Reviews

Computers and Typography edited by
Rosemary Sassoon, Oxford, Intellect,
1993. ISBN: 1-871516-23-4.

The term typography refers to the style,
arrangement, appearance, and design of
typefaces and typeset material. In this book,
Sassoon rightly assumes that typography
now extends way beyond words printed on
paper, and in particular to the world of
computers, where alphanumeric information
displayed on a screen is often as important as
printed output. Both forms of typography are
dealt with here. The book consists of eleven
chapters, written by a variety of different
authors, and grouped together into five main
sections, each one covering a different aspect
of typography.

Section 1 (Spacing and layout) contains
three contributions. The first of these pro-
vides an introduction to 'text massage',
basically summarizing half a dozen guide-
lines for improving textual presentation by
means of various massaging techniques. The
chapter is simple and brief, though unfortu-
nately its brevity also means that the guide-
lines described are not supported by any
references to relevant research in the field.
The second contribution in this section
addresses the concept of layout. This is
achieved by illustrating two versions of a
questionnaire, each making use of a slightly
different spatial arrangement. The impor-
tance of white space in the design of textual
information is discussed in the context of
information highlighting and the provision of
structural cues. The final chapter in the
section looks primarily at rules of composi-
tion. It discusses the effects of inter-character
and inter-sentence spacing. Rules based on
the use of various character shapes and
punctuation marks are also presented - there
for determining optimal sizes for the spacing
used in presenting text.

The second section (Typographic choices -
Latin and other alphabets) contains two
papers (as do all the remaining sections). The
first paper describes some of the problems of
using alphabets other than Latin, with major
consideration given over to handling Hebrew
on a computer. The problems involved in
creating multilingual documents are also
considered. The second paper discusses the
flexibility provided by computers with
respect to typography in general, the variety
provided by font types and the control of
inter-letter spacing. There is also a discus-
sion of the costs involved in fine-tuning
computer-based text.

The third section is entitled Technical issues
in type design. The first paper here describes
various aspects of the effects of technology
on type design, one of the principal effects
being found in screen or printing resolutions.
Low resolutions can result in a syndrome
known as 'the jaggies': low-quality text with
jagged edges. The chapter concludes with a
description of the development of type
design and font production tools. The second
paper deals with character description
techniques in type manufacture. Four
techniques are described, two used in the
production of metal type, and two relating to
bitmap font production and mathematically
specified contours (both used in the manu-
facture of digital type).

The two papers making up the fourth section
of the book (Lessons to be learned from the
history of typography) each relate to the
complications of computerisation. The first
deals with education in the context of
writing. Problems relating to the use of
computers in the development of writing
skills are discussed, and arguments for the
importance of handwriting are presented.
The second paper discusses the impact of
computerization (particularly, in the form of

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Au-J VOLUME 2 NUMBER 1

desktop publishing) on traditional
typesetting, and the implications of the
'democratisation' of typesetting, through the
wide availability of desktop-publishing
software, are debated.

The two papers in the final section of the
book come under the heading Research and
the perception of type. The first deals with
research into typography and reading, with
particular reference to the lack of research
into the effects of the typographic features of
text on children. The chapter includes both a
survey of teacher attitudes towards type
suitable for children and a description of
research into the effects various type forms
can have on children's ability to read and
write. The final paper of the book is devoted
to the visual analysis of text. Obviously,
since the human visual system is fixed, it is
essential that the features of textual material
are designed to match its inherent limita-
tions. The paper presents a method for the
computational analysis of textual layouts
which might be useful in analysing the
potential of various changes to typesetting
parameters.

This book is aimed not only at those inter-
ested in typography for its own sake but also
at anyone who wants to produce profes-
sional-looking documents with a computer.
In its latter aim, in my view it is only
partially successful. Much of the work
attempts to convince the reader that typogra-
phy is essential to creating quality computer-
generated documents, but although guide-
lines for good typographic practice are
offered, these are not generally brought out
clearly enough.

