selectauthorware素材

BehaviorResearchMethods.
Instruments.
&Computers1992.
24(2),273-276UsingAuthorwareProfessionalfordevelopingcoursewareCHRISTOPHERR.
WOLFEMiamiUniversity,Oxford,OhioThispaperdescribestheuseofAuthorwareProfessional,anicon-based,object-orientedauthor-ingsystem,todevelopcoursewareandon-lineexperiments.
Notablefeaturesincludedirectedit-ability,facilitywithmanyresponsetypes,andbuilt-invariables.
Shortcomingsincludethediffi-cultyoflearninghowtousetheprogram,inabilitytopresentstimulirapidly,theprogram'slineardevelopmentstyle,weakdrawingtools,alackofscrollbarsfortext,andsomeproblemsintheuseofAuthorwarewithotherapplications.
Overall,thepackageisrecommendedforuserswithadequateresources.
Thenumberofcoursewarepackagesavailabletopsy-chologyinstructorshasgrownsteadilyinrecentyears,andtodayitispossibletofindeducationalsoftwaread-dressingmostofthecontentareascoveredinanintroduc-tiontopsychology(seeHornby&Anderson,1990).
Yetdespitethewiderangeofcommerciallyavailablecourse-ware,thesuccessfulintegrationofcomputer-assistedlearn-ingintotheclassroomisadifficultandtime-consumingprocess.
Evenamongpsychologistswhousecomputersininstruction,lessthanathirdmakeuseofeducationalsoftware(Anderson&Hornby,1990).
Itisthusevidentthatpsychologicalcoursewarehasyettoliveuptoitsoft-citedpotential.
Ofcourse,anexcellentwaytoensurethateducationalcourseware,classroomdemonstrations,andon-lineex-perimentsaddressone'sparticularneedsistodevelopthem"inhouse.
"Inthepast,suchataskwouldhavere-quiredateamofprogrammersworkingforaperiodofseveralyears;today,thereareanumberofauthoringtoolsavailabletomakethetaskmanageableforinstructorsandexperimenters.
ArecentsurveyintheTechnicalHorizonsinEducationJournalindicatesthat34companieshavedevelopedauthoringsoftwareranginginpricefrom$50to$3,000formicrocomputers,andupto$64,000formainframes(Greenfield,1990).
OneofthemostwidelyrespectedauthoringsystemsfortheMacintoshisAuthor-wareProfessional,whichislicensedtoeducatorsbyAuthor-ware,Inc.
for$995(andretailsforapproximately$8,000).
AuthorwareProfessionalcanbedescribedasanauthoringsystem(Tyre,1989),becauseofitsansweranalysisfea-turesandbehavior-monitoringandrecord-keepingfunc-tions,andbecauseitpermitstheusertocreatemultimediaandinteractivevideo.
IhaveusedAuthorwareProfessionaltodevelopcourse-wareonapproachestoinquiryinthesocialsciences(Wolfe,1992c),student-generateddemonstrationexperimentsforanintroductorysocialsciencecourse(Wolfe,1992b),andInquiriesmaybesenttotheauthorattheSchoolofInterdisciplinaryStudies,MiamiUniversity,Oxford,OH45056(e-mail:erwolfe@miavxl).
on-lineresearchexperiments(Wolfe,1992a).
Ihavealsoservedasadvisorforanundergraduatecoursewaredevel-opmentprojectinwhichanumberofdevelopmenttools,includingAuthorwareProfessional,wereused(Sweeney,1991).
IwillsharemyimpressionsofAuthorwareProfes-sionalbydescribinghowtheauthoringsystemworksandevaluatingsomeofitsdistinguishingfeatures,shortcom-ings,andlimitationsfromtheperspectiveofthepsychol-ogistwhoisaresearcherandaneducator.
OverviewAuthorwareProfessionalisanicon-based,object-orientedauthoringsystem.
Suchicon-orientedsystemshavebecomethenormforcoursewaredevelopmenttoolsinrecentyears(Greenfield,1990).
ThesystemusesthefamiliarMacintoshinterfacewithpop-upmenusanddia-logboxes.
Thecoursewaredeveloper"programs"byput-tingdesigniconsonaflowline(seeFigure1).
