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EUROMICRO Reports 123 above all, concluded de Vos, the sense of concern has been manifested by a ceaseless and energetic pursuit of alternative, better ways of mobilizing national resources and meeting competitive threats. Need has been equated with national sur- vival. Success, it seems to de Vos, is not so much a function of detail as of motivation - a national consensus and national commitment to meet the in- dustrial competition of the 1980s. "Governments and Microelectronics: The Euro- pean Experience" by Dirk de Vos, has been published by the Science Council of Canada (Background Study 49) and is available from Cana- dian Government Publishing Centre, Supply and Services Canada, Hull, Quebec, Canada K1A 0S9. Price in Canada: $4.50. Other Countries: $5.40. ISBN 0-660-11277-9. 112 pages. 1983. Computers and Higher Education: A New Partnership On March 26, 1983, the Faculty Development Of- fice at Western Illinois University sponsored a one- day conference and workshop devoted to Com- puter Aided Instruction and Computer Managed Instruction in Post-Secondary Education. Over 80 faculties from 17 different colleges and universities in Illinois, Eastern Iowa, and Missouri participated in the conference. Five concurrent sessions were offered each hour in both morning and afternoon time periods. The sessions were designed to appeal to a wide range of disciplines and prior computer experience. Beginning and advanced level sessions encom- passed Business, Technology, Science, The Arts, Education, and other disciplines. The conference keynote speaker was William M. Golden, Head of PLATO Services Organization. Mr. Golden provided a perspective of CAI through his discussion of PLATO - past, present, and future. PLATO's long-term experience in computer assisted instruction offers much guidance to those who are just entering the CAI arena as either users or developers of CAl. While all of the various sessions can not be reviewed, a few selected sessions are briefly described in the next paragraphs. These descrip- tions will give some idea of the depth and breadth of conference topics. John Wheat Gibson (Department of Journalism, Eastern Illinois University). A PLATO based lesson sequence in newstyle, based upon the AP Stylebook, was demonstrated. This lesson uses one of the computer's most endearing traits: inex- haustable patience. Also demonstrated was a sequence in grammar, punctuation, and diction. In this particular exer- cise, students rewrite sentences and the computer evaluates and scores the student effort. Jimmie Lee Johnson (Roosevelt University). An in- structional method for teaching introductory com- puter graphics was presented. The presenter em- phasized the importance of having an undergraduate student generate graphics early in the course curriculum for motivational reasons. Course content can then focus on successive refinements in the students' graphical techniques. Also emphasized in the presentation were the machine specific problems that must be overcome in a computer graphics course. Ruth M. Dow (Associate Professor, School of Home Economics, Eastern Illinois University). A PLATO system simulation was demonstrated. This simulation is used by diet therapy students in developing their diagnostic, analytical, and treat- ment skills. The computer simulates a client in need of diet therapy. Students, interacting with the ter- minal, receive immediate feedback concerning the accuracy of their diagnosis and treatment prescription. Leonard E. Storm (Assistant Professor, Physics Department, Eastern Illinois University). An AC/DC circuit design and analysis program, writ- ten for the TI99/4A was demonstrated. With the CAI package, students can design circuits on the screen. The usual circuit elements plus current dependent voltage sources such as transistors and operational amplifiers are available for circuit design.

Computers and higher education: A new partnership

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Page 1: Computers and higher education: A new partnership

EUROMICRO Reports 123

above all, concluded de Vos, the sense of concern has been manifested by a ceaseless and energetic pursuit of alternative, better ways of mobilizing national resources and meeting competitive threats. Need has been equated with national sur- vival. Success, it seems to de Vos, is not so much a

function of detail as of motivation - a national consensus and national commitment to meet the in- dustrial competi t ion of the 1980s.

"Governments and Microelectronics: The Euro- pean Experience" by Dirk de Vos, has been published by the Science Council of Canada (Background Study 49) and is available from Cana- dian Government Publishing Centre, Supply and Services Canada, Hull, Quebec, Canada K1A 0S9. Price in Canada: $4.50. Other Countries: $5.40. ISBN 0-660-11277-9. 112 pages. 1983.

Computers and Higher Education: A New Partnership

On March 26, 1983, the Faculty Development Of- fice at Western Illinois University sponsored a one- day conference and workshop devoted to Com- puter Aided Instruction and Computer Managed Instruction in Post-Secondary Education. Over 80 faculties from 17 different colleges and universities in Illinois, Eastern Iowa, and Missouri participated in the conference.

Five concurrent sessions were offered each hour in both morning and afternoon time periods. The sessions were designed to appeal to a wide range of disciplines and prior computer experience. Beginning and advanced level sessions encom- passed Business, Technology, Science, The Arts, Education, and other disciplines.