Furthermore, as is often the case in multi-
author works, the different writing styles of
the various authors result in some chapters
being easy to read, and others less so. The
work would also have benefited from some
form of conclusion drawing together the
major findings of the papers.

Stephen Richards, University of Teesside

Active Library on Corrosion by W.F.
Bogaerts and K.S. Agema, a CD-ROM
published by Elsevier Science Pub-
lishers (Amsterdam) and the National
Association of Corrosion Engineers
(Houston, Texas), 1992. ISBN: 0-444-
89607-4.

For a variety of reasons, electronic books
published on CD-ROM are valuable learning
resources, and publishers are increasingly
realizing the many attractive advantages they
offer. The Active Library on Corrosion
(ALC) is just one of many publications
Elsevier intends to produce as part of its new
Active Library series. The ALC runs under
Windows on an IBM PC or compatible fitted
with an internal or external CD-ROM drive
accessible via the Microsoft CD extensions
(MSCDEX). The software is fairly easy to
install from the CD-ROM it is supplied on,
and requires about 3.5 Mb of hard-disk

.space.

The Active Library concept is essentially a
generic hypermedia shell into which can be
plugged a range of different specialized
subject-orientated materials. The shell is
written in GUIDE, the hypermedia authoring
tool marketed by Office Workstations
Limited (OWL) and widely used in many
British universities for developing interactive
teaching material. Two of the reasons why
GUIDE was chosen for this project are (a)
the ease with which hypertext links can be
created, and (b) its ability to handle SGML
(Standard Generalized Markup Language). •
SGML was used to mark up many of the
electronic documents prior to importing
them into GUIDE for interlinking using a
special tool called GUIDE Writer. A good
range of electronic tools is available within
the system. Functions include specific
searches (searching and consulting for
information relating to a specific query),
highlighting and annotating documents or
parts of documents, browsing (associations
based on links, with back-tracking fully
supported, and current awareness (providing

71



Reviews

up-to-date information on a specific field of
interest through a user-profile). Two other
important facilities (based on path function-
ality) are Hitlists and Trails. Hitlists are
system-generated collections of related
documents, and Trails are user-defined
sequences of interesting documents held
within the knowledge corpus.

The ALC contains 6,000 documents covering
a broad range of topics in the subject-area of
corrosion engineering. It is made up of eight
previously published reference works and
1,200 newly created documents written by
leading corrosion experts. It also contains
over 2,000 images (mostly full-colour), 600
formatted tables, and numerous mathemati-
cal and chemical formulae. The system, then,
has a very large amount of information in it,
and in order to give readers a sense of where
they are in the publication,, the information is
organized around the use of a library meta-
phor designed to provide a mental reference
map.

After the ALC is started by clicking on its
Windows icon, one of the initial top-level
screens is used to show readers the Library
Map. This indicates all the available library
sections that can be accessed by clicking on
appropriate buttons. Within the individual
sections themselves, other maps are provided
to aid navigation and to prevent readers from
getting lost. The main Library Map provides
eight basic access mechanisms into the ALC
system. These are the Reference Cube, Case
Histories, Corrosion Control, Quick Refer-
ence, Books, Databases, Dictionary and
Help.

The Reference Cube is an innovative three-
dimensional table of contents in which the
reader can specify a combination of corro-
sion type and/or material and/or environ-
ment. Using the specifications entered by a
particular reader, the Reference Cube can
consult its underlying database and provide
that reader with relevant information, which
may be a single document or a collection of
documents.

The Case Histories section contains a
database of 400 cases of corrosion damage
taken from During's Corrosion Atlas.

The Corrosion Control section is a collection
of documents which give an overview of
general corrosion control measures and
typical measures against different corrosion
types. It also presents discussions on indi-
vidual techniques of corrosion prevention.

