外文翻譯--為歷史教學(xué)而開發(fā)多媒體課件之英倫展望

1、<p><b>　　中文5136字</b></p><p>　　出處：The Journal for MultiMedia History Volume 3一2000</p><p>　　為歷史教學(xué)而開發(fā)多媒體課件之英倫展望</p><p>　　Ian G. Anderson </p><p><

2、;b>　　引言：</b></p><p>　　英國(guó)和美國(guó)在歷史學(xué)研究上對(duì)計(jì)算機(jī)的應(yīng)用雖已大相徑庭，然而，基于網(wǎng)絡(luò)的教學(xué)材料的研發(fā)卻又使大西洋兩岸的人們走到了一起。這篇文章提供了一次英國(guó)格拉斯哥大學(xué)的“歷史課件組”為本科生歷史教學(xué)開發(fā)多媒體材料的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。這個(gè)組織由英國(guó)高等教育基金委員會(huì)的“教學(xué)技術(shù)項(xiàng)目”于1993年出資建立。其開發(fā)課件的目標(biāo)為：創(chuàng)造一個(gè)基于高等教育標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的基本教學(xué)法，使教學(xué)材料靈活易用

3、，并為使用該課件的廣大師生提供必要的支持。</p><p>　　一個(gè)教學(xué)模型的開發(fā)：</p><p>　　格拉斯哥大學(xué)的另一個(gè)項(xiàng)目——在“問題解決中心”的歷史教學(xué)中計(jì)算機(jī)的應(yīng)用，收集了關(guān)于計(jì)算機(jī)在歷史教學(xué)中應(yīng)用的數(shù)據(jù)?；诖舜谓?jīng)驗(yàn)，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)許多教學(xué)者缺乏一個(gè)概念化的框架，用以將基于計(jì)算機(jī)的教學(xué)材料包含到他們的教學(xué)當(dāng)中。同樣，學(xué)生們也需要一個(gè)教學(xué)的背景材料來指導(dǎo)他們使用課件。于是，由此組織開

4、發(fā)的“充實(shí)化授課”的想法應(yīng)運(yùn)而生，在一個(gè)熟悉的教學(xué)框架里使用了富有創(chuàng)新性的教學(xué)材料。</p><p>　　既然英國(guó)的本科生歷史教學(xué)項(xiàng)目中不存在核心課程，而其跨度又從近代史到現(xiàn)代史，從政治軍事史到經(jīng)濟(jì)社會(huì)史，此組織便著眼于創(chuàng)造出一個(gè)靈活的核心資源集，以用于和現(xiàn)存的教學(xué)項(xiàng)目配合使用。在充實(shí)化授課中，為一二年級(jí)同學(xué)設(shè)計(jì)的核心文章提供了一個(gè)對(duì)主題的大致概括，并勾勒了編史學(xué)中的爭(zhēng)論及查詢中的主題行。內(nèi)容表提供了核心文章中各

5、部分的鏈接，作者信息，及其他的一些出處，學(xué)生們可以通過它來使用核心文章，及文章的索引、參考書目和術(shù)語表。例如，在講授新教徒改革的指導(dǎo)課上，馬克和斯科特就寫了一篇核心文章，并結(jié)合了一個(gè)詳盡的案例和一些練習(xí)。盡管核心文章的數(shù)量和風(fēng)格在不同的指導(dǎo)課上，以及在他們的功能、外觀及結(jié)構(gòu)上都千差萬別，有的作者仍樂于在他們的文章中體現(xiàn)更加線性的思路，有的則更偏愛于多角度的主題。</p><p>　　鑒于在電腦屏幕上閱讀大量文本的

