbased digital course libraries. The framework is based on the idea of using a conceptual structure that represents a subject domain ontology for classification of the course library content. Two aspects, domain conceptualization, which supports findability and ontologies, which support…

The modern world is undergoing a fundamental transformation characterized by a lot of challenges, dynamism, globalization, and the increasing influence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). These new technologies have implications for all aspects of the society and economy; they are changing the way of doing business, the way of…

Fans of mobile devices are everywhere, and they are using their PDAs, smart phones, and mobile phones to access Web-based content. Chances are that they are trying to access your library's Web site or find library-based content for their devices. In this article, the author presents some tips on how to serve those who wants to grab some fast info…

Describes the development of an interactive video simulation, the "Classroom Management Simulation," that teaches eight basic principles of classroom management to preservice teachers. Highlights include the instructional design process, including task analysis; the use of HyperCard for programming; and results of field testing. (LRW)

Learning Objects Metadata (LOM) aims at describing educational resources in order to allow better reusability and retrieval. In this article we show how additional inference rules allows us to derive additional metadata from existing ones. Additionally, using these rules as integrity constraints helps us to define the constraints on LOM elements,…