This paper uses the conceptual framework of cybernetics to understand why learning information systems such as the "Accelerated Reader" work so successfully, and to examine how this simple yet incisive concept can be used to accelerate learning at every level and in all disciplines. The first section, "Basic Concepts,"…

One purpose of education is that of human-resource development--to provide society with the critical mass of intellectual capital and competent work forces. This paper presents an analysis of the emerging global context and school restructuring in industrialized nations. It also describes an evaluation conducted by the Education Committee of the…

A full investigation into how and why the expression of potential benefits of computers in schools is hindered would need to consider many aspects, but one point that should be considered is the ever-tightening integration of educational institutions into the global economy. Evidence of the accelerating assimilation of schools into the economy…

A classification scheme for multimedia interaction is described based on the degree of control and type of cognitive engagement experienced by learners in prescriptive, democratic, and cybernetic independent learning environments. Reactive, proactive, and mutual levels of interaction and their associated functions and transactions are discussed.…

Workspaces are sites of contention over what is knowledge and who can say so; work-related education has never been a neutral arbiter. In a context in which workspaces routinely bring together physical place and cyber place in communication networks, traditional struggles over knowledge and knowing are affected by communications technologies (CT)…