The conference keynote speaker was William M. Golden, Head of PLATO Services Organization. Mr. Golden provided a perspective of CAI through his discussion of PLATO - past, present, and future. PLATO's long-term experience in computer assisted instruction offers much guidance to those who are just entering the CAI arena as either users or developers of CAl.

While all of the various sessions can not be

reviewed, a few selected sessions are briefly described in the next paragraphs. These descrip- tions will give some idea of the depth and breadth of conference topics.

John Wheat Gibson (Department of Journalism, Eastern Illinois University). A P L A T O based lesson sequence in newstyle, based upon the AP Stylebook, was demonstrated. This lesson uses one of the computer ' s most endearing traits: inex- haustable patience.

Also demonstrated was a sequence in grammar , punctuation, and diction. In this particular exer- cise, students rewrite sentences and the computer evaluates and scores the student effort.

Jimmie Lee Johnson (Roosevelt University). An in- structional method for teaching introductory com- puter graphics was presented. The presenter em- phasized the importance of having an undergraduate student generate graphics early in the course curriculum for motivational reasons. Course content can then focus on successive refinements in the students ' graphical techniques.

Also emphasized in the presentation were the machine specific problems that must be overcome in a computer graphics course.

Ruth M. D o w (Associate Professor, School of Home Economics, Eastern Illinois University). A P L A T O system simulation was demonstrated. This simulation is used by diet therapy students in developing their diagnostic, analytical, and treat- ment skills. The computer simulates a client in need of diet therapy. Students, interacting with the ter- minal, receive immediate feedback concerning the accuracy of their diagnosis and treatment prescription.

Leonard E. Storm (Assistant Professor, Physics Department , Eastern Illinois University). An A C / D C circuit design and analysis program, writ- ten for the TI99/4A was demonstrated. With the CAI package, students can design circuits on the screen. The usual circuit elements plus current dependent voltage sources such as transistors and operational amplifiers are available for circuit design.

Page 2: Computers and higher education: A new partnership

124 EUROMICRO Reports

Circuits can then be solved using the Maxwell method of partial circuits. Students can then ex- plore circuit response to changes in the various elements - "what if" analysis of circuit.

Edward M. Knod (Associate Professor, Manage- ment Department, Western Illinois University). Microcomputer assisted instruction in a Produc- tion/Operations Curriculum was the topic of this presentation. Applications software used by students in advanced Production/Operations courses for problem solving and case analysis in- cluded quality control analysis, planning and scheduling, simulation, linear programming and other software.

Dr. Knod emphasized the database concept used with this software. This concept simulates the prac- ticing manager's need to search for appropriate in- formation in problem solving. Students must search the databases to locate data appropriate for analysis by one or more of the available applica- tions software packages. This concept represents a break from the traditional textbook approach where the problem or case and appropriate data are presented in one format.

Professor Sydney L. Balbes (Department of Art, Eastern Illinois University). Computer generated/aided motion graphics in television and higher education was the topic of this presentation. In 1965, computer assisted motion graphic design was practically non-existent. Most television graphics were created by the hand painted color cel method - photographed one frame at a time.

Professor Balbes demonstrated the use of the computer in creating animated graphics through video signal distortion, direct creation, and other techniques. He discussed the potential of this rapidly changing field.

Dr. David Rine, Chairperson IEEE CS, Education Committee Computer Science Western Illinois University Macomb, IL 61455 USA

Fault-Tolerant Systems Et Diagnostics

The Fifth International Conference on Fault- Tolerant Systems and Diagnostics (FTSD '82) took place in Katowice, Poland from February 8-10, 1983. The conference was sponsored by the Polish Technical Society, the Silesian Technical Universi- ty and the Institute of Control Systems.

We feature below a review of the majority of lec- tures presented at FTSD '82.

Generation Complexity In a lecture entitled "Test-Set Generation Com- plexity", K. Sapiecha (Warsaw Technical Universi- ty, Poland) investigated the influence of a circuit complexity, a circuit design, a fault model and a test-set generation method upon a complexity of the test-set generation for the circuit considered.

D-Algorithm S. Vflrszegi (Computer and Automation Institute, Budapest, Hungary) discussed the parallel version of the d-algorithm classically elaborated for com- puters with uniprocessors. V~rszegi first abstracted the essence of the d-algorithm with respect to parallelization. By using the resulting tools, he searched for the parallelisms included in the d- algorithm, and discussed the application on a special network. Vftrszegi then dealt with three multiprocessor configurations with a star, a linear and a tree graph structure respectively, on which the d-algorithm is parallelly executable.

Digital Circuits Digital circuits beyond classical combinational and sequential elements, sometimes contain threshold and temporary elements. Their specific construc- tion defines principles of test simulations genera- tion. The method J. Piecha (Silesian University of Katowice, Poland) proposed in his lecture provides a universal apparatus for tests generation for faults in circuits composed of various elements. The method also enables one to determine the tests for single or multiple faults and for shorting of paths.