Classroom Usage Research Articles

Of two minds: hypertext pedagogy and poetics

In Of Two Minds, noted hypertext novelist and writing teacher Michael Joyce explores new technologies, mediums, and modalities for teaching and writing, ranging from interactive multimedia to virtual reality. As author of Afternoon: A Story, which New York Times Book Review termed the most widely read, quoted, and critiqued of all hypertext narratives, and co-developer of Storyspace, an innovative hypertext software acclaimed for offering new kinds of artistic expression, he is uniquely well qualified to explore this stimulating topic.The essays comprise what Joyce calls narratives, woven from e-mail messages, hypertext nodes, and other kinds of electronic text that move nomadically from one occasion or perspective to another, between poles of art and instruction, teaching and writing. The nomadic movement of ideas is made effortless by electronic medium, which makes it easy to cross borders (or erase them) with swipe of a mouse, and which therefore challenges our notions of intellectual and artistic borders.Joyce makes it clear that we are not just natural heirs but, through our visions, architects of new technologies that promise to enact our visions as much as change them. The collection summons writing from artists, poets, teachers, scientists, and feminist thinkers, and in so doing builds on notions of human possibility as a basis for broadest kind of conversation in what Joyce deems our increasingly multiple, polymorphous, and polylogous culture.Weaving between theoretical speculations, reports of actual classroom usage, polemical addresses, and a rich web of allusions, Of Two Minds strongly makes case that hypertext creates a topography of textuality that requires new mod es of thinking about texts. --N. Katherine Hayles, University of California, Los AngelesA volume in our Studies in Literature and Science series.Michael Joyce is Randolph Distinguished Visiting Professor of English, Vassar College.

Experiences with CLARE: a computer-supported collaborative learning environment

Current collaborative learning systems focus on maximizing shared information. However, "meaningful learning" is not simply information sharing but also knowledge construction. CLARE is a computer-supported learning environment that facilitates meaningful learning through collaborative knowledge construction. It provides a semi-formal representation language called RESRA and an explicit process model called SECAI. Experimental evaluation through 300 hours of classroom usage indicates that CLARE does support meaningful learning. It also shows that a major bottleneck to computer-mediated knowledge construction is summarization. Lessons learned through the design and evaluation of CLARE provide new insights into both collaborative learning systems and collaborative learning theories.

Not Yet Comfortable in the Classroom: A Study of Academic Computing at Three Land-Grant Universities

Classroom usage, among known faculty users, of computers was studied in three land grant universities to determine the level at which computers have been integrated into the instructional process. Among the 302 faculty surveyed across six collegiate categories, at best only one of four actually integrates computing into the classroom experience. One in three uses computers for laboratory teaching. The majority assign students to use computing outside of the classroom. Availability of resources is seen as the greatest barrier, but training and incentives also deter computer use in the classroom. Somewhat surprising is the finding that these users of computing are not totally convinced that classroom use of computers is worthwhile.

Postage Stamps as Pedagogical Instruments in the Italian Curriculum

Postage stamps have enjoyed a long tradition of informal and unstructured classroom usage. All too often, however, such usage has amounted to little more than a perfunctory circulation of some hastily gathered and possibly tattered postage stamps in a makeshift container. This approach fails to recognize the genuine instructional value of these tokens of popular culture. Nevertheless, some worthwhile suggestions for their explicit curricular introduction exist for French, German, and Spanish.' At least one brief set of seminal recommendations also exists for the incorporation of postage stamps in the Italian classroom.2 Since an ample inventory of reasonably priced new or cancelled postage stamps is already available, the use of these official documents from the realm of popular culture is a relatively simple task. Furthermore, Italy continues to produce new issues each year on a more frequent schedule. The diversity and abundance of the postage stamp renders it invaluable as a source for fascinating pedagogical strategies. In this article, we will examine several interrelated topics on postage stamps including their multiple functions, their significance as semiotic artifacts, and a rationale for their classroom use. Next, some suggestions for their successful incorporation into the Italian curriculum will be offered. Finally, specific recommendations for their inclusion in the Italian curriculum with exemplary activities in the areas of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and cultural understanding will be provided.

The Scenario Principle in the Teaching of Italian Literature

If linguistics is truly the science of language, then one of the major benefits of applying it to foreign-language instruction is to be found in the liberation it gives from dogma and close-minded tradition. With a linguistic approach should come the freedom to study all phenomena of language as they are and not as they should be. But before any linguist can assume the posture of a William of Baskerville flaunting his empiricism in the face of medieval superstition, it is necessary to remember that linguistics is still in the throes of becoming a science. The distance yet to be covered on its journey to full scientific status is especially evident when linguists investigate the processes of foreign-language acquisition. While our gains have been significant in this area they are too modest to warrant the large-scale application made of them to classroom practice. The ACTFL guidelines are a case in point. The profession of foreign-language teachers is asked to accept these guidelines as articles of faith. Yet, our 'nude autorita' at ACTFL do not provide the necessary evidence from actual classroom usage to support them (see Lantolf and Frawley 1985, for a detailed critique). What is clearly needed in the application of a scientific method to foreign-language instruction is a careful and intimate interplay between theoretical models and classroom-derived performance data.

A model for generative CAI and concept selection

This paper describes a model for generative computer-assisted instruction. This model has served as the basis for the design of a CAI system used to teach problem-solving in an introductory course in digital systems design. The system individualizes the instruction which each student receives in accordance with its record of his past performance. In addition, a heuristic technique is used to determine the best path for each student through the tree of course concepts. The refinement of this method of concept selection is described. An evaluation of the GCAI system and results of classroom usage are also presented.

Computer-Based Multi-Media for Mathematics Learning

This article traces the various roles of the computer in mathematics learning. It begins with the computer's use for curricular enhancement through several modes of classroom usage. It ends with a description of the computer as a manager of a learning center, where it directs students through a sequence of learning experiences using appropriate media at each step.