ILSs: New Emphases for the Coming Years (1991)

Integrated Learning Systems (ILSs), designed to deliver networked-managed instruction, are experiencing dramatic changes in both focus and structure. Several manufacturers are experimenting with CD-ROM technology, while others offer the ability to incorporate different hardware platforms into the same network. And others give instructors complete control of every aspect of the ILS, allowing teachers to choose exactly what activity is delivered. * CD-ROM and the ILS A prevalent means for delivering educational software, CD-ROM technology is now making inroads into ILS environments. The medium's high storage capacity accommodates not only the management system, but also a complete line of courseware, making initial set-up much more convenient; teachers don't have to worry with numerous floppy disks. Plus considerable hard disk storage space is saved for other applications. The Roach Organization, Inc. (TRO), vendor of the PLATO Integrated Learning System, offers the CD-ROM Delivery System. PLATO's library of courseware--comprised of over 1,000 hours--plus the Curriculum Manager are housed on a single CD-ROM. The systems are especially useful for multi-campus environments; remote locations serve as extensions of the home PLATO network. In addition to this, TRO claims to be the only company to offer institutions the ability to transfer learner data from the CD-ROM delivery stations back to the central PLATO ILS via a telecommunications link. The Northside Victoria School District in North Sydney, Nova Scotia reaped the benefits of CD-ROM/ILS technology when it established a program for displaced and unemployed workers. Twenty PLATO ILS workstations were implemented, however the school board wished to extend the program to small student groups within a 30-mile radius of the main site. Two CD-ROM Delivery Stations were installed at three remote locations this month. Northside then took advantage of TRO's new communication software to telecommunicate records from the remote sites back to the central network. Another ILS vendor, Computer Curriculum Corp., also offers their product on CD-ROM. SOLO, the Stand-alone Option for Learning Opportunity, contains 3,000 hours of the CCC Instructional System's math, science, reading, language skills, basic competency and computer instruction courses. Both DOS and Mac versions should be currently available. * Mix 'n Match Stressing local control and choice, Ideal Learning, Inc. allows instructors to incorporate old and new computers into an ILS; Apple IIe, IIGS and Mac Classics can co-exist on the same network. The company's open curriculum manager, PODIUM, will send platform-specific courses to the appropriate computers, allowing districts to save money while also offering high-quality courseware. PODIUM gives teachers control of materials down to the individual-objective level. The curriculum manager's open architecture seamlessly delivers a narrative from one program, the drill and practice from another and the educational games from yet a third program. The final product would then include the exact activities each teacher felt best suited his or her students. Diane Yaris, vice president of marketing, attests that PODIUM delivers all the raw materials of an ILS and [teachers] can design the courses. In addition, teachers can start wherever they want to [in the courseware] but the principal can monitor operations and be sure that objectives are covered. With the Prescriptive Instructional Courseware System (PIC), instructors create their own objectives rather than choose from a pre-determined set. Developed by Learning Performance Corp., the inexpensive, open-architecture ILS runs on 128K Apple IIe or Apple IIGS computers networked on LANpro or any other NOS with the EasyShare IIx menu system. Teachers are able to create individualized instruction screens that PIC will insert anywhere throughout a sequence. …