6、不便，我們要求作者為他們的文章明確劃分主題，以得到有限的重點(diǎn)主題，并且像在說話時(shí)一樣使用短句、口語，及縮略式。這種將文章的分解使材料更加容易消化，并且更易于學(xué)生接受。</p><p>　　從這種文章中學(xué)生們可以品味到原始材料的結(jié)構(gòu)及來龍去脈；他們也能夠得到對(duì)具體的實(shí)例、案例學(xué)習(xí)、爭(zhēng)論、概念及出處而進(jìn)行的測(cè)試。下面這個(gè)有關(guān)新教徒改革指導(dǎo)課的示意圖展示了如何將充實(shí)化授課體現(xiàn)為課件的結(jié)構(gòu)：</p><

7、;p><b>　　圖1 指導(dǎo)課示意圖</b></p><p>　　在傳統(tǒng)的授課或研討會(huì)中，超文本和多媒體是不可能將迥然不同的出版物及它們的出處類別統(tǒng)一在一起的。學(xué)術(shù)注釋及其相關(guān)背景的有機(jī)結(jié)合，加上主要的及從屬的原始資料和無窮無盡的練習(xí)，使學(xué)生們的知識(shí)面從深度和廣度上得到了擴(kuò)充。在掌握了一些主要的基本材料而進(jìn)行的研究的基礎(chǔ)上，以原始材料為背景的學(xué)術(shù)注釋和史鑒學(xué)上的爭(zhēng)論在史鑒爭(zhēng)論的推動(dòng)下結(jié)

8、合起來，促進(jìn)了傳統(tǒng)歷史技能的教學(xué)，并強(qiáng)調(diào)了歷史是一門解說性的學(xué)科。</p><p><b>　　實(shí)用性及質(zhì)量：</b></p><p>　　這個(gè)組織尋求于開發(fā)一種具備最高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，具有最廣泛應(yīng)用的課件。通過我們的分析，現(xiàn)存的課件往往技術(shù)上成熟，但質(zhì)量不足，抑或所編排的內(nèi)容不適合高校學(xué)生的學(xué)習(xí)程度。我們創(chuàng)造的這個(gè)教學(xué)模型，將英國(guó)的歷史教學(xué)分為四個(gè)廣泛的主題：女性的歷史，工業(yè)

9、革命及后工業(yè)時(shí)期，廣泛政治，和近代時(shí)期。為避免可能忽視一些不具備必要技術(shù)能力的有潛力的作者我們將指導(dǎo)課的組織工作和課件的生產(chǎn)過程分開，并邀請(qǐng)專家針對(duì)這些主題編排指導(dǎo)課。作者們并沒有受限于缺乏電子版的原始材料，他們可以選取他們認(rèn)為最合適的材料，然后由該組織承擔(dān)必要的版權(quán)結(jié)算，版權(quán)購買，及材料的數(shù)字化工作。這樣，我們?cè)谥笇?dǎo)課上使用的很多資源都是我們唯一獨(dú)有的。在我們已經(jīng)完成的12次指導(dǎo)課上，我們使用了2000多處主要的及從屬的文本資源，10

10、00多幅圖像、地圖、設(shè)計(jì)圖、電影剪輯、表格及圖表，以及40個(gè)可操作的數(shù)據(jù)集。</p><p><b>　　容易得到：</b></p><p>　　鑒于許多授課者在教學(xué)中不情愿使用基于計(jì)算機(jī)的材料，我們想說明的一個(gè)原因就是掌握這些軟件的技術(shù)方面需要花費(fèi)時(shí)間。因此，我們致力于開發(fā)人性化的軟件，以最大限度地減少學(xué)生們?cè)趯W(xué)習(xí)如何使用上所花費(fèi)的時(shí)間。我們?cè)诔谋卷?xiàng)目Microc

11、osm中開發(fā)了我們?cè)椭笇?dǎo)課。然而，網(wǎng)絡(luò)的出現(xiàn)和超文本標(biāo)記語言的崛起，雄辯地說明了超文本標(biāo)記語言有許多功能上和教學(xué)上的優(yōu)勢(shì)。盡管Microcosm易于使用，但實(shí)驗(yàn)證明它不易于安裝且容易癱瘓；學(xué)生們發(fā)現(xiàn)Microcosm的多窗口給導(dǎo)航帶來了不便。</p><p>　　用超文本標(biāo)記語言做課件使人們可以通過許多熟悉的瀏覽器，如Netscape和IE，來訪問我們的材料，這些瀏覽器是最人性化的軟件，并且對(duì)使用人員的技術(shù)要求

