Real-time simulation in computer-assisted instruction

Large scale computer-assisted instruction systems generally impose severe constraints upon the demands that individual users may make. Nevertheless, it is possible to overcome these problems and a program is described which teaches students how to fly a specific maneuver through real-time simulation of the flight of a student-controlled airplane. This is achieved in spite of the fact that the student is flying his plane through the use of a manually controlled analog input device. Both computational and educational implications are discussed.Contractual support for this work was provided in part by the Life Sciences Program Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Contract number F44620-70-C-0105. Dr. Charles Hutchinson was the scientific monitor of the contract.     

高校生物化学课程多媒体辅助教学的研究与探索

为了适应现代教育技术发展和教学改革的需要,CAI课件广泛应用于生物化学教学中。本文结合生物化学课程及多媒体教学的特点,分析了CAI课件应用于生物化学课程教学中的优势和目前使用中普遍存在的问题,并对我们的实践探索进行了总结,提出了提高生物化学多媒体辅助教学效果的方法和途径等。     

Control of feedback in computer-assisted instruction

Although considerable research has been conducted on both learner control and feedback, very little research has addressed the effect of giving learners control over the feedback that they receive. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of learner control over feedback in a CAI lesson. Subjects used one of four CAI programs which provided either program control or learner control over verification or elaboration feedback. Results indicated that subjects who received elaboration feedback during instruction performed better than students who received verification feedback. Type of control did not have a significant influence on performance. However, when subjects selected feedback for items answered incorrectly during instruction, subjects under learner control/elaboration performed better on the posttest than subjects under learner control/verification. Implications for the design of CAI are discussed.     

论计算机辅助教学的局限性

计算机辅助教学(CAI)以良好的交互性、丰富而生动的教学媒体,突破了传统教学模式的局限,拓展学生的知识吸蓄空间,极大地提高了教学效率,将传统教学模式中难以表现的教学内容以多媒体形式在课堂内演示,使学生的学习由抽象、被动接受转化为具象、主动接受,尤其是目前学校的教学实习、生产实习、参观等必须与企业紧密联系的教学环节越来越难于实施的时候,多媒体CAI以它独特的优势,弥补了课堂教学环节中的不足而愈显重要.     

Comparison of two teaching strategies in computer-assisted instruction

Three experiments were run using the SCHOLAR CAI system to teach geography to high-school students. The experiments compared a method of teaching derived from analysis of human tutors (Tutorial Mode) vs a method derived from programmed instruction (Block-Test Mode). In the three experiments, Block-Test Mode was systematically converged toward Tutorial Mode in order to pinpoint what aspects of teaching strategy affected student's learning. Tutorial Mode was significantly more effective in the first two experiments, and nonsignificantly in the third. The results indicated that the major factor affecting student's learning was the strategy that tutors use of reviewing the material in greater depth on a second pass. The advantage of CAI for purposes of implementing and evaluating different teaching strategies was discussed.     

An evaluation of the costs of computer-assisted instruction

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the costs and cost feasibility of utilizing computer-assisted instruction (CAI) for compensatory education. Cost data were collected from an experiment on the effectiveness of CAI that had been established in Los Angeles and sponsored by the National Institute of Education. Based upon the resource ingredients approach to measuring costs, it was found that up to three daily 10-minute sessions of drill and practice could be provided for each disadvantaged child within the 1977–1978 allocation of funds from Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. If the computer system were shared between two schools, the higher costs would permit only two daily sessions.Costs were also estimated for a more advanced CAI system, and somewhat surprisingly the costs were in the same range. This finding reflects the very heavy costs of “software” that do not seem to decline with more advanced technologies. Also, it is possible that the latter technology will be found to be more effective at the same cost level. However, because comparative effectiveness data between the CAI approach and other instructional strategies are not readily available, such cost-effectiveness comparisons will have to be deferred until some future date.     

Comparison of computer-assisted instruction and print drill performance: A research note

A comparison of the performance of two groups of third-grade students practicing division problems is used to assess the effect of a commercial computer-assisted instruction (CAI) drill program on learning. The progress of the experimental group, who used the computer drill program, is compared with a similar group of students using a conventional print drill method. The data demonstrate that after five weeks of practice, no significant differences existed in the achievement level of either the experimental group or the control group. The findings further suggest that use of computer drill materials may be no more effective than print drill materials for assisting third-grade students to achieve proficiency level in learning division of whole numbers.     

Comparative effects of ability and presentation mode in computer-assisted instruction and programed instruction

Summary The duration of the current experiment was admittedly quite short—30 minutes to an hour of learning time. A longer program may have produced more pronounced differences. Sixty-four students including 32 high and low ability males and females were randomly assigned to programed instruction and computer-assisted instruction programs on the topic of Significant Figures. The results indicated that the students using programed instruction performed significantly better than those using CAI. This difference was attributed primarily to the very poor performance by the low ability students in the CAI group. There was also a significant ability effect. The posttest and retention test results, as well as number of errors in the actual learning sequence, indicated there was a trait by treatment interaction which was interpreted primarily as a very poor performance by low ability students on CAI, with almost equal performance by high and low ability students utilizing programed instruction. The data would not support such explanations as the use of recognition responses or the inability to achieve any particular concepts in the program for the performance of low ability students on the CRT-oriented CAI. Further research is suggested. The work reported herein was sponsored by the Florida State University Computer-Assisted Instruction Center and the Office of Naval Research under Grant No. N00014-68-A-0494.     

Performance models of undergraduate students on computer-assisted instruction in elementary logic

Performance data were collected for students taking the computer-assisted instruction course in logic at Stanford University. The fit of the data to the Suppes, Zanotti, and Fletcher trajectory model was found to be good, though a systematic deviation from the model suggested some changes in the curriculum. A quantitative approach was used to pinpoint areas for curriculum revision. In addition, the model was evaluated for use as the basis of a predictive control mechanism.This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant No. NSF-SED74-15016. The authors wish to thank Mario Zanotti for several discussions of the original model, and Lauri Kanerva for the use of his program for exponential regression analysis.