The availability of large-scale learning data presents unprecedented opportunities for investigating student learning processes. However, it is challenging for instructors to fully make sense of this data and effectively support their teaching practices. This study introduces LearningViz, an interactive learning analytics dashboard to help…

Describes the Web site development practices of Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, and the content management systems that allow owners of information to control content while the university controls the look of the Web site. More than 150 content managers assume control of some portion of the Web site. (SLD)

A major change has occurred in the way Web technology is being used in society. The change is grounded in user empowerment using Web 2.0 tools and processes. Students are already sophisticated users of these tools and processes, but outside of the mainstream instructional practices in higher education. In this reflection, the educational potential…

Performance Learning (PL) is a new computer managed way of teaching precalculus college mathematics. Evidence suggests that students in PL classes had significantly higher course completion rates and achievement, and expressed fewer negative attitudes than students in the traditional lecture classes. (Author/IRT)

The authors document an experimental writing course that uses electronic networks to create an online classroom for writing instruction. They describe a typical class meeting and discuss the challenges and results of teaching in this new environment. (JOW)

As the use of distance education grows, the question arises as to whether there are inherent limitations to the use of such an approach, due to the fact that learning is culturally and experientially mediated. The effective implementation of digital learning environments involves recognizing that successful teaching and learning involves students…

Discusses the efficiency of using lectures in medical education and explains a computer-based teaching system that aims to provide an active learning environment for adult learners. Explains the basics of the computerized audience response system and gives tips for designing similar presentation questions in PowerPoint. (YDS)

The use of computers in higher education instruction is addressed from a pedagogical point of view and is intended as a guide to the integration of computers into instruction in ways that will fulfill the technology's promise and avoid its problems. After an introductory section on the promises and problems of computers, Part One ("Enriching…

Describes the difficulties that high school and university students have in thinking about force, identifying forces, and drawing force diagrams. Finds that students using a computer tutoring program made limited progress in learning to construct free-body diagrams because of their alternative conceptions and faulty teaching methods. Offers…

Recounts the rationale, development, construction, and design of an essay examination format that accounts for teacher differences and provides some objectivity in observation and measurement that is usually lacking in such writing examinations. Notes that one of the features of the format is computer readable scoring. (RL)

Describes a Lehigh University course on Galileo that enhances learning by offering novel, alternative approaches to the study and analysis of texts through the use of computers. Discusses the context of the course and summarizes a typical semester. Offers samples of the system and software. (MVL)

A new curricular router created to be more flexible, more user-oriented, and use less computer memory was developed in 1979. Although initially called the "Indiana Routing System" (TIRS), it has been renamed the "Indiana Manager of PLATO-Assisted Curricula." This new router permits any mixture of the instructional strategies of…

Helping teachers understand the relationship between the message of instructional content and the medium of instructional technology is a legitimate focus for colleges of education. Colleges of education can respond to the need for computer sophistication by creating survey courses on the uses of computers in education. (JN)

Reports on a 10-year investigation of the use of behavioral contingency management technology to improve low-performance students' skills, which was conducted across 17 offerings of a sophomore-level undergraduate course. Findings indicate that behavioral contracting technologies involve very little cost and produce highly effective results. (AEF)

Outlines a study procedure for directors, administrators, and managers of large-scale training or education functions to determine if computer-based instruction is cost effective for their organization. Plan includes data gathering, alternatives, recommendations, and implementations. (DC)