12、很低。超文本標(biāo)記語言的超文本鏈接提供了一個(gè)更加透明的結(jié)構(gòu)，并且仍允許學(xué)生們跟隨某些特定的主線來進(jìn)行學(xué)習(xí)。在瀏覽器里配置幫助的功能使此組織可以使用數(shù)據(jù)句柄工具來幫助可操作數(shù)據(jù)集和位圖瀏覽器的載入。這樣，利用指導(dǎo)課所需的技術(shù)培訓(xùn)被減至最少，使教師和學(xué)生有更多的時(shí)間投身于歷史學(xué)的學(xué)習(xí)中。</p><p><b>　　靈活性：</b></p><p>　　這種使用了超文本標(biāo)記

13、語言和瀏覽器的充實(shí)化授課的形式，使指導(dǎo)課成為了靈活的學(xué)習(xí)工具。最終，任何超媒體系統(tǒng)都代表了一個(gè)有限的知識(shí)集和一組有限的觀點(diǎn)，但作者選擇和組織他們材料的方式并不會(huì)把學(xué)生們引到事先下好的結(jié)論中。學(xué)生們和教師可以以自己的方式挖掘材料；在指導(dǎo)課上有足夠的資源來滿足各種問題及解說。</p><p>　　另一個(gè)主要的特色是教師可以個(gè)性化他們的指導(dǎo)課，比如說通過加入他們自己的材料、原始資料及理論依據(jù)，包括新鏈接、路徑、傳記、參

14、考書目和說明。他們甚至可以加入新的“核心文章”。通過這種方式指導(dǎo)課就可以取決于教師的具體要求。每一個(gè)指導(dǎo)課都有一個(gè)“本地信息文件”，它可以為講課者提供一個(gè)模板來加入他們自己的說明、鏈接或問題。除了本地信息文件簡(jiǎn)單的說明外，此組織還制作了一個(gè)向?qū)?，展示了如何以更加廣泛的方式更新課件。當(dāng)這個(gè)課件投放發(fā)行的時(shí)候，我們就用一個(gè)具有演示功能、工作區(qū)，及在線培訓(xùn)材料的程序來支持這個(gè)向?qū)В蕴峁┙o員工們必要的HTML技能和具體的例子來個(gè)性化他們的指導(dǎo)

15、課。</p><p>　　這個(gè)組織的最終目標(biāo)之一是為這個(gè)課件的用戶提供信息，培訓(xùn)，及技術(shù)建議上的支持。我們生產(chǎn)了印刷的和電子的手冊(cè)，還有分別給師生們提供的向?qū)?，包括介紹安裝，數(shù)據(jù)句柄，和個(gè)性化信息的內(nèi)容。我們還建立了一個(gè)會(huì)員制的“用戶俱樂部”，提供入門的和高級(jí)的培訓(xùn)，還有關(guān)于教學(xué)及個(gè)性化的案例學(xué)習(xí)，并通過答疑和網(wǎng)站提供支持和建議。我們的培訓(xùn)旨在為員工提供關(guān)于指導(dǎo)課教學(xué)設(shè)計(jì)、教學(xué)利用、材料的范圍，和必要的HTML技

16、能。我們還作了兩份簡(jiǎn)訊分發(fā)給所有英國(guó)大學(xué)及學(xué)院里的歷史教員，以促進(jìn)此組織的活動(dòng)并提高大家指導(dǎo)課的意識(shí)。</p><p><b>　　結(jié)果：</b></p><p>　　我們并不想讓指導(dǎo)課代替正常授課；早期的評(píng)估和專家組的研究顯示，師生們并沒有以這種方式來理解和使用指導(dǎo)課，而是用以支持或代替了個(gè)人的研討會(huì)。這種充實(shí)化授課的形式已被證實(shí)為一種很適合作者的模型，它提供了一個(gè)