The Quick Reference section is based on the
National Association of Corrosion Engineers'
(NACE) reference book. It embeds an
extensive set of look-up tables containing
corrosion and materials background informa-
tion, and it includes a glossary for readers
who are not familiar with corrosion engineer-
ing.

The Books section contains the four books
now regarded as standard works in the field
of corrosion engineering and corrosion
prevention. Each has been converted to
hypertext form, and so are integrated into the
main body of documents stored in the ALC.

The Database section contains two standard
NACE databases (COR-SUR and COR-
SUR2) which together document the per-
formance of 25 metals and alloys (in more
than 1,000 chemicals and corrosive environ-
ments) and 36 non-metals (in more than 850
chemicals and corrosive environments). For
non-expert users, the Dictionary section
provides alphabetical access to a comprehen-
sive selection of corrosion terminology.
Similarly, for new users of the ALC the Help
section contains online help information on
each of the other library sections, along with
a series of tips on the basic use of the
system.

ALC is aimed primarily at corrosion engi-
neers, and is intended to serve as a reference
work for day-to-day use as well as a source
of information on less common corrosion
problems, but it will be an extremely useful
asset in many an academic library or labora-
tory. It is produced to a very high standard
both in terms of its content and its usability.

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ALT-J VOLUME 2 NUMBER 1

Indeed, it sets a standard for electronic
publication that many other publishers will
find difficult to exceed.

Philip Barker, University of Teesside

A Handbook of Computer-based
Training by Christopher Dean and
Quentin Whitlock, 3rd edition, 1993,
London, Kogan Page. ISBN: 0-88415-
088-7.

The title A Handbook of Computer-based
Training is somewhat misleading. Two thirds
of the book deal directly with the subject, but
one third is a general description of different
aspects of computer systems covering, for
example, the difference between microproc-
essors, minicomputers, and mainframes;
what functions operating systems perform;
descriptions of a number of input devices,
and so on. The authors might rightly argue,
however, that this information is useful for
part of the intended readership. A training
department, for example, might use comput-
ers for word-processing and spreadsheets and
not really appreciate the computing details of
those systems. If they were thinking of
adopting Computer-Based Training (CBT)
for much of their central work, this basic
computing information would be valuable.
And indeed, for anyone who secretly wants
to be initiated into the world of computers,
this book presents a balanced overview to a
reasonable depth. I have a few niggles. For
instance, the lower-case m used in mega-
bytes (a very common error in newspapers,
but not one that should appear in a technical
book), or the description of a light emanating
from a lightpen which leads the reader to
assume that the light plays a part in the
detection mechanism, when in fact it only
provides feedback to determine where the
pen is pointing. But these are the niggles of a
pedant.

So what about the major part of the book that
covers CBT? One of its pleasing aspects is
the emphasis it gives to professional produc-

tion: it dispels any thought that the job
should be given solely to a junior program-
mer in the computing applications group as a
spare-time pursuit The production of CBT
requires the same detailed planning as does
any software project, but the personnel
involved must have knowledge of the topic
being conveyed, the authoring software, the
techniques for teaching, the artistic skills to
design material that has the necessary impact
on the trainee, and an awareness of the skills
and experience of the typical trainee. Thus
CBT material is often prepared by a team
rather than one individual, and no team
member is likely to be particularly skilled in
writing conventional software (although in
some cases such a team member may be
necessary).

Other key points raised in the book are that
CBT is rarely used alone, but is usually
combined with other media such as
videotape and paper booklets.

The authors emphasize the need to pre-test
and post-test to determine how much stu-
dents have really learnt using the CBT
system, and that the body of the lesson
should not be conveyed merely by 'page
turning'. Instead, trainees should be regularly
active, with their responses determining their
path through the material. A number of
situations are described, illustrating how
CBT has been employed. The authors point
out that not all situations demand a CBT'
solution (for example a video might be
preferable).

