Computer-based Instructional System Research Articles

CyberProf - An Intelligent Human-Computer Interface for Interactive Instruction on the World Wide Web

Advances in computer technology and the human-computer interface have created a wealth of new opportunities for the development of computer-based instruction and intelligent tutoring systems. Unfortunately, much of the material currently available amounts to little more than "electronic books," in which learning is still accomplished by reading text and viewing two dimensional images. This paper describes the features of CyberProf - an interactive, World Wide Web-based teaching system developed at the University of Illinois. Using CyberProf, instructors can create on-line lecture notes that include equations, animations, and graphics; write online interactive homework problems; communicate with students using CyberProf’s Web-based conferencing system; survey students in order to receive feedback on course material; and record student grades in CyberProf’s online gradebook. Students can review lecture notes 24 hours a day; complete homework problems on the Web and receive immediate intelligent feedback to their answers; use the conferencing system to post questions to their instructor, teaching assistants, and peers; and review their grades in the class at any time.

Perspectives for Defining Student Teacher Performance-Based Teaching Skills Indicators to Provide Formative Feedback through Learning Analytics

The aim of this study was to analyze the possibilities for performance-based evaluation of student teachers’ teaching skills in their field practice using learning analytics (LA)—a computer-based instructional system for documenting assessment results, and providing specified feedback on the achievement of expected objectives and suggestions for corrective and further learning activities. The research literature on LA applications in pre-service teacher education reveals that its application at this level of sophistication calls for reliable specific performance-based indicators of teaching to model teaching competences. Such defined indicators should allow for the statistical modeling of teachers’ progression in teaching skills. Our analysis of the literature regarding defining teaching and teacher competence standards and identifying performance-based indicators for assessing progress in teaching skills, led us to conclude there was no formal procedure for deducting performance-based indicators of teaching competence, except expert ratings coordinated by the general ideas of teaching quality. The available performance-based assessment matrices (representing performance levels by teaching tasks) of teaching competence that are used by teacher educators tend to be context-sensitive and call for adaptation when used in the conditions of another country. Also, the reporting of teaching activities (typically using a portfolio format) and quantifying the entries using performance indicators for LA requires a highly formalized coding system to preserve the semantics of the initial data in the models of progress in teaching skills. For avoiding the risk of introducing too many atomic indicator behaviours of student teachers, focusing only on essential teaching competencies via the application of the emerging concept of core practices is suggested.

Impact of an Overt Response System on Staff Performance and Maintenance of Computer-Based Instruction

Interactive Computer Based Instruction (CBI) systems involve teaching strategies to facilitate greater response opportunities during training in an effort to improve learner performance. The current study investigated the effect of online staff training videos with and without overt response requirements on posttest and maintenance test scores across six block-randomized instructional modules for four employees of a university located in the southeastern region of the United States. The overt response consisted of multiple-choice questions administered throughout select teaching modules using an alternating treatment design. Findings suggest that learning occurred as a result of the CBI training; however, the effectiveness of the overt response system varied across individuals, with no discernible differentiation between learning gains associated with response requirements. Other areas of research for expanding the efficacy of CBI and overt response systems are highlighted.

Item difficulty in the evaluation of computer-based instruction: an example from neuroanatomy.

This article reports large item effects in a study of computer-based learning of neuroanatomy. Outcome measures of the efficiency of learning, transfer of learning, and generalization of knowledge diverged by a wide margin across test items, with certain sets of items emerging as particularly difficult to master. In addition, the outcomes of comparisons between instructional methods changed with the difficulty of the items to be learned. More challenging items better differentiated between instructional methods. This set of results is important for two reasons. First, it suggests that instruction may be more efficient if sets of consistently difficult items are the targets of instructional methods particularly suited to them. Second, there is wide variation in the published literature regarding the outcomes of empirical evaluations of computer-based instruction. As a consequence, many questions arise as to the factors that may affect such evaluations. The present article demonstrates that the level of challenge in the material that is presented to learners is an important factor to consider in the evaluation of a computer-based instructional system.