17、靈活的框架以發(fā)展現(xiàn)存的授課形式，并汲取了HTML語言的優(yōu)勢(shì)。令我們興奮的是，主體和類別間的交叉引用及理論與實(shí)踐間的相互作用，使得大量的信息、文檔和原始材料可以被人們利用。</p><p>　　盡管作者們發(fā)現(xiàn)以合適的格式和風(fēng)格制作核心文檔要相對(duì)簡(jiǎn)單，然而“充實(shí)化”材料所需花費(fèi)的時(shí)間仍然比我們想象的要長(zhǎng)。尤其是原始材料的鑒別、收集、交叉引用和版權(quán)結(jié)算需要花費(fèi)大量的時(shí)間和金錢。平均來講，僅完成一個(gè)帶有相關(guān)原始材料和學(xué)習(xí)

18、材料的核心文檔就需要兩年的時(shí)間。由于大多數(shù)的指導(dǎo)課都需要不止一個(gè)文檔且通常涉及了很多作者，我們完成這個(gè)課件比預(yù)期晚了一年。</p><p>　　材料的質(zhì)量和范圍已被證實(shí)為本課件最突出的特點(diǎn)。作者們成功地避免了核心文章的主觀性；原始材料的質(zhì)量和范圍使得指導(dǎo)課可廣泛應(yīng)用于英國(guó)的歷史教學(xué)，其中很多材料是在別處找不到的。事實(shí)上，在投入發(fā)行后兩年間英國(guó)教授歷史的高等院校中有百分之七十五的學(xué)校都訂購了本課件。涉及到如此多的教

19、育機(jī)構(gòu)，尤其在評(píng)估階段，加強(qiáng)了分享材料的意識(shí)。</p><p>　　教師通常大多在研討會(huì)上使用此課件，而學(xué)生們則可能在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里上機(jī)的時(shí)候使用，或獨(dú)立使用它來準(zhǔn)備課堂討論，或?yàn)樗麄円獙懙恼撐牟檎议喿x資料清單。我們預(yù)先進(jìn)行的評(píng)估顯示，教師們先是用兩三個(gè)課時(shí)測(cè)試性地使用這個(gè)課件，然后才把它和課程作為一個(gè)整體而包含到課程中。有的系把指導(dǎo)課作為網(wǎng)絡(luò)資源使用，而不把其正式地包含到某一門課程中。其他的系則將所有的課程都基于指導(dǎo)

20、課。尤其是在圖書館資源不充足的地方，要開新課程的地方，或者在教師對(duì)使用計(jì)算機(jī)輔助學(xué)習(xí)技術(shù)感興趣的情況下，這個(gè)課件就會(huì)被在線遞送。在這種背景下，此課件基于在線電子研討會(huì)討論的特色就很有價(jià)值。我們還發(fā)現(xiàn)此課件鼓勵(lì)了學(xué)生們對(duì)歷史及信息技術(shù)技能的學(xué)習(xí)。通過讓學(xué)生們分享不同的資源，它已經(jīng)成為小組學(xué)習(xí)的有效工具。考慮到較低的師生比率，越來越多的教學(xué)工作量，及每個(gè)學(xué)生越來越少的學(xué)習(xí)資源，這一點(diǎn)可能正好發(fā)揮了此課件的優(yōu)勢(shì)。</p><

21、;p>　　來自教師和學(xué)生們的主要意見是它在定位一個(gè)特定資源時(shí)所花費(fèi)的大量時(shí)間，比如包含某一單詞或短語的文檔：當(dāng)前瀏覽器的查找功能只局限于被瀏覽的頁內(nèi)。從Microcosm到HTML的轉(zhuǎn)化使我們失去了一項(xiàng)極好的特色，就是索引和搜索工具。為了克服這個(gè)問題，此組織許可了另外一個(gè)叫做LIKSE的瀏覽器，其具備全面的脫機(jī)搜索工具。這個(gè)瀏覽器可以從這個(gè)組織的用戶俱樂部里得到。</p><p>　　在英國(guó)的計(jì)算機(jī)輔助教學(xué)