The book is oriented towards the front-end of
CBT development. Is CBT really needed in
this case? What is needed? Have the pro-
spective trainees been consulted as to what
they require? What are the arguments for the
various strategies for CBT provision? What'
are the financial implications for the strat-
egy? What are the computer resource
implications for the strategy? And so on. All
well answered for the prospective CBT
organizer to use in discussion with higher
management.

73



Reviews

The book describes how the outline plan is
broken down into constituent elements and
how this is organized, planned, managed,
and executed. It includes descriptions of the
tools that may be available for specifying the
paths through the material and the instru-
ments that might be used to document the
design. It also describes the tools that
manage the training sessions, including
trainee records and progress, and methods for
directing students through the course.
However, how teaching skills are exploited
in the user-interface, and how the perceptual
workings of the human are exploited are not
covered except at a very superficial level.
Again, the authors might argue that what
they do cover is all that is necessary for the
CBT material currently produced. However,
with computer systems increasingly being
more graphically interactive, and CBT
designers intent on exploiting that fact,
further guidance is needed to ensure that the
user-interface does not confuse the trainee.
The authors do describe a system which fails
to pick up the fact that the supporting
material the trainee is meant to have while
using the computer is absent, despite the
trainee identifying the problem to the
computer. This was a failure in the interface,
but little guidance is given as to how to
avoid the problem. Tips from experienced
designers would have been valuable.

This is nevertheless a useful book for the
training manager's bookshelf. It is particu-
larly aimed at the manager who is to intro-
duce CBT, and that person will be made
aware 6f the computing resources needed,
the skills needed of those who will be
involved in its production and maintenance,
and the stages involved in producing CBT
material. It briefly describes the functionality
that can be expected in software such as
course-authoring tools, computer-managed
learning tools, and flowchart tools. It does
not (nor should it) go into how these tools
achieve their results. Perhaps the fourth
edition might include more detail of screen
design, particularly those aspects that must

be foremost in the designer's mind while
deciding the best way of conveying specific
material.

I.D. Benest, University of York

Learning Conversations by S. Harri-
Augstein and L. Thomas, London,
Routledge, 1991. ISBN: 0-415-02867-1.

In reviewing the development of courseware,
it is rare to read of the educational or psy-
chological reasons driving that development.
All too often, computational, technical or
economic issues dominate. Perhaps in the
avoidance of this 'why' question, it is
inevitable that a book should appear that
challenges almost all the conventional
wisdoms at once, which fires harmonious
cannons at practical experience and offers a
new model on which all resources for
learners should be built.

In their book, Sheila Harri-Augstein and
Laurie Thomas review 40 years of action
research to draw out a unifying theory of
behavioural and experiential psychology, and
Eastern and Western philosophy. The funda-
mental premiss of the thesis is that conversa-
tion is priori, and learning is a skill which
itself can be learnt.

The book is divided into three main parts.
The first looks at learning and how cultural
and historical precedents have acquired a
language to describe the process of learning
which might be generalized as modelling
meaning. Five types of meaning are identi-
fied, ranging from 'rote' to 'creative' - an
increasing awareness of the learning process
being seen as the key to moving from one to
the other.

The second part looks at the role of the
'learning conversation' in helping this
transition occur. The 'life', 'task' and
'learning to learn' phases are identified,
which can be thought to map learners'
purposes, experiences and interpretation of
records in computerized systems. The

74



ALT-J VOLUME 2 NUMBER 1

'monitor, analyse, record, reflect, recon-
struct' heuristic is described and exemplified
by tools used to structure learning conversa-
tions and make the learning process explicit.
Traditional measures of ability are shown to
reflect a learner's ability to internalize
learning conversations and become more
self-organized.

The third part looks at how self-organization
can be encouraged. In passing, many anecdo-
tal findings of others are explained: for
example, why, when the effectiveness of a
computer-based resource is compared with
its paper-based equivalent, no significant
'size effect' can be measured. The learner's
ability to converse is shown to encapsulate
his/her potential to learn. A radical challenge
is made to the current educational establish-
ment to improve the quality of the conversa-
tions they manage and remove what are
revealed to be barriers to learning compe-
tence.

