Promoting the development of students' scientific inquiry capabilities is a major learning objective in science education. As a result, teachers require effective assessment approaches to evaluate students' scientific inquiry-related performance. Teachers must also be able to offer appropriate supplementary instructions, as needed, to students.…

Allegheny College (Pennsylvania), which uses NeXT computers, was dismayed when the technically superior operating system was orphaned but are now delighted that the company has been bought by Apple Computer and will make the operating system standard on Apple computers. The object-oriented operating system allows relatively unsophisticated users…

Outlines the basic principles and research supporting the concept of narrative intelligence and its applicability to the ways in which people make sense of digital video. Explores relevant theory and research in sense-making, surrogates, narrative, and narrative intelligence and presents preliminary results of two research studies. Results have…

Questions how anthropomorphic human computer interface design should be. Observes: the impulse to anthropomorphize technology has been longstanding, employed with artifacts besides computers; evolution of technologies proceeds through an introductory phase wherein a culture becomes acclimatized to the new technology; and the perception of…

Discusses a research program at Utah State University that is developing an advanced instructional design theory to help produce an integrated computer-based system. Highlights include a theoretical base that organizes knowledge about instructional design, a methodology for representing domain knowledge; miniexpert systems; instructional…

Replies to Watts's article concerning computer-aided careers guidance systems (1993). Reviews the U.K. experience of computer-aided guidance systems, comments on the development of PROSPECT which Watts uses as a case study, identifies strengths and weaknesses of existing research, and sets out a research agenda. (JPS)

Discussion of performance support focuses on Canada's Bell-Northern Research's views of embedded performance support systems. The establishment of a corporate center of excellence for performance support system (PSS) development is explained; a pilot project is described; and a business case showing the benefits of implementing a PSS is presented.…

The review examines six personal computer-based optical character recognition (OCR) systems designed for use by blind and visually impaired people. Considered are OCR components and terms, documentation, scanning and reading, command structure, conversion, unique features, accuracy of recognition, scanning time, speed, and cost. (DB)

Discusses document processing software packages and describes the TEX system, a document compiler intended to produce high quality typesetting. It is noted that the X-window system provides a windowing environment that makes the system faster, more efficient, and more user friendly, and its use in connection with the TEX system is explained. (four…

Discussed is one facet of a broad range of research activities that fall under the rubric of a study commonly called virtual reality. Projects developed by IBM and other academic and industrial laboratories are described. The limitations of virtual reality are presented. (KR)

Describes a study conducted at the University of South Carolina that examined the frequency of occurrence of several types of errors in a sample of natural language queries submitted by users requesting online searches in information retrieval systems. Implications for system design are suggested, including parsing systems. (28 references) (LRW)

Discusses software sharing on computer networks and the need for proper bandwidth; and describes the technology behind FidoNet, a computer network made up of electronic bulletin boards. Network features highlighted include front-end mailers, Zone Mail Hour, Nodelist, NetMail, EchoMail, computer conferences, tosser and scanner programs, and host…

Introduces a special issue on research on hypertext systems and information retrieval. Systems design aspects, including navigation models, link weighting, multiple representation techniques, automatic authoring, user modelling, varying levels of abstraction, and evaluation techniques are addressed. (EA)

Discusses instructional design models and examines rapid prototyping, a model that combines computer design strategies, constructivist learning theory, and cognitive psychology. Highlights include limitations of linear models; instructional problems appropriate and those not appropriate for rapid prototyping; and rapid prototyping as a paradigm…

Lakeland College, a small rural institution on the Canadian prairies, used to face the dilemma of needing a Web presence without having the funds, staff, and technology infrastructure to support it. This article relates how Lakeland's librarian hired ShirWin Knowledge & Learning Systems, Inc., a small software company based in Edmonton,…