Provides an example that illustrates the interrelationship of the factors that influence educational software portability. Nielsen's seven-level approach to human-computer interaction is used as the basis for a model for factors that influence portability, and five phases in the life cycle of a software product being adapted are considered. (10…

Describes a study of graduate students that observed the interaction between users of a graphical statistical package and a human playing the role of a simulated intelligent advisory system to guide the design of advice-offering user-assistance software. The use of video to examine the users' role in the interaction is discussed. (Contains 37…

Presents specifications for software that is designed to support manual development and maintenance of information retrieval thesauri. Evaluation of existing software and design of custom software is discussed, requirements for integration with larger systems and for the user interface are described, and relationships among terms are discussed.…

Describes the Hypertutor Model, a message design framework for interactive instructional systems that emphasizes learner control, presentation, practice, feedback, and learning resources. Problems with software designed for computer assisted instruction are examined; hypertutor systems are discussed; and MegaMentor, a hypertutor system at the…

Describes study that was carried out at the University of Calgary to determine how elementary school children conceive of computer-related tasks and how this information might be used to generate animated icons for educational software. Child-computer interaction is discussed, and differences in responses between three age groups are examined. (10…

Discussion of search behavior in electronic environments focuses on the development of GRIP (Graphic Representor of Interaction Patterns), a graphing tool based on HyperCard that produces graphic representations of search patterns. Search state spaces are explained, and forms of data available from electronic searches are described. (34…

Presents an evaluation of one postgraduate subject (Information Technology for Teaching and Learning at the University of New South Wales), which is taught entirely online and uses public-domain browsers, e-mail and file transfer, and is integrated with software developed by the authors, WebTeach (c) to facilitate teacher/learner and…

An application specific style guide was produced for a large web-based multimedia and hyper-media learning project. It was introduced to 15 different sets of developers at Universities in disparate locations to promote consistency and good HCI practice for the whole project. This paper discusses the reactions to the use and practicality of the…

Discussion of graphing software for educational purposes focuses on a study in which three versions of an original computer graphing program were used by inner-city high school students to solve scientific data analysis problems. Variations in degrees of flexibility and feedback in the software are explored. (Contains 37 references.) (LRW)

Presents an overview of research issues that have confronted the Interactive Technologies Division (ITD) of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) and proposes a model for integrating research into the software design process. Highlights include the role of research literature; and formative research relating to software, interactive compact…

Describes experiments in Arabic information retrieval using 29 queries against a base of 355 bibliographic records. Using roots and stems as index terms worked better than words, and the root performed as well as or better than the stem at low recall levels and definitely better at high recall levels. (Contains 30 references.) (KRN)

This case study presents information about a graduate-level certificate program in human computer interaction that was added to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (New York) satellite video program in 1996, as a cooperative program between the institution and the IBM Corporation. The program was designed for individuals who work in computer…