The expansive appendices and postscript
illustrate the authors' ideas with remarkable
clarity and give plenty of scope for further
reading. One of particular interest focuses on
the requirement for computer-based re-
sources that support self-organized learning.
They give a reasoned explanation for the
common finding that as objectives become
more experimental, computer-based reflexive
tools are more effective than rubrics. Indeed,
gaining a language to talk about learner's
experiences and environments is one of the
main benefits to be gained from this book.
The omission of a bibliography does not
detract from the work as a whole; references
can be obtained from the authors.

In the light of previous reviewers' remarks,
any further comment seems superfluous:

'I commend [...] Learning Conversations as
an important work to be widely read'.
Professor Gordon Pask (founder of Cyber-
netic theory).

'I believe Learning Conversations is a book
no psychologist or teacher should be with-

out'. Dr David Fontana (Editor of the
Psychology for... series).

'The S-O-L system has enabled [...] progress
towards higher productivity'. Sir Bryan
Nicholson (CBI Educational Training Affairs
Committee).

Martin Reynolds, University of Manchester

Collins Electronic English Dictionary
and Thesaurus, San Francisco CA,
Reference Software International,
1992.

The Collins Electronic Dictionary is just one
example of what is becoming an increasingly
popular type of reference work for use with a
personal computer system. This particular
publication was originally produced by
Reference Software International but is now
distributed and maintained by the Word-
Perfect Corporation.

The IBM PC version of the product is
supplied as a set of seven 3.5 inch disks that
have to be installed in a separate directory on
the PC's hard-disk drive. The system takes
about 15 to 20 minutes to install, and
requires about 9 Mb of hard-disk space for
full installation. The software itself is made
up of four basic modules: the dictionary
(which requires 5.7 Mb), the thesaurus (1.02
Mb), the pronunciation guide (0.54 Mb), and
the etymology module (1.1 Mb). The only
module that must be installed is the diction-
ary. •

The dictionary is based on the 3rd edition
(1991) of the paper-based version of the
Collins English Dictionary and the Collins
Thesaurus (1984). Together, these make
available 190,000 definitions (comprising
3.5 million words of text) and over 275,000
alternatives for 16,000 main-entry words.
Entries in the dictionary contain pronuncia-
tion details as well as etymological informa-
tion. A relatively simple manual is provided,
giving details of how to install the product
and how to use it. It is quite easy to read yet

75



Reviews

fairly comprehensive in its treatment.
Unfortunately, however, in some places it is
inaccurate - for example, the telephone
number for hotline support is incorrect, as
are some of the instructions for running the
system.

Once installed, the dictionary can be invoked
in either of two ways: as a free-standing
conventional program, or as a Terminate and
Stay Resident (TSR) system. Each of these
modes of operation is available within DOS
and Windows. The TSR version requires the
use of hotkeys, and has to be unloaded when
it is no longer needed. Once the program has
been invoked, the system provides the same
basic user-interface and facilities no matter
which mode is being used.

The user-interface is in three parts: a hori-
zontal menu bar running across the top of the
program's display window, a central display
area for presenting word definitions (and
other information), and a second horizontal
menu bar running across the bottom of the
display window. There are seven entries in
the topmost menu bar: Dictionary, Thesau-
rus, Search, History, Options, Quit and Help.

Quit simply terminates the dictionary and
passes control back to the program that
called it - either DOS (or Windows) or an
application (such as a word-processing
package or a text editor).

Help provides access to a pop-down menu
that offers a number of different choices such
as Pronunciation, Glossary and so on. The
range of help facilities available depends on
whether the Windows or the DOS version is
being used.

