Development of User-Friendly Courseware: A Case Study with Inventory Management
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Date
1995-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
These days, the uselimplementation of computer in education is becoming increasingly
attractive. There is now a general understanding among workers in this area that the
application of computers in education can be categorized as TUTOR (CAl), TOOL and
TUTEE . The TUTOR application (which is the subject of concern here) in particular,
relates to the use of computers as educational delivery systems where as the TOOL and
TUTEE applications refers to the use of computer for performing certain tasks and for
programming respectively .
A typical CAl/TUTOR system consists of a COURSEWARE (a specially designed
software for classroom instructional use), along with the hardware and system software
required to run such software.
As with any other software, courseware development requires analysis of the requirements
first, in particular, answer to such basic questions as When to use a courseware? how to
design ( develop) a user friendly courseware and what factors to consider in the design
of such a courseware.
This study attempts to address these questions by way of demonstrating the design and
development of a user friendly courseware using the available resources at SISA. A
literature survey of definitions, types and design considerations of a courseware along with
the main reasons behind the use and current development trends is presented. Among the
development models suggested for the use in developing a courseware, the ISD model is
described in great detail. The design and development of a microcomputer based prototype
courseware: Inventory Management Courseware (IMC), using the ISD model and turbo
vision programming language on the basis of a course under offering at the Addis Ababa
Commercial College-Addis Ababa-Ethiopia (work place of the worker) is described at
length.
The result of the study indicates:
1. Use of ISD model together with other tools and techniques lead to the development
of a user friendly courseware within a reasonable period of time .
2. The possibility/feasibility of using high level programming languages such as Turbo
Vision to develop an acceptable qual ity courseware even in the absence of
specialized authoring software.
3. The team approach of designing a courseware, as it facilitate representing of
different expert opinions, exchanging of ideas and identification of problem areas
that might be missed otherwise results in producing a better quality courseware than
individual based approach.
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Development of User-Friendly Courseware