Reports on available and forthcoming computer software packages for reading assessment, in the areas of informal reading inventories, comprehensive assessment packages for decoding, an open-ended test generation program, diagnostic simulation, and expert systems. Offers ideas for learning about assessment techniques. (SR)

Reviews and critiques three current software products which function as encyclopedias for the computer. Provides publication information and detailed analysis of the programs. (HB)

Recommends three videotapes for Head Start parents and staff, six videotapes for children, and four CD-ROMs for children. Describes the programs and provides information on recommended ages, suggested retail price, and publisher. (KB)

Today's incoming freshmen, born in 1988, have never known a time when the Internet and personal computers were not ubiquitous. They expect "what I want, when I need it, wherever I happen to be, on whatever workstation I have available." Many industries already meet this demand--entertainment (legal or pirated), cable TV, digital video recorders,…

This paper provides generalizations and ideas on what to look for when previewing software products designed for teaching or improving the keyboarding skills of elementary school students, a list of nine products that the MicroSIFT (Microcomputer Software and Information for Teachers) staff recommends for preview, and a table of features comparing…

Arguing that software evaluation is crucial to the quality of courseware available in a school, this paper begins by discussing reasons why microcomputers are making such a tremendous impact on education, and notes that, although the quality of software has improved over the years, the challenge for teachers to integrate computing into the…

This selected annotated list of 39 sources of information on educational software for higher education is a revision of a list prepared at EDUCOM '85 and includes a number of additional sources. The sources, which provide access to both commercial and unpublished faculty software, are listed under five headings: General Sources; Software for…

This courseware evaluation rates the Wood Programs software developed by the Iowa Department of Public Instruction. (These programs--not contained in this document--include understanding board feet, wood characteristics, wood safety drill, wood dimensions, wood moisture, operating the table saw, radial arm, measurement drill, fraction drill, and…

This courseware evaluation rates the Ohm's Law and Solar Energy program developed by the Iowa Department of Public Instruction. (The program--not contained in this document--covers Ohm's law and resistance problems, passive solar energy, and project ideas and sources.) Part A describes the program in terms of subject area (construction and…

This courseware evaluation rates the Who Am I? program developed by Instructional Enterprises. (This program--not contained in this document--is an interactive guidance course including four inventories students use to learn more about themselves.) Part A describes the program in terms of subject area (personal development) and hardware…

Refutes Seymour Papert's premises because they: (1) maintain that computer criticism goes through developmental stages; (2) overlook the fact that the computer's newness in education affects the way people speak of computers; and (3) deny the necessity that teaching LOGO, like other pedagogies, should be accountable to experimental research. (PS)

Agrees with Seymour Papert that conventional experimentation has shortcomings when used to study effects of educational programs. Cites three research methods that, in combination, can compensate for the shortcomings of both conventional research and the computer criticism suggested by Papert. (PS)

Discussion of the history and development of artificial intelligence (AI) highlights a bibliography of introductory books on various aspects of AI, including AI programing; problem solving; automated reasoning; game playing; natural language; expert systems; machine learning; robotics and vision; critics of AI; and representative software. (LRW)

Discusses the rich potential of Logo (a computer programing system for children) and particularly LogoWriter (its word processor) as learning tools in the language arts. Cautions against their use as rote exercises. (SR)

Based on interviews with instructors Breece and Polak who state that the benefits of implementing FAIRMODEL in the classroom (usually intermediate macroeconomics and the first course in graduate macroeconomics) greatly outweigh the costs. Concludes that students benefit from the use of FAIRMODEL by gaining marketable skills currently in demand by…