The Options entry allows users to customize
the dictionary to individual needs - by
changing the colour scheme for display
windows, case sensitivity (in searching),
matching criteria, and so on.-

The History option can be used to obtain a
list of the last 16 items retrieved from the
dictionary or thesaurus.

The Dictionary and Thesaurus options create
dialogue boxes allowing the entry of words
to be looked up in the dictionary and thesau-
rus respectively.

The Search menu option provides three
different word-search options within the
'dictionary: definition search, anagram and
wildcard. The most powerful of the three is
the definition search. This searches every
definition in the dictionary in order to find
entries that contain selected keywords,
according to criteria that have been estab-
lished using a special Search command. Such
commands contain keywords connected by
the logical operators AND, OR and NOT.
The results retrieved in any particular search
will depend on whether or not case sensitiv-
ity has been selected, and also upon the
exactness level specified. Wildcard searches
use the two symbols ? and * within a search
string to represent, respectively, a single
unspecified letter and multiple unspecified
letters. The anagram search can be used to
find all words that can be made from a given
string of letters.

The horizontal menu bar at the bottom of the
dictionary's display window provides access
to a range of tools which can be accessed by
mouse selection or by function keys. The
facilities these tools provide include brows-
ing, switching between dictionary and
thesaurus, and copying a marked block of
text from the dictionary and pasting it into an
application. There is also a Replace facility
for use in conjunction with the thesaurus.

Although I found this program useful, I was
disappointed to find a number of bugs in it.
The three major bugs I found were:

(a) the TSR version of the program would
not unload properly when I wanted to
remove it from memory (I had to re-boot my
machine);

(b) the Copy and Paste facilities would not
work correctly; and

(c) using the TSR version with Windows led

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Au-J VOLUME 2 NUMBER 1

to an accumulation of undeleted work files
within the directory holding the software
(I had to delete these manually).

However, despite the bugs and the inaccura-
cies in the documentation, I still think that at
£64-63 (including VAT, packing and deliv-
ery), this fascinating educational product is
good value for money.

Philip Barker, University of Teesside

Key Terms and Issues in Open and
Distance Learning by Barbara
Hodgson, London, Kogan Page, 1993.
ISBN: 0-7494-07107.

This book began for me promisingly. First,
the title itself, coming from an author at an
institute highly active in both traditional and
innovative design and delivery of distance
education, suggested an up-to-date book that
would reflect issues central to the field and
also the considerable work going on in
distance and open learning in Europe overall.
Then, the author's introduction, giving an
overview of different perspectives on open
and distance learning, their shared as well as
their distinct characteristics, was well written
and conceptually helpful. I hoped the book
could become a useful resource.

However, two warning signs soon arose. The
first was the lack of an index or any kind of
overview of the content, no indication of the
descriptors used for entries, and no sort of
conceptual grouping of the entries. Only
alphabetical order (and bold-faced terms
within entries, for cross-referencing) were
there to guide me. The first term was access
devices followed by a page and a half of
discussion with cross-indexed terms: content
lists, summary, overview, objectives, index,
glossary, headings, cross-references, advance
organizers, pre-tests, and concept structure
diagram. Once I read the entry, I could see
the logic of calling these access devices, but
I never would have thought to go to an entry
entitled access devices if I had wished to find

out more about key issues with, say, concept
structure diagrams being used in open
learning.

The second warning sign came when I then
tried to look up, via alphabetical order,
various key issues that appear frequently in
discussions about distance and open learning,
issues such as (among many) how to facili-
tate co-operative work among learners at a
distance or how to design just-in-time open
learning and the implications of this kind of
flexibility for traditional distance education.
I could find nothing that seemed to relate to
these and a number of other key issues.

Perhaps it was the lack of an index or
overview that was preventing me from
finding what was in the book. I decided to
read it from cover to cover, and coded the
content. I found four major orientations that
together left me disappointed and frustrated.

