There are several major challenges for instructional designers seeking to design learning games. These include the lack of access, the cost of rapidly advancing/expensive technology tools that make developing games uneconomical, the institutional time constraints limiting game use, and the concerns that schools lack sufficiently robust computer…

Gives an overview of the development of multimedia, from the combination of film and computer graphics used during the 1960s to present day jet aircraft simulators. Definitions of multimedia, virtual reality, the use of compact disks to deliver digitally recorded information, and the economic need for the technology are discussed. (KRN)

Describes accomplishments of the Global Systems Analysis and Simulation (GLOSAS) project from 1973 to the present, including a system for global peace gaming. The capabilities of interactive multimedia to link people across political and geographic boundaries for joint study, debate, research, planetary problem solving, and political action are…

Compares David Kearns' resentment of school performance (in the same "Kappan" issue) to the author's own frustration with Xerox photocopiers. To achieve the restructuring and choice central to Kearns' educational recovery plan, the schools will need to depend increasingly on technology (computer simulations, interactive video, and…

Ways in which computers can contribute to science instruction are described. Science software is classified according to the primary assistance provided the teacher-instruction, information, or measurement and analysis. Drill and practice, simulations, tutorials, interactive videodisc, word processors, spreadsheets, databases, microcomputer-based…

Today, at the end of 2007, there are evident consolidations in wireless, storage, and virtualization and the path forward seems clearer now than previously. Trends from last year continue strongly, particularly Web 2.0 and the shift to user-driven environments and Internet sites where significant data and video processing is available to those…

This special feature focuses on recent developments in optical disk technology. Nine articles discuss current trends, large scale image processing, data structures for optical disks, the use of computer simulators to create optical disks, videodisk use in training, interactive audio video systems, impacts on federal information policy, and…

This volume is divided into full formal paper manuscripts and 200-word abstracts of presentations that were made without submitting formal papers. The 73 papers presented in full represent recent research and applications in the field of computer-based instruction. They are organized into 13 sections by special interest group: (1) Computer-Based…

The development of improved and alternative methods of educational assessment should take advantage of technologies that enable different aspects of learning, teaching, and student achievement to be part of an improved assessment system. The current understanding of knowledge assessment, new approaches to assessment, and technologies that may…

Describes an interactive computer simulation where the student assumes the role of a reporter searching for a missing biologist in Columbia. The search involves simulated news broadcasts, documentary footage, and interviews with Colombians, all in Spanish. The student accesses help via electronic archives (translated words) and faxing the editor.…

The fifth in a series of selected ERIC bibliographies on computer-based education begun in 1973, Computer-Based Education: The Best of ERIC, 1983-1985 provides citations and abstracts for over 250 documents selected from the more than 500 that were entered in the ERIC files over the three-year period. The emphasis in selection was on documents…

The sixth report and first annual update in a series of selected ERIC bibliographies on computer-based education begun in 1973, this report provides 213 citations and abstracts from the 346 relevant documents entered in the ERIC system in 1986. The emphasis in selection was on documents that focus broadly on the topic of computer-based education…