Tools to support teachers and learning technologists in the creation of effective learning designs are currently in their infancy. This paper describes a metadata model, devised to assist in the conception and design of new learning activities, that has been developed, used and evaluated over a period of three years. The online tool that embodies…

To learn correct grammar, developmental students must practice writing correctly. However, the traditional exercises offered in handbooks, workbooks, and textbooks not only fail to provide habituation in correctness, they actually provide practice in "wrongness." Instead of isolating individual problems, they promote confusion by linking them.…

Presents the rationale behind a model for the use of the computer in the development of reading comprehension. Basic assumptions concerning reading are delineated. The model has three basic components: intake (text processing and text comprehension), personalization, and extension. (Author/SED)

Describes an English as a second language course designed to build the students' reading abilities in order to develop their oral and writing skills. The course consists of group and individual projects on the topic of American Indians and culminates with a simulation of a court hearing involving an Indian land claim. (SED)

Some theoretical considerations for increased use of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in legal education are compared with other teaching methods, empirical evidence of the method's effectiveness is discussed, and some of the activities involving CAI at Harvard Law School are outlined. (MSE)

This study explored the enhancement of comprehension of expository text by three specific types of embedded explication--etymological, causal, and analogical--together with momentum effects from sequencing. Four factors were examined: (1) the experimental effects of presenting the section of the script containing explications of new terms before…

This study of the feasibility of using existing videocassettes for interactive video included field tests with Open University summer school students. The aims of the study were to discover whether video material originally made for broadcast could be used in an interactive program which involves breaking up the intended flow of the program;…

Describes the application of the instructional development process to a teaching technique called Guided Design in a Production-Operations Management course. In Guided Design, students are self-instructed in course content and use class time to apply this knowledge to self-instruction; in-class problem-solving is stressed. (JJD)

Discusses cognitive apprenticeship, an educational practice that focuses on students actively engaged in activities with a variety of supports, or scaffolding. Presents a model of scaffolding that was implemented in courseware for learning computer graphics on the World Wide Web. An evaluation on the use of the courseware at Georgia Institute of…

Presents experiments on effects of music instruction, teaching practica, feedback from the instructor, and videotaped self-observation on undergraduates' use of complete sequential patterns and components. Focuses on two levels: examination of effects of systematic instructional structures on acquisition of skills and refinement of constructs for…

A study investigated the applicability of the theory of tentative developmental stages in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) development (TDS), which posits specific sequences for specific language features and hypothesizes developmental stages that cut across those sequences. The six stages are defined by specified combinations of three speech…

Many basic skills are chains of cognitive operations. For teaching such skills, two questions have not been adequately investigated: (1) how the operations comprising the skill should be sequenced, and (2) the relationships among the operations that need to be taught. This investigation entailed four studies on different types and lengths of basic…

A study explored the group mapping activity, a process that encourages each reader to construct a visual schema or map following the reading of a story. It also sought to determine if there is a developmental sequence in eighth grade and college students' mapping and if these representations provided new insights into how readers process language.…

The study of the performance of 55 learning-disabled college students on the Raven's Progressive Matrices and other tasks found: (1) a negative correlation between visual-motor skills and written language, (2) a positive correlation between visual organization/memory and mathematics, and (3) a positive correlation between auditory memory and…

Describes a study of undergraduates studying genetics that compared the effectiveness of a computer simulation used before and after formal instruction. Treatment of the experimental and control groups is explained, and results are reported which support the theory that the effectiveness of the simulation is dependent on the sequence of…