Generative aspects of the Computer Based Educational Software System (CBESS)

A system of computer-based instruction (CBI) authoring and delivery tools was developed in which generative CBI techniques were used to dynamically create instructional presentations from content databases during program execution. Three applications using these techniques are examined with regard to trade-offs between case of development and limitations imposed by program specificity: 1) A semantic network was used to represent large bodies of terse facts to be memorized. The need for authors to create large numbers of question screens was avoided by a feature enabling questions and foils to be generated on-the-fly from database assertions as the student programs ran. 2) Technical vocabulary training was accomplished with a generative approach in which an array of student learning activities were automatically generated from a database minimally consisting of technical terms and their definitions. 3) A more difficult program allowed greater interface and lesson control flexibility for creating more sophisticated practice lessons in which new instances were dynamically inserted into templates for questions, anticipated answers and feedback. A common application theme emerging from field-testing the programs was their use in learning resource centers to address specific learning objectives from larger courses.