TheiconsontheleftsideofFigure1performavari-etyoffunctionswhenplacedontheflowline(right).
Thefirstisadisplayicon,whichputstextandgraphicsonthescreen.
Second,theanimationiconsmoveobjectsfromonepointtoanother.
Eraseiconserasedisplays.
Waiticonshalttheflowuntiltheuserrespondsoraspecifiedamountoftimeelapses.
Decisioniconsdeterminewhichofasetofattachediconswillbeusednext.
Interactioniconspresentoptionsorquestionsand,dependingontheuser'sresponse,selectandbranchtoattachediconsforfeedbacktotheuser.
Calculationiconsperformcalcula-tionsorexecuteuser-writtencode.
Mapiconsorganizetheprogrambycreatingasingleiconrepresentinglargerprogramsegments.
Startandstopflagsallowthecourse-waredevelopertorunlessonsegmentsduringthecourse-waredevelopmentprocess.
Movieiconsplaycomputeranimationsegments.
Soundiconsplaydigitizedsoundseg-ments.
Finally,videoiconsplayvideosegments.
Asanillustrationoficon-basedauthoring,considerasegmentfromaclassroomdemonstrationexperiment.
Inthisclass,groupsofstudentsgeneratedideasforexperi-mentstoseeifsubliminalmessagesaffectbehavior,and273Copyright1992PsychonomicSociety,Inc.
274WOLFEFigure1.
Flowlineanddesignicons.
~@l]ICJ~ShortcomingsandLimitationsAnumberofauthoringlanguagesandauthoringsys-temsareonthemarket,andAuthorwareProfessionalisbynomeansinexpensive.
Thus,itisusefultohaveasenseofthestrengthsandweaknessesofthepackage,particu-larlyfromtheperspectiveofthepsychologistwhoisaresearcherandaneducator.
Timespentinlearningtheprogram.
LearningtouseAuthorwareProfessionalisverytime-consuming.
Ispentperhaps40-60hdoingthetutorial,experimenting,andporingoverthemanualasItookmyfirststabatcourse-waredevelopmentwithAuthorware.
Users(likeme)whoareunaccustomedtoicon-basedprogrammingmayfindthattheymustadjustthemselvestoit.
Thisisespeciallyfrustratingwhenoneisfirstperformingtasksthatarestraightforwardwhenoneusesatraditionalprogramminglanguage.
Fortunately,boththetutorialexercisesandthemanualarequitegood.
Withthetutorial,onelearnstobuildacompletecomputer-assistedlessononhowtouseFeaturesAuthorwareProfessionalhasanumberoffeaturesthatareofparticularinterestforpsychologists.
First,thesys-temisbuiltaroundthenotionofdirecteditability,theabil-itytomakedesignchangeswhilethelessonorexperimentisbeingpresented.
Thisisparticularlyusefulinthepilot-ingphaseofaproject.
IndeedthemanualencouragesonetouseAuthorwareinthedesignphase,anditspecificallycouncilsagainstdevelopingflowcharts,orevenvisualiz-ingallinteractionsbeforebeginningaproject(Author-ware,1989a,p.
3-3).
Second,theprogramisextremelyflexibleintermsofthenumberofpermissibleresponsetypes.
Authorwaredoesnotlimitdeveloperstoamultiple-choiceformat.
Theauthoringsystemacceptsmanykindsofinputfromstu-dentsandsubjects,includingtext,mouseclicks,menuitems,keypresses,conditionalresponses,andtimelim-its.
Theprogramisparticularlygoodwithtext,support-ingavarietyofmatchingstrategiesandacceptingtextofanylength.
Thesystemalsoplacesnolimitonthenum-berofbranchpaths.
Anotherusefulfeatureisthelargenumberofbuilt-invariablesavailablethroughapop-upmenu.
Authorwarehasover100variablesaffectinginteractions,decisions,time,video,andgraphics.
Thesevariablesallowthecourse-waretoalteritsbranchingandfeedbackinanumberofways.
Forexample,itiseasytoprovidedifferentfeed-backwhenagivenresponsehasbeenmadeonthefirstattemptasopposedtothesecondorthird.