22、的發(fā)展中仍然存在著很多挑戰(zhàn)。盡管指導(dǎo)課已被證實(shí)為可廣泛應(yīng)用的靈活的工具，但仍不足夠靈活。教師們還不能夠靈活地使用課件以滿足他們個(gè)體的要求。盡管許多機(jī)構(gòu)已接受過HTML及如何針對(duì)具體的課程個(gè)性化其材料的培訓(xùn)，甚至當(dāng)一些教師具備相應(yīng)的技術(shù)技能并擔(dān)負(fù)較高的教研及管理職能時(shí)，他們?nèi)钥偸侨狈r(shí)間和資源來使課件適應(yīng)他們的需求。在歷史學(xué)的計(jì)算機(jī)輔助教學(xué)的應(yīng)用中頻繁地缺乏信息技術(shù)上的支持更是加劇了這個(gè)問題。在許多機(jī)構(gòu)中歷史學(xué)部門并沒有充分利用現(xiàn)存的信息

23、技術(shù)上的服務(wù)。如果沒有具備必要的時(shí)間和技能來實(shí)現(xiàn)課件的教師的話，文科及人文資源方面的工作人員就愈顯重要。這些人能夠?yàn)榻處焸€(gè)性化課件，并充當(dāng)可提供信息技術(shù)服務(wù)的媒介。然而，擁有敬業(yè)的文科資源方面的工作人員的機(jī)構(gòu)非常少，而肯投身于歷史學(xué)的人更是如此。</p><p><b>　　結(jié)論：</b></p><p>　　個(gè)性化課件的問題使是否我們的充實(shí)化授課模型能夠最佳地促進(jìn)英

24、國(guó)計(jì)算機(jī)輔助學(xué)習(xí)資源的利用的問題變得更加明顯。隨著越來越多的材料被數(shù)字化，教師們將能夠以一種反映他們具體的需要的方式更加有效地選擇和開發(fā)現(xiàn)存的資源。現(xiàn)在，人們可能較容易地定位合適的現(xiàn)存的數(shù)字化資源，而不必像該組織當(dāng)初那樣從零開始。此外，還有許多技術(shù)上的發(fā)展可以更加容易地個(gè)性化我們的資源——比如，Java腳本語言、CGI或ASP應(yīng)用，就提供了友好的用戶個(gè)性化接口。近來，人們開發(fā)了很多系統(tǒng)，可以讓沒有HTML知識(shí)的教師們?yōu)樗麄兊恼n程里添加內(nèi)

25、容：利物浦希望大學(xué)學(xué)院的“Hope Live”系統(tǒng)就是一個(gè)很優(yōu)秀的例子。</p><p>　　版權(quán)的結(jié)算仍在阻礙這個(gè)課件更廣泛的應(yīng)用，導(dǎo)致了此項(xiàng)工程的最大花銷（除了薪水）。它也阻礙了我們的材料通過網(wǎng)絡(luò)傳播。繼而此課件只能通過光盤來傳播，然后再安裝到教研機(jī)構(gòu)的內(nèi)部網(wǎng)絡(luò)上。對(duì)于教研機(jī)構(gòu)或出版商來說，從經(jīng)濟(jì)上來講為了一個(gè)具體的課件而投入大量的花銷是行不通的：該組織只能通過重要的公共資金來支持開發(fā)課間的花銷。為一個(gè)將被更