Perceptions of a computer-based instruction system in special education: High school teachers and students views

Researchers investigated how one type of computer-based instruction (CBI)--Kurzweil 3000 (K-3000), was perceived to affect the reading, functional task performance, and academic self-perception of high school students with special needs. 16 students with special needs used K-3000 (assistive software that provides students with reading support) for six months to read assignments for their English language arts class and six teachers who had previous experience with integrating K-3000 into their classes were recruited. Data from focus group interviews of students and teachers were used. The advantages and disadvantages of K-3000, the factors that affected teachers' use of CBI and users' progress were explored. After the regular use of K-3000, students and teachers reported improvement in the amount and speed of reading and increased academic self-perception, specifically related to reading comprehension and pronunciation. Teachers reported that lack of accessibility to technology, time constraints, and difficulties with class management were the major reasons that hindered CBI use in their classrooms. Student participants noted that CBI was helpful when they were engaged in functional activities related to reading and writing. The progress of students in self-perception, and the advantages and drawbacks of the K-3000, along with the mechanism of users' progression were described and discussed.

How Costly are Computer-Based Instructional Systems? A Look at Two Approaches

How Costly are Computer-Based Instructional Systems? A Look at Two Approaches

Computer-Based Training for Immigrant Latinos with Limited Formal Education

Mexican immigrants working at a wholesale nursery were involved in developing user instructions for a computer-based instruction system. Sixty-one Latinos with 0 to 16 years of education completed user instructions delivered on the computer, and all but 3 completed training content about the nursery. Based on objective criteria, program use was rated as “somewhat easy” to “easy” for most participants with more than 3 years of education, whereas 50% of those with 0 to 2 years of education completed content with “difficulty” or “struggled.” Participants who completed the computer-based posttest (n =22) had a mean performance of 96%, which was significantly better than the performance of 87% (n = 18) on an oral pretest (p = .003, d = 1.02). Thus, computer-based instruction can effectively train immigrant Latinos who have very limited formal education.

Using learning styles to evaluate computer-based instruction

This study compared two instruments while evaluating the effects of learning style on performance when using a computer-based instruction (CBI) system to teach introductory probability and statistics. The Gregorc Style Delineator (GSD) and the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI) were used to measure learning style. Results indicated that there was an effect of learning style when using the GSD: students identified as Concrete Sequential learned significantly less than students identified as Concrete Random. There was no effect according to LSI styles. Lack of an ordering preference dimension in the LSI is discussed as a possible explanation. Findings from other studies evaluating CBI and recommendations are also discussed.

Dirbtinio intelekto iššūkiai mokymui

Paper discusses challenges to education called out by Educational delivery, Course manage­ment, Learning management and Authoring intelligence tutoring systems.Educational delivery systems – a software product or suite that facilitates the delivery of content or interaction by the web. Course management systems (CMS) – a software product that generally incorporates an educational delivery system for a topic (typically called a ``Course'' in educational institutions and most often facilitated via asynchronous-based formats) and provides integrated tools for measuring outcomes and reporting progress for individual or groups of students. CMS systems are currently most popular for educational institutions that are inclined to think of on-line development as course-centric.Learning management systems (LMS) – a software product that provides learners an integrated view of all their active coursework and assignments in a ``syllabus'' that spans multiple courses. LMS systems are most often found in large corporate training departments and corporate universi­ties.Intelligent management systems art computer-based instructional systems with models of inst­ructional content that specify what to teach, and teaching strategies that specify how to teach.

Embedding cooperative learning into the design of integrated learning systems: Rationale and guidelines

An Integrated Learning System (ILS) is an advanced computer-based instructional system, generally consisting of a set of computerized courseware covering several grade levels and content areas, and complex classroom management and reporting features. Although ILSs have become increasingly popular in schools over the past five to ten years, they introduce several potential factors that could have negative effects on students' academic and social growth. These factors include: (a) de-emphasis of affective outcomes and increased student isolation, (b) lack of teacher involvement in curriculum planning and delivery, and (c) disparate effects on student achievement based on students' academic level. One possible strategy for addressing these concerns is integrating cooperative learning with ILS instruction. This paper will examine the research dealing with integrating cooperative learning strategies and computer-based instruction and provide guidelines and strategies for designing ILS instruction that enhances opportunities for cooperative learning.

Why the hypermedia model is inadequate for computer-based instruction

With the persuasiveness of hypermedia and its advocated use in computer-based instruction (CBI), it is important to understand the relationship between the two directions. The major difference lies in the way nodes are traversed and the rules that govern such traversals. Whereas hypermedia systems are limited to referential browsing, computer-based instructional systems also require contextual linking enabling the traversal of alternative routes based on the performance level of a student and/or the instructional mode involved. This requires additional facilities not available in the hypermedia model. In this paper, we describe an abstract model of computer-based instructional systems that can be used to highlight the inadequacies of the general hypermedia model and extend its conceptual base to a much wider range of instructional modes.