Thesevariablesalsomakeiteasytokeeptrackofhowoftenresponsesaremadeandbranchesaretaken.
Thisisespeciallyimportantwhenoneispilotingcoursewarewithagroupofstudents.
AuthorwarehasrecentlyreleasedaversionforDOSmachinesrunningWindows,AuthorwareProfessionalforWindows.
AuthorwarealsoprovidesaPlatformIndepen-dentMediaformat,whichconvertsapplicationsfromMac-intoshtoWindowsformats.
Ihavenotusedthisfeature.
RuthorwareProfessionalLevell90-4~tF~Iimplementedtheirideasason-lineexperiments,usingAuthorwareProfessional.
Thehypothesiswasthatames-sageflashedbrieflyonthescreenwouldaffecttheratingofapicture.
Apictureofacranewaspresentedtothesubjects,and(inonecondition)thenumber7wasflashedinthebird'sreflectionforapproximately80msec(seeFigure2).
ThesubjectsratedthepictureonaLikertscalebyenteringnumbersonthekeyboard.
Responsesoutsidetheacceptablerangeof1-7wererejected,andthesubjectwascuedtorespondagain.
Whenanacceptablenumberwasentered,thesubjectwaspresentedwithanotheritem.
ThesetoficonsusedtodevelopthissegmentisdepictedinFigure3.
Thedisplayiconlabeled"Crane"containsthescannedimageofaphotographofacrane.
IpastedthepictureintothedisplayiconwiththeClipboard,astan-dardfeatureoftheMacintosh.
Themovieiconlabeled"7"containsthenumber7andinstructionstoplaythissingle-framemovieonceataspeedof120framespersec-ond.
TheinteractioniconcontainstheLikertscaleandtheresponseprompt.
Thetextresponseoptionissettocontinueifa"correct"responseisgiven;this"correct"responseisdesignatedasoneofthenumbers1-7.
Ifanotherresponseismade,theprogrambranchesbacktothedecisioniconandhighlightstheincorrectresponse.
Whenanacceptableresponseismade,thecalculationiconappendstheresponsetoanoutputfile,Theeraseiconerasesthedisplaybeforethenextitemappears.
AUTHORWAREPROFESSIONAL27512.
3NotAttractive45I:V(~ryAttractrveFigure2.
Stimuliusedindemonstrationexperiment.
Figure3.
Iconsequenceusedindemonstrationexperiment.
a35-mmcamera.
Thisexerciseprovidesanappropriatecontextforthecomponentknowledgethatisacquiredalongtheway.
IalsofoundthetaskoflearningAuthor-wareintrinsicallymotivating,andIhavecometoenjoythisapproachtoprogramming.
Problematicrateofstimuluspresentation.
Indevel-opingthesubliminalmessagedemonstrationexperiment,Isoughttopresentstimuliasrapidlyaspossible.
Ifoundthatthemoviemodulewasunreliableatspeedsexceed-ing120framespersecond(about83msec).
Themanualstatesonlythat"ifthesettingistoohightodisplayallframesattheselectedrate,Authorwarewillskipframes,asnecessary,soastoplaythemovieatthechosenspeed"(Authorware,1989b,p.
2-3).
Similarly,thetimervari-ablereportselapsedtimetoonemillionthofanhour(about3.
6msec),butthedocumentationdoesnotelaborateonthis,andthesystemcannotbethataccuratewithoutad-ditionalboardsandhardware.
Itmaybepossibletogetaroundtheseproblemsbypassingcontroltoexternaltim-ingroutines(Rensink,1990).
AuthorwareProfessionalallowsdeveloperstoincorporatecodewritteninprogram-minglanguagessuchasCandPascal(whichundoubtedlyhasmanyusefulapplicationsinadditiontotiming).
How-ever,Ihavenottriedthis,andifmillisecondpresenta-tionandmeasurementareimportant,thereareprobablybetterapproachesthanAuthorwareProfessional.
Lineardevelopmentstyle.
Theflowchart-likestruc-turescreatedbyplacingdesigniconsontheflowlinetendL~v~14+1234567+CraneEras~Crane9~~m~o~276WOLFEtopromotewell-structuredlessondesigns.
