X windows on the world: A systems approach to designing CBL tutorials

This paper describes a system which uses an X Windows environment to provide a system which can be used to develop tutorials which use computer-based learning (CBL) The system can be used to development tutorials which can provide tuition to, and assessment for, small groups of students. Hence it provides a means of overcoming some of the problems associated with the provision of small group tuition and the marking of assignments. When these tutorials are developed, in addition to relieving tutors from some of their duties we explain how they provide an opportunity for CBL to provide an improvement in the quality of teaching. In highly technical subjects computer-based tools are available which can be used by the students during problem solving sessions. Simple authoring systems do not provide access to such tools. Here we report upon more sophisticated authoring systems running on a multitasking operating system such as Unix which permit the tutorial to concurrently access tools running in other windows. Example tutorials are described which illustrate how the development system is used. The need for evaluation techniques which can be used to determine the effectiveness and student reaction to this style of CBL are also discussed.