Studies of natural dialogue indicate that people interact according to established patterns which are organized around the participants' goals. These patterns have been represented by a set of knowledge structures called "Dialogue-games" which are founded on conventional knowledge about communication and its uses to achieve goals. The…

Describes the use of electronic spreadsheet software for library decision support systems using personal computers. Discussion covers templates, formulas for allocating the materials budget, LOTUS 1-2-3 and budget allocations, choosing a formula, the spreadsheet itself, graphing capabilities, and advantages and disadvantages of templates. Six…

Describes prototype system that provides retrieval from hierarchically structured full-text databases such as legal statutes and regulations and engineering standards. Enhanced retrieval is provided through integration of three different access techniques dependent on inherent hierarchical text structure: menu, Boolean combination of keywords,…

Considers several perspectives on interaction strategies for computer-aided learning; examines dimensions of interaction; and presents a model for the design of interaction strategies. Topics include pacing; navigation; mental processes; cognitive and physical responses; the role of quality and quantity; a conceptual approach; and suggestions for…

Discussion of the portability of educational software focuses on the software design and development process. Topics discussed include levels of portability; the user-computer dialog; software engineering principles; design techniques for student performance records; techniques of courseware programing; and suggestions for further research and…

This paper is grounded in a large-scale, nine-year research project intended to design, develop, evaluate, and transfer intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) to public schools and workforce development settings. Discussion includes the implementation model; roles and responsibilities of the project team; evaluation results of the tutoring systems;…

This three-part volume provides a summary, for use by practitioners, of a project concerned with how novices learn to become creative educational computer users. The first chapter examines techniques for increasing the novice's understanding of computers and computer programming, and specifically analyzes the potential usefulness of five…

This summary of methods for improving the user-computer interface is based on a review of the pertinent literature. Requirements of the personal computer user are identified and contrasted with computer designer perspectives towards the user. The user's psychological needs are described, so that the design of the user-computer interface may be…

This examination of the effectiveness of various methods of cuing users to their location in a videotex information system used five different versions of an electronic edition of a college catalog: "simple" (no cues), "headers" (textual cues), "color" (color cues), "icons" (graphic cues), and…

Because interaction is the only observable information people have about teaching processes, it follows that the primary aspect of intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) is interaction, and that future work on domains or student models should be driven by the needs identified in the study of interaction. This paper begins by examining the idea of…

The concept of a qualitative model is used as the focus of this review of qualitative student models in order to compare alternative computational models and to contrast domain requirements. The report is divided into eight sections: (1) Origins and Goals (adaptive instruction, qualitative models of processes, components of an artificial…

Examines the characteristics of management information systems and their impact on decisions of senior library managers. The organizational feasibility of such systems is discussed in terms of four key components--economic, technical, structural, psychological--that are related to libraries in general and senior management decisions in particular.…

Discusses impact of three selected command language facilities (positional or free text operations, crossfile searching, term frequency analysis--ZOOM) on the man-system interface in relation to operational online information retrieval (IR). A cognitive IR model, searchers' knowledge structures, and searching with different types of command…

Presents a stratified model of information retrieval interaction that views interaction as a dialog between participants (user and computer) through an interface. Discusses traditional and interaction models, and extension to relevance, user modeling, search term selection, and types of feedback in information retrieval. (AEF)

Discussion of courseware evaluation for computer-based training (CBT) highlights the CITAR Computer Courseware Evaluation Model (CCEM), which was developed at the Center for Interactive Technology, Applications, and Research (CITAR) at the University of South Florida. Instructional and interactive characteristics of commercially available CBT…