26、廣泛應(yīng)用于教學(xué)的數(shù)字化募捐整理結(jié)算（即使一些約束仍然存在）將是一個(gè)更為有效的手段。</p><p>　　在我們工程的最后幾個(gè)階段里，我們嘗試將此課件的市場(chǎng)擴(kuò)展到英國(guó)的高等院校之外，尤其是英國(guó)的高中和美國(guó)的大學(xué)。在英國(guó)的高中市場(chǎng)，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)許多指導(dǎo)課在A-Level(16-18歲)的歷史課程里刪去了年代學(xué)或地理學(xué)，而沒有將它們補(bǔ)充進(jìn)去。這一點(diǎn)削弱了我們課件的可用性，并可能使系里不會(huì)購買我們的課件。我們還發(fā)現(xiàn)盡管該課件

27、有些時(shí)候?qū)τ诟咝５膶W(xué)習(xí)水平來講不夠靈活，它對(duì)高中的學(xué)習(xí)水平的來說在結(jié)構(gòu)化方面也存在不足。有些情況下材料的語言對(duì)于高中生來講過于復(fù)雜。在美國(guó)，盡管指導(dǎo)課的學(xué)習(xí)水平和結(jié)構(gòu)都適合，但為了加強(qiáng)世界史而對(duì)以歐洲、英國(guó)為中心的歷史課程的削減限制了該課件潛在的可用性。</p><p>　　盡管我們的課件和其他一些推動(dòng)計(jì)算機(jī)輔助學(xué)習(xí)在歷史教學(xué)中應(yīng)用的課件取得了一些進(jìn)展，但我們面前的路仍然很長(zhǎng)。1998年關(guān)于CTI和TLTSN——

28、兩個(gè)國(guó)家級(jí)的行動(dòng)，旨在加強(qiáng)信息通信技術(shù)的使用并促進(jìn)學(xué)科級(jí)的教學(xué)實(shí)踐——的Atkins報(bào)告指明了更廣泛使用計(jì)算機(jī)輔助教學(xué)和信息通信技術(shù)中存在的障礙。其中包括：缺乏相關(guān)的適應(yīng)性強(qiáng)的高質(zhì)量課件；教師們?yōu)榱顺浞掷眯旅襟w而對(duì)信息通信技術(shù)培訓(xùn)的需求；缺乏對(duì)信息通信技術(shù)在不同應(yīng)用中有效性的研究及對(duì)合作的鼓勵(lì)；在中高管理層中信息技術(shù)熱愛者稀少；對(duì)于有創(chuàng)新性的教學(xué)未給與報(bào)酬和獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)；以及缺乏研發(fā)資金。該歷史課件組已經(jīng)用我們的課件及我們?yōu)榻o使用者提供支持和

29、說明所作的嘗試處理了上述問題中的一二兩點(diǎn)。當(dāng)前，我們正和CHIC工程合作，以不同方式研究實(shí)現(xiàn)計(jì)算機(jī)輔助學(xué)習(xí)技術(shù)的有效性，包括我們的課件，這將有助于解決上述問題中的第三點(diǎn)。通過在全國(guó)及國(guó)際范圍內(nèi)鼓勵(lì)討論和分享經(jīng)驗(yàn)，我們希望戰(zhàn)勝面前的所有挑戰(zhàn)。</p><p>　　Developing Multimedia Courseware forTeaching History: A UK Perspective</p

30、><p>　　Ian G. Anderson </p><p>　　INTRODUCTION</p><p>　　The use of computers in historical research has followed divergent paths in the UK and US.[1]  The development of Web-b

31、ased materials for teaching, however, may provide a common ground for historians on both sides of the Atlantic.[2] This paper outlines one experience of developing multimedia materials for undergraduate history teaching

32、in the UK by the History Courseware Consortium at the University of Glasgow. Established in 1993, the Consortium was funded through the Teaching and Learning Tec</p><p>　　DEVELOPING A PEDAGOGICAL MODEL</p

33、><p>　　Building on the experience of another program at the University of Glasgow—the Computers in Teaching Initiative Centre for History (CTICH), which gathered data about the use of computers in history teach

34、ing—we determined that many educators did not have a conceptual framework in which to incorporate computer-based materials into their teaching.[4] Similarly, students required a pedagogical context to guide them through

