Interactions of groups of students working with a variety of educational software are analyzed to develop an account of the structure of collaborative educational activities supported by directive software. Argues that the structure of educational activities around directive software can allow for the possibility of embedding exploratory…

Describes the design and installation of an Internet gopher server to support classroom instruction and professional development projects in a graduate college of education. Topics include use by administrators, selecting the most appropriate technology, hardware and software selection, and informational resources of the gopher. (Author/LRW)

Describes an inservice elementary school teachers' training program that used the HyperCard-based "Laser Disc Made Easy" software for creating lessons. Grade-level team activities are described; the ease of use is discussed; and advantages of editing capabilities are considered. (LRW)

Describes the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE), a project at the University of Louvain in Belgium that collects written work from, and analyzes the usage of, advanced adult English as a Foreign Language learners. Recurring combinations and concordances in ICLE are examined. (Contains five references.) (MDM)

Describes the development of a hypermedia environment model that evolved from a project at the University of Southampton. Examines the use of this interactive environment as a way of providing online resources to teachers and students of second language learning, and discusses the design process of this hypermedia model. (JMV)

This article describes assistive technologies for persons with learning disabilities, including word processing, spell checking, proofreading programs, outlining/"brainstorming" programs, abbreviation expanders, speech recognition, speech synthesis/screen review, optical character recognition systems, personal data managers, free-form databases,…

Considers the future of CD-ROM technology. Highlights include software challenges; interactive CD-ROM, including music and databases; applications on disk; print publishers' interest in CD-ROM; mail order catalogs; hardware needs; CD-ROM drives; and the information superhighway. (LRW)

Compared two kindergarten classrooms for variance in computer use. Found no significant difference in computer use by sex or age, but a significant increase in computer use by classroom in the second half of the 12-week project compared to the first half. Found no significant difference in the software selected. (HTH)

Evaluates six "open" (empty of content and customized by users) software programs using the literature-based characteristics of documentation, learner control, branching capabilities, portability, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness. Interviewed computer-knowledgeable individuals to confirm the legitimacy of the evaluative characteristics. (LRW)

Investigates the effect on reading comprehension when reading shorter and easier narrative text and longer and more difficult texts on the printed page as compared to reading the same narrative texts using interactive CD-ROM software displayed by the computer. Finds that reading from computers increased comprehension when subjects read longer and…

Presents a bibliography of the best children's and young adult books that was compiled by various divisions of the ALA (American Library Association). Highlights include books for reluctant young adult readers, Newbery and Caldecott Award winners, computer software, films and videos, and children's and young adult's own choices. (LRW)

Computer-based clinical simulations used in medical education are designed according to decisions about which elements of reality to explicitly include, which to leave to imagination, and when to intervene for educational purposes. Programs offer many options for structuring the simulations, such as varying levels of volunteered information about…

Reviews projects aimed at increasing access to software in a variety of languages and cultures, particularly the European Community project EPES (European Pool of Educational Software) that involves 12 nations and 15 languages. Translation methodology is described and possible barriers, including graphics and copyright issues, are considered.…

Explains the Intelligent Maintenance Training System that allows a nonprogramming subject matter expert to produce an interactive graphical model of a complex device for computer simulation. Previous simulation-based training systems are reviewed; simulation algorithms are described; and the student interface is discussed. (Contains 24…

The Structured Sound Function (SSF) Model is proposed as a method for adding audio to educational computer programs. Topics include the background of the SSF Model; educational hypermedia computing; the two approaches (structure-before-function and function-before-structure) of applying the SSF Model; and recent applications. (57 references)…