However,forauthorsinterestedindevelopingunstructuredhypermediaandhypertextenvironments,thislinearflowofcontrolmaybeunwelcome.
OnemoduleofthecoursewarethatIamdevelopingtoteachinterdisciplinarysocialsciencemethodsemployswhatIcallawheel-arid-spokemodelofhypertext.
Withthisdesign,studentscanclickonkeywordsinapassagetogetdefinitionsandfurtherinfor-mation.
DevelopingthiskindofhypertextiseasywithAuthorwareProfessional.
However,forauthorswhowishtocreateopen-endeddiscoveryenvironments,ahyper-mediatoolsuchasHyperCardmaybemoreappropriate.
Disappointingdrawingcapabilities.
Foranexpensivepackagethatpridesitselfon"greatgraphics,"thebuilt-indrawingcapabilitiesaredisappointing.
AuthorwarePro-fessionalhasaleansetofdrawingtools,andnobuilt-inpaintingtools.
Fortunately,itiseasytocreategraphicswithapaintpackagesuchasCanvasandpastethemintoAuthorware.
OneofmystudentsalsofoundtheanimationshecreatedwithMacrolvlindDirectorfarsuperiortothoseproducedwithAuthorware.
Fortunately,itiseasytoim-porttheseanimationsequencesintoAuthorware.
Somelimitsontextpresentation.
Althoughthebuilt-inword-processingprogramisquitegood,Iprefertode-veloptextinMicrosoftWordandpasteitintoAuthor-warebecausetheword-processingmoduledoesnothaveaspellchecker.
Anotherlimitationisthatonecannotputtextinboxeswithscrollbarsthatallowtheusertoscrollthroughlongersegmentsoftextthancanbeseenonscreenatonetime.
Ofcourse,onecaneasilycreateseveralpagesoftextinseparatedisplayicons(andtext-heavypresen-tationsgenerallymakeforpoorcourseware).
Nonethe-less,scrollbarsfortextpresentationarestandardontheMacintosh,andtheinabilitytousetheminAuthorwareseemstobeanoversight.
Authorwareandothersoftware.
Oneoftheoutstand-ingfeaturesofAuthorwareProfessionalisthatitcanbeinterfacedwithotherprograms.
Forexample,oneofmystudentshadnodifficultyinusingAuthorwareProfes-sionalasashellandjumpingtoroutinescreatedinHyper-CardandMacroMindDirector.
However,wefoundthatwhenusingotherprogramsasthebaseofoperation,wesometimeshadtroubleusingroutinescreatedinAuthor-ware.
Inaboutloutof10tries,thesystemunexpectedlycrashedwhenwewereattemptingtojumpfromAuthor-warebacktoHyperCard.
Sometimeswealsohaddiffi-cultyingellingbacktothecardweleft,returninginsteadtotheHomeCard.
WhenonejumpstoAuthorwarefromanotherprogram,thepackagehastheannoyingattributeofdisplayingitslogoandthefilename,andthenwaitingforamouseclickbeforegettingonwiththesegment.
Thismeansthatastudentmaysitforquitesometimebeforeacting.
AtrickthatweusedtogetaroundthisproblemwastonameourAuthorwaresegment"ClickHere,"whichatleastgavestudentssomeindicationofhowtoproceed.
ResEditmayprovideanothersolution.
ConclusionsAuthorwareProfessionalisexpensive,andlearningtouseittakessomework.
Itisalsoprobablynotthebestpackagetousewhenmillisecondtimingisimportant,orwhenonelacksresourcessuchascomputermemory,diskspace,andaccesstopaintanddrawprograms.
However,havingputtheeffortintolearningthepackage,Ifinditrelativelyeasyandenjoyabletouse.
Intheclassroom,Iwasabletoturnstudent'sideasintofivedemonstrationexperiments,collectdatafrom80students,andanalyzetheresultsoveraperiodoflessthan6weeks.
Inthelab-oratory,itwaseasytomodifymymaterialsanddesignduringpiloting.
Foreducatorsandresearcherswhowouldliketocreatesophisticatedcoursewareandon-lineexper-iments,AuthorwareProfessionalisaverypowerfultoolthatmeritsseriousconsideration.
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