Elliot Soloway
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How the Nintendo generation learns
Recently, I was chatting with my son, Daniel (age 7) about Nintendo. I asked him if he could bring it in to school for show and tell and he was horrified! “No,” he exclaimed, “that's not for learning.” Well, what do you, dear reader, think about that? Is Nintendo for learning? No one is watching/listening … go ahead … admit it … You don't really like Nintendo. (Of course, when you play Tetris, that is exercising problem-solving skills. Right.) And, afterall, you didn't use all that technology in school, and you learned just fine. So, why do “kids these days” need all this new multimedia technology, anyhow? That technology just makes it fun and easy to learn—it's just glitz. And as for calculators.....
Log on education: Quick, where do the computers go?
History has dealt computer and information science a special role in the inevitable restructuring of the educational system in the United States. In the coming decade computing and information technology will be the backbone of the most significant change in education in over 100 years. Rather than being an adjunct to learning and teaching, technology is facilitating a fundamental re-thinking of what should be learned and how. Such changes present the Communications readership with a unique opportunity and a serious responsibility. Toward meeting this challenge, in this column I will address some key issues in education and technology. For example, this first column examines how our basic notion of what needs to be learned is changing, and how this affects the ways in which technology is used. Subsequent columns will explore topics such as “programming's role in learning,” “multi-media, and nationwide, computer-based,” testing.
Expert systems for configuration at Digital: XCON and beyond
Members of Digital Equipment Corporation's team of expert system experts reflect and recount a decade's worth of lessons learned in designing, and building a core of configuration systems
Designing documentation to compensate for delocalized plans
Conceptual representation methods play a significant role in facilitating the software process. Recent studies explore and clarify the use of these representations and their impact on progress.
Novice mistakes: are the folk wisdoms correct?
An evaluation of two folk wisdoms serves to elucidate the underlying or "deep-structure" reasons for novice errors.
Shape the Future of Computing
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