CALL FOR THE MACINTOSH

Abstract

In collaboration with a team of programmers and with support from a Sloan Foundation grant, the authors created an authoring language specifically for composing computer-assisted language drills, but applicable to many other kinds of instruction. The interaction between the various collaborators has produced a pedagogically sound and technically practical program that takes advantage of the Macintosh's user-friendly environment, high-resolution graphics, and international keyboard. Students can receive written or visual cues, edit their answers, and summon additional information using the Macintosh's pull-down menus and multiple windows. A future version, still under development, will provide even more sophisticated features. A preliminary survey of student users has yielded encouraging results.