Reports on a study in which an interactive computer-based tutorial with a decision support system and simulations is evaluated in the context of a distance education business degree course. Discusses the effect on students' motivation and the impact on their ability to transfer knowledge to the workplace. (Author/LRW)

Popular electronic tools for learning--tutorials, educational databases, learning nodes, simulations and educational games--are described, and their functions as part of the learning system are examined using Gagne's Events of Instruction model. Figures representing tutorial models are included. (Contains seven references.) (SLW)