35、the courseware. Thus the Consortium developed the idea of the "enriched lectu</p><p>　　Since there are no core courses in undergraduate history programs in the UK, but rather ones ranging from the pre-m

36、odern to the modern period and from political and military to economic and social history, the Consortium aimed to produce a flexible set of "core resources" that could be incorporated into existing teaching pr

37、ograms. In the enriched lecture, "core essays" designed for first- and second-year students provide an overview of the topic and outline historiographical debates and thematic</p><p>　　In order to

38、address the difficulty of reading the large amounts of text on screen, we asked authors to outline their essays clearly with headings, to address a limited number of themes with clear points, and to use short sentences,

39、colloquialisms, and contractions, as in speech. The breaking down of each core essay into sections makes the material more digestible and allows students to dip in and out with greater ease. </p><p>　　From t

40、he core essay students gain access to structured and contextualized source material: they can follow detailed examinations of particular examples, case studies, debates, concepts or sources. The schematic diagram below o

41、f the Protestant Reformation tutorial illustrates how the enriched lecture was translated into a structure for the courseware </p><p>　　Figure 1. Schematic Diagram of Tutorial </p><p>　　The abil

42、ity of hypertext and multimedia to integrate disparate publications and source genres is not possible in a traditional lecture or seminar format. The combination of academic commentary and context, as well as the range o

43、f primary and secondary sources and open-ended exercises, increases students' depth and breadth of knowledge. The integration of academic commentary and historiographic debates with source material enhances the teach

44、ing of traditional historical skills and underscores the</p><p>　　APPLICABILITY AND QUALITY</p><p>　　The Consortium sought to develop courseware of the highest standards that would have the broa

45、dest application. Existing courseware that we analyzed, while often technically adept, lacked quality, or attempted to adapt content from a level of study not appropriate for students in higher education. As we created t

46、he pedagogical model, we divided the teaching of British history into four broad themes: women's history, the industrial revolution and post-industrialization, mass politics, and the pre-</p><p>　　ACCESS

47、IBILITY</p><p>　　One reason we identified for instructors' reluctance to use computer-based material in teaching is the time it takes to grasp the technical aspects of the software. Thus we sought to cre

48、ate software that was intuitive and to minimize the amount of time students would have to spend learning to use it. We developed our prototype tutorials in the hypertext program Microcosm. The advent of the Web and the b

49、urgeoning HyperText Mark-up Language (HTML) clearly indicated to us, however, that HTML has a </p><p>　　Producing the courseware in HTML has permitted the materials to be viewed through a variety of familiar

50、 Web browsers, such as Netscape and Internet Explorer, which are among the most intuitive and least technically demanding software available. HTML's hypertext links provide a more transparent structure and still allo

51、w students to follow particular threads. The ability to configure helper applications in Web browsers allowed the Consortium to use its Data Handler tool for the automatic loading o</p><p>　　FLEXIBILITY</

52、p><p>　　The enriched-lecture format, using HTML and Web browsers, makes the tutorials flexible learning tools. Ultimately, any hypermedia system represents a finite body of knowledge and a limited range of view

53、points but the authors have selected and organized their material in such a way as not to lead students towards predetermined conclusions. Students and instructors are able to explore the material outside the set pathway

54、s; a sufficient range and type of resources appear in the tutorials to allow f</p><p>　　Another key feature is that instructors can customize tutorials by, for example, adding their own materials, sources, a

55、nd evidence, including new links, paths, biographies, bibliographies, and instructions. They can even add new "core essays." In this way tutorials can grow and develop according to the instructor's requirem

56、ents. Each tutorial comes with a Local Information File that provides a template for lecturers to add their own instructions, links or questions. In addition to the simple ins</p><p>　　A final objective of t

57、he Consortium was to support users of the courseware with information, training, and technical advice. We produced both printed and electronic manuals, as well as separate guides for students and instructors, including t

58、hose on installation, the Data Handler, and customization. We also established a subscription-based "User Club" to provide introductory and advanced training, produce case studies on teaching and customization,

