World Wide web tutorials for teaching online searching in distance and individual-learning environments

摘要

Providers of databases and information services are increasingly turning to on-line tutorials and computer-based teaching programs to help users learn in non-traditional settings. Because on-line tutoorials can be used either at a distance or in independent learning situations they provide increased opportunities to learn. Unfortunately, although they may be more efficient than traditional classroom instruction, these on-line tutorials are often boring and tedious. Most teaching programs are "page-turners:" screen after screen of text, with an occasional graphic tossed in. Needless to say, this approach based on a "stimulus-response" style of teaching has failed to address critical features of human learning. Consequently, computer-assisted teaching has been anything but a rousing success.