My general impressions, after my analysis,
were that (a) this book was most focused on
the design of highly structured print materi-
als for distance delivery where the assump-
tion was that learners would generally work
in isolation; (b> the little of what I see and
hear as key issues in open and distance
learning in Europe circa 1993 are not
represented in this book; (c) most of the
entries for communication and information
technologies as tools and channels of dis-
tance and open learning are unsatisfying; and
(d) the book is unbalanced in its choice of
topics.

The first point is the most far-reaching. The
book appears to be written primarily from
the perspective of the designer of structured
print materials for distance delivery, where it
is assumed that the designer, not the learner,
is in essential control - that is, 'activities [...]
are things you ask the learner to do ...' (p.
19); 'an overview thus tells the learners
where they have been, where they are now,
and not only where they are going but why
they are going there' (p. 88); and so on.
Although this approach is certainly relevant

77



Reviews

for some learning situations, it reflects
nothing of the major discussion now occur-
ring about constructivist approaches to
learning or learner control. Also, the book
seems frequently to assume a model of the
learner working in isolation, generally only
with the print materials ('since learners
usually have no one to turn to for clarifica-
tion', p. 22). The awareness of the impor-
tance of human interaction within the
distance and open-learning paradigm, and
the many strategies being used to include
interaction as a key part of the distance-
learning situation, does not seem to be a key
issue relative to this book, while I think it is
one in practice and research.

The coverage of key terms and issues with
respect to the use of and impact of communi-
cations and information technologies in
distance and open learning is particularly
unsatisfying. Sometimes what is included is
rather odd in its expression compared to
general practice. For example,
teleconferencing is described in a two-line
entry as 'a system for linking individuals to
telephones. Very useful for telephone tutori-
als' (p. 118). Audio conferencing, for which
the above definition would be more accurate
although still strange, and audiographic
conferencing, have no entries at all, although
they are important channels for adding
interaction to distance learning in countries
throughout the world. Instead of audio
conferencing or audiographic conferencing
there are two strange entries, audio letter and
aitdiovision, that describe techniques I have
not seen in current practice, nor certainly
would call key issues. Similarly, video
conferencing does not merit an entry al-
though something called radiovision does.

In addition to somewhat odd definitions,
others relating to communication and
information technologies seem not only out
of date but uninformed. Computer drill and
practice is described as 'seldom giving
feedback to learners who make mistakes'
(p. 26). Computer-marked assignments are

introduced by saying: 'all that is needed is a
template that can be placed over a standard-
ized answer form to reveal whether the
learner's coded responses are in the right
place' (p. 28).

Icons are described with an explanation that
makes little sense: 'they [...] can signal, at a
glance, the necessity for having to hand your
audio-cassette player or that you will be
expected to write something before the end
of this particular section' (p. 59). Television
is dismissed in 10 lines as an 'expensive
medium' (p. 119), despite its strategic and
extensive use in distance education in many
countries, for example China and Turkey.

And it is not only media-related terminology
that sometimes surprised me. How many
people would look up the terms reflective
action guide, student stoppers or transform-
ers? Agro-botany evaluation is a highlighted
term - who is going to look for that as a key
issue, especially when genuinely key issues
such as criteria for cost-effectiveness evalua-
tion are not mentioned? Without an index,
how will the reader know that people with
disabilities has been chosen as a heading?

The impression of imbalance I obtained
related not only to content but also to
implicit frames of reference. While some key
issues are represented minimally or not at
all, others are over-represented. For example,
entries relating to learner evaluation pre-
dominate, with major headings that include:
assessment, assignments, competence,
computer-marked testing, evaluation,
examinations, formative evaluation, in-text
questions, marking, norm-referenced assess-
ment, objective tests, post-tests, pre-tests,
self-assessment, and summative evaluation.
Most of these are written in a introductory
way, such as one would expect in a reader for
general pre-service teacher training.