59、 as well as support and advice through a help de</p><p><b>　　RESULTS</b></p><p>　　It was not our intention that the tutorials should replace lectures; early evaluations and focus-gro

60、up studies indicated that instructors and students did not perceive or use them in this way, but rather to support or replace individual seminars. The enriched-lecture format proved to be a suitable model for authors, pr

61、oviding a flexible framework to develop existing lectures and to take advantage of the opportunities HTML offers. We were excited by the amount of information, documentation, and s</p><p>　　While authors fou

62、nd it relatively easy to produce core documents in the appropriate format and style, the "enriching" material took far longer to produce than we anticipated. In particular the identification, collection, cross-

63、referencing and copyright clearance of sources was expensive and time-consuming. On average, it took two years to complete a single core document with its associated sources and study materials. As most of the tutorials

64、have more than one core document and often multiple a</p><p>　　The quality and range of materials has proved to be the strongest feature of the courseware. Authors successfully avoided writing deterministic

65、core essays; the quantity and range of sources, some of which are not available elsewhere, have made the tutorials broadly applicable to history teaching in the UK. In fact, 75 percent of British higher education college

66、s and universities that teach history ordered the courseware within two years of its release. The involvement of so many educational ins</p><p>　　Instructors most often use the courseware to support seminars

67、, while students may use it in a computer lab sessions or independently to prepare for classroom discussion or to find reading lists for essays they must write. The preliminary evaluations we have undertaken indicate tha

68、t instructors use the courseware in trial runs of two or three class sessions before incorporating it into the course as a whole. Some departments use the tutorials as a networked resource, without incorporating them fo&

69、lt;/p><p>　　The main criticism from instructors and students is the amount of time it takes to locate a specific resource, for example documents containing a certain word or phrase: the find function of current

70、 Web browsers is limited to the page being viewed. The one feature we lost by transferring from Microcosm to HTML was an excellent indexing and search facility. In order to overcome this problem, the Consortium licensed

71、an alternative browser called LIKSE, with comprehensive off-line search facilities</p><p>　　A number of challenges remain in the development of computer-assisted teaching in the UK. Although the tutorials ha

72、ve proven to be broadly applicable and flexible tools, they have not been flexible enough. Instructors have not been able to tailor courseware to fit their individual needs. Although a number of institutions have receive

73、d training on HTML and how to customize the material for particular courses, even when instructors have the required technical skills, with increased teaching, resea</p><p>　　CONCLUSION</p><p>　

74、　The problems of customizing courseware raises the question of whether our enriched-lecture model best promotes the use of computer-assisted learning resources in the UK. With the amount of material currently being digit

75、ized, instructors my be able to choose and develop existing resources more effectively, and in a way that reflects their specific needs. It is easier now for people to locate appropriate existing digitized resources than

76、 to create them from scratch, as the Consortium did. There ar</p><p>　　Copyright clearance remains an impediment to a more widespread application of the Consortium's courseware, incurring the largest exp

77、ense (apart from salaries) in the project. It has also prevented our material being distributed via the Web. Instead the courseware is distributed on CD-ROM and then installed on the institution's intranet. A large e

78、xpenditure for a specific piece of courseware is not economically viable for either institutions or commercial publishers: the Consortium could only aff</p><p>　　In the final stages of our project, we explor

79、ed possibilities for distributing the courseware outside the market of UK colleges and universities, in particular UK high schools and US universities.[7]  In the British high-schools market we found that many of th

80、e tutorials cut across the chronology or geography covered in the A-Level history curriculum (16-18 year olds) rather than complemented it. This reduced the usefulness of the courseware and made it less likely that depar

81、tments could justify</p><p>　　Despite the progress made by our courseware and others' in advancing the use of computer-assisted learning in history instruction, much remains to be done. The 1998 Atkins R

82、eport on the Computers in Teaching Initiative (CTI) and the Teaching and Learning with Technology Support Network (TLTSN)—both national initiatives aimed at enhancing the use of information and communication technology (