An alternative two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimator of the parameters in LISREL type models is proposed and contrasted with existing estimators. The new 2SLS estimator allows observed and latent variables to originate from nonnormal distributions, is consistent, has a known asymptotic covariance matrix, and can be estimated with standard…

Discusses problems that arise when computer software users have to learn a new system while maintaining productivity. Highlights include active learning; a constructivist view; Vygotsky's zone of proximal development; and a model called Design for Learnability (DesiL) that focuses the performance technologist on an ethnomethodological study of…

Software agents are computer programs that run in the background and perform tasks autonomously as delegated by the user. This paper blends models from marketing research and findings from the field of decision support systems to build a framework for the design of software agents to support in e-commerce buying applications. (Contains 35…

Discusses the development and introduction of expert tutoring systems (ETS), or intelligent tutoring systems. Explains MONAP-PLUS, an example of an authoring tool for the design of an ETS that includes models of the subject domain, the learner, and the learning process; a user-friendly interface; and techniques for developing algorithmic…

Item response theory (IRT) has become one of the most popular scoring frameworks for measurement data. IRT models are used frequently in computerized adaptive testing, cognitively diagnostic assessment, and test equating. This article reviews two of the most popular software packages for IRT model estimation, BILOG-MG (Zimowski, Muraki, Mislevy, &…

The purpose of this article is to introduce end-user development (EUD) processes to the CALL software development community. EUD refers to the active participation of end-users, as non-professional developers, in the software development life cycle. Unlike formal software engineering approaches, the focus in EUD on means/ends development is…

The global software industry is in the midst of a major evolutionary shift--one based on open computing--and this trend, like many transformative trends in technology, is being led by the IT staffs and academic computing faculty of the higher education industry. The elements of this open computing approach are open source, open standards, open…

At the request of state legislature, the two-year branch campus of New Mexico State University at Alamogordo (NMSU-A) began using an economic impact model developed by the Eastern Association of College and University Business Officers (EACUBO) to document accountability. The EACUBO Model uses information about the institution and economic data…

Confronting recent design challenges, instructional designers have latched onto adaptive procedural techniques from outside the Instructional Systems Design (ISD) field. This discussion of rapid prototyping (RP) examines the perspectives of: (1) the prototype as the designer"s cognitive tool; (2) the designer as co-inquirer; and (3) the…

This paper describes a project which aims to create an authoring environment for simulation-based training in order to illustrate features necessary for: (1) an environment which can be used by teachers/trainers with minimum technical skills; (2) rapid prototyping by all courseware producers; (3) and tools for model building. The paper begins with…

This paper reports on an application of parallel models to the area of information retrieval and argues that massively parallel, distributed models of computation, called connectionist, or parallel distributed processing (PDP) models, offer a new approach to the representation and manipulation of knowledge. Although this document focuses on…

This paper discusses the incorporation of heuristics in computerized decision aids that are used for structuring decision problems. Decision theory is described in terms of linked subsystems, and sites where it is necessary to employ heuristic rather than normative, algorithmic procedures are identified. Production systems are then used to…

This paper describes a Prolog execution model which serves as the uniform basis of textbook material, video-based teaching material, and an advanced graphical user interface for Prolog programmers. The model, based upon an augmented AND/OR tree representation of Prolog programs, uses an enriched "status box" in place of the traditional…

This report incorporates a literature review, a workshop paper, and discussion by workshop participants on the current status of research on what the users of computer systems know, and how these different forms of knowledge fit together in learning and performance. It is noted that such research is important to the problem of designing systems…

Used Knefelkamp's and Slepitza's (1976) model of career-related intellectual development to investigate how students at different levels of development think as they interact with a computer-assisted career guidance system, DISCOVER II, which comprises modules on understanding interests, values, and abilities; searching for occupations based on…