Papers in PDF format

An Alternative to Browser-Based Instruction: Authorware Professional
with Internet Extensions
Background
T. Craig Montgomerie
Division of Technology in Education
3-104 Education North
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada T6G 2G5
Phone: (403) 492-3667
Fax: (403) 492-3179
E-Mail: Craig.Montgomerie@ualberta.ca
Gary N. Duguay
Division of Technology in Education
3-104 Education North
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada T6G 2G5
Phone: (403) 492-3667
Fax: (403) 492-3179
E-Mail: gduguay@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca
There is a great deal of courseware being developed for delivery on the World Wide Web today using standard
Web browsers. While Web browsers do many things extremely well, they are not specifically designed to
provide direct instruction as are authoring systems such as Authorware Professional. Rather than try to force a
Web browser to become an instructional system, we have added network capabilities to Authorware
Professional to allow it to communicate over the Internet to load and update Authorware Professional modules,
keep track of student restart data, student performance data and user license data. One of the side effects of
using Authorware Professional rather than a web browser is that the source code is well protected since the
user accesses object code only.
Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) systems were originally developed and delivered on "mainframe systems"
(1960s - 1980s). Students accessed courses via a terminal which was directly connected to the mainframe.
This allowed the course author to make changes to a single version of the course and have that change take
effect for all students. It also allowed a single, centralized registration and student data collection system.
With the development of microcomputer-based CAI systems, each student can receive their own copy of the
course, and can work through the course in complete isolation from the course author and system
administrators. With the development of CD-ROM, students all over the world can receive a copy of a massive
course of instruction, but the course is static - even if the authors find errors, they have to ship a new CD-ROM
to all students to correct those errors - a relatively costly process and one which is not usually done expediently.
Also, student data which could help improve the course can not be collected at a centralized location. The
problem we must address is how we can provide the centralized services we used to have on mainframe
systems in our current distributed computing environment.
Scope and Objectives
The purpose of this project is to develop a prototype file management system for Authorware Professional
courses which utilized the Internet as the medium for data transfer. The system automatically provides updates
of course modules from the Server to the microcomputer and transfers student performance data from the
microcomputer to the Server to help instructors improve CAI courses. Provisions have been made for on-site