With regard to frames of reference, those of
many actors in the overall distance and open-
learning setting are not represented at all.
For instance, key issues facing administrators

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ALT-J VOLUME 2 NUMBER 1

in distance teaching organizations are not
represented, neither are issues such as those
relating to broadening access while main-
taining quality or transferability of experi-
ence and accreditation, nor issues relating to
the training of instructors to support the
addition of distance and open-learning
options to their teaching. Some specifically
British references occur (for example,
National Vocational Qualifications), but no
hint is given of the extensive experiences
relating to open and flexible learning that are
happening at the European or other interna-
tional level, such as the DELTA Project, nor
the issues being discussed relative to those
experiences.

On reflection, if the book had been titled
differently, clearly indicating its orientation,
and if it had provided an index or overview,
my reaction would have been less negative.
The book could more accurately be de-
scribed as 'An Introduction to the Design
and Validation of (Predominately) Print
Materials for Structured Lesson Sequences
Offered Via Distance Education Institutions'
than by its actual title. With this forewarn-
ing, I would have looked for different things
and at a different level than the current title
required of me. Then I could have appreci-
ated the detail about the construction of such
print materials. The three pages, for exam-
ple, under the heading in-text questions
include very useful guidelines if one is not
waiting for key issues to emerge somewhere.
The discussions about learner characteristics
and learner profiles are good, if one is not
expecting also to find something about key
issues relating to group interaction at a
distance.

In summary, and in my opinion, the writing
in this book about the instructional design
aspects of (predominately) print materials for
structured lessons delivered at a distance is
clear and good and helpful. In contrast, again
in my opinion, the overall coverage of key
terms and issues in open and distance
learning is weak and unbalanced in selection.

I would suggest an editing to take out the
generally poor entries relating to media and
communications and information technolo-
gies, a revision of the title, the addition of an
index, and a re-presentation of the book as a
reference text for print-materials design for
structured lessons delivered at a distance.
This latter topic is important, and the many
entries related to it in this book are relevant
and helpful.

Betty Collis, University of Twente, The
Netherlands

Rethinking University Teaching - a
Framework for the Effective Use of
Educational Technology by Diana
Laurillard, London and New York,
Routledge, 1993. ISBN: 0-41509288-4
(hardback), 0-41509289-2 (paperback).

Diana Laurillard begins her book with an
account of her attendance at her very first
lecture as a student, one which will ring
familiar bells for many of us:

'With 199 other students I counted myself
lucky that I was in the main lecture theatre
and not in the overspill room receiving
closed circuit television. The lecturer was
talking formulae as he came in, and for fifty
minutes he scribbled them on the board as he
talked and we all scribbled more in a desper-
ate attempt to keep up with his dictation.'

She then goes on to recount what happened
in the first lecture she herself gave as a
teacher: more or less the same thing. But this
time, a student asked a question at the end of
the lecture which showed that nothing of it
had really been understood, either by that
student or, it soon emerged, by any of the
others listening and scribbling furiously.
Laurillard says that she learned a great deal
more from that lecture than did the students.
Thus she came to believe that university
teachers must take the main responsibility
for what and how students learn. Now, given
what I say in partial defence of the tradi-

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Reviews

tional lecture in my editorial in this issue of
ALT-J, one might assume that I would not be
in entire agreement with the further conclu-
sions Laurillard comes to as a result of her
early experiences, in particular that the
lecture form as generally practised in
universities is a kind of insanity. 'It is truly a
miracle,' she insists, 'and a tribute to human
ingenuity that any student ever leams
anything worthwhile in such a system.' But,
throughout this book, Laurillard talks a great
deal of sense about the failings of current
academic practice, and she and I are not as
far apart as it may at first appear even when
it comes to the traditional lecture, which she
too sees as a usable medium if well handled.

Laurillard's main thesis is that the academic
system must be made to change, and not by
new guidelines being issued on how to teach
but by universities reorganizing their teach-
ing infrastructure. Thus her book is essen-
tially a discussion of how to think about
teaching, and the