ID Expert: A Second Generation Instructional Development System.

This paper describes ID Expert, an intelligent computer-based multimedia interactive instructional development and delivery system. This paper illustrates the following features of this system: Instructional design principles can be built into reusable instructional strategy computer algorithms (instructional transaction shells). This feature significantly reduces the programming task and insures more effective instructional strategies than often results when a strategy must be rebuilt for every lesson or course. A decoupled knowledge base makes it possible, at the click of a button, to attach or unattach a given knowledge object to a reusable preprogrammed instructional strategy. This feature significantly reduces the instructional development effort. Instructional strategies specified by parameters makes it possible, at the click of a button, to change an instructional strategy. This feature significantly reduces the effort required for designing or redesigning a lesson or course. Instructional strategies specified by parameters makes it possible to design multiple strategies for a given course or lesson and makes it possible, at the click of a button, to change from one strategy to another. When implemented for modification during instruction, based on student performance, this feature makes possible adaptive instruction.

Multiple representation for understanding data structures

In this paper an approach to enhance the learning of abstract computing concepts by novice students is presented. This approach is based on effective use of multiple visual representations, and it was applied within the domain of linear data structures: array, stack, queue and linked list. A prototype computer-based instructional system called MRUDS (Multiple Representation for Understanding Data Structures) was developed and evaluated. It was found from the evaluation that the three presentation modules namely, analogy, representation and algorithm contributed to the students' learning process, each contributing to and reinforcing the effect of the others.

Curriculum knowledge representation and manipulation in knowledge-based tutoring systems

A knowledge-based tutoring system (KBTS) is a computer-based instructional system that uses artificial intelligence techniques to help people learn some subjects. We found that the knowledge communication process involving a KBTS and a human student can be decomposed into a series of communication cycles, where each cycle concentrates on one topic and contains four major phases: planning, discussing, evaluating and remedying. The major contributions of this work are the development of a generic architecture for supporting the knowledge communication between a KBTS and a student, and a graphical notation and schema for supporting the curriculum knowledge representation and manipulation during the planning phase of a tutoring process. The curriculum knowledge about a course can help a tutoring system determine the sequences in which the topics will be discussed with the students effectively and diagnose the students' mistakes. The curriculum knowledge base contains the goal structure of the course, prerequisite relations, and multiple ways of organizing topics, among others. As an example, we focus on developing SQL-TUTOR, a KBTS for the domain of SQL programming. This system has features such as an efficient control mechanism, explicit curriculum knowledge representation, and individualized private tutoring. For allowing the students relative freedom to decide how to study the domain knowledge about a subject, the system provides the students with a group of operators to hand-tailor the learning schedules according to their special backgrounds, requests, and interests.

An experiential system for learning probability: Stat Lady description and evaluation

This paper describes a computer-based instructional system called Stat Lady, and reports the results of an evaluation study that tested the efficacy of learning probability from this program in relation to a traditional Lecture and a no-treatment Control group. Results showed that both treatment groups learned significantly more than the Control group, yet there was no difference between the two treatment groups in outcome performance after three hours of instruction. This was viewed as encouraging because: (a) due to sampling error, students assigned to the Stat Lady condition were at a disadvantage, scoring about 20 points less on the quantitative SAT measure compared to the Lecture group, and about 25 points less than the Control group, (b) the lecture constituted a more familiar learning environment for these subjects, and (c) the professor administering the Lecture had more than 20 years experience teaching this subject matter, while this was Stat Lady's first teaching assignment. We also found a significant aptitude-treatment interaction where high-aptitude subjects learned more from Stat Lady than from the Lecture environment, but for low-aptitude subjects, there was no difference in learning outcome by condition. Implications of these findings will be discussed in relation to future computer-based instructional research.

An Empirical Investigation of CBI in Support of Mastery Learning

In spite of a large body of research, deep knowledge regarding the effect of computer-based instruction systems (CBI) is lacking. The objective of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of CBI in support of mastery learning. The analysis is based on 333 students who used a CBI system, called management information systems tutor (MIST), for a nine-week period. Results of the analysis show that the MIST helped students improve their performance. In addition, a significant relationship was observed to exist between a student's performance and time on task. However, some students neither reached mastery performance nor did any significant change in their time spent on task occur. This is contrary to the belief held by some researchers in the field of CBI. These results are analyzed with respect to findings from motivational and self-learning research.

Knowledge organization in intelligent tutoring systems for diagnostic problem solving in complex dynamic domains

Turbinia-Vyasa is a computer-based instructional system that trains operators to troubleshoot and diagnose faults in marine power plants. The simulator, Turbinia, is based on a hierarchical representation of subsystems, components, and primitives. Vyasa is the computer-based tutor that teaches the troubleshooting task using Turbinia. The simulator, an interactive, direct manipulation interface, and the tutor (with its expert, student, and instructional modules) comprise the instructional system. To be effective, knowledge about the system and the troubleshooting task, together with the knowledge to infer student's misconceptions from observed actions and pedagogical knowledge, must be suitably organized and presented to the student. System knowledge is organized in terms of schematics, subsystems, and fluid paths, which are further decomposed into structure, function, and behavior. Information about failures and failure schemas complement the system knowledge. In the paper, the authors discuss the details of knowledge organization and show how they support the functions of the intelligent tutoring system.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Computer-assisted distance learning. I. Audiographic teleconferencing, interactive satellite broadcasts, and technical Japanese instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison

The primary mission of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Technical Japanese Program is to train English-speaking scientists and engineers to read technical documents written in Japanese. Semester-long courses in technical Japanese at the basic, intermediate, and advanced levels are now being offered live and interactively to students and professionals throughout the United States. Audiographic teleconferencing employs standard microcomputer hardware and a high quality sound system to share audio and visuals with many people simultaneously. Pictures, text in any writing system, data, and high-resolution graphics are transmitted to participants at multiple, remote locations over ordinary telephone lines. Visuals can be annotated during the class using a graphics tablet. Alternatively, the same computer-generated image can be fed to a satellite and then broadcast throughout the country. Satellite broadcasts, coupled with the use of an audio conferencing system at each receive site, provide another effective method for interactive course delivery to sites beyond the university campus. During the three years in which technical Japanese courses have been delivered via audiographics or satellite to remote sites, student acceptance of the computer-based instructional system has been excellent. In this paper the authors describe the impact of audiographic teleconferencing on the teaching of technical Japanese. >

Dutch research on knowledge-based instructional systems: Introduction to the special issue

In the last decade, research on computer-based instructional systems has been heavily influenced by rapid advances in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, and by remarkable increases in the power of computers. Due to these factors, there has been a shift from traditional computer-based instructional systems to knowledge-bused systems in which knowledge representation techniques are used to model the domain to be taught, the thinking and learning processes of the student, and the applied strategies and tactics for instruction and presentation. Knowledge-based instructional systems may take the form of intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs), adaptive help systems, microworlds, simulations with student-sensitive instructional support, and so forth. The knowledge bases of those systems must be suitable for interpretation by inference engines in order to select appropriate pieces of knowledge for making diagnoses, predictions, and evaluations that steer the instructional process. Amongst many others, two prevailing problems seem to emerge in this field of research. First, large bodies of knowledge that are required for the development of knowledge-based instructional systems are not available in a useful format. For instance, both theories of learning and theories of instruction often display a vagueness and implicitness that obstructs their implementation in knowledge-based systems. What is needed is experimental research that is aimed at the explication of this knowledge. Second, the extreme interrelatedness of the knowledge that must be present in instructional systems places heavy demands on current knowledge representation, storage, and inference techniques. Obviously, more effective conceptual models relating to the architecture and design methodology of knowledgebased instructional systems are needed in order to properly handle their complexity. This special issue provides an overview of Dutch research on knowledge-based instructional systems. As will be shown in the next section, this research pertains both to experimental research, aimed at the formulation and explication of knowl-

Computer‐based instruction and the practical aspects of memory

AbstractThis article examines the relationship between basic memory research and computer‐based instruction (CBI). The results of basic memory research have helped determine the current directions of computer‐assisted instruction (CAI) research and development. These directions have included examining the utility of such learning systems for facilitating memory outcomes and developing CBI systems based on cognitive instructional principles. Examples of such systems include the emerging generation of hypermedia and artificial tutoring systems. Inconclusive results, however, have been found regarding CBI's effects on memroy phenomena. The CBI literature has thus not established the utility of any memory theory for naturally occurring phenomena. Several plausible reasons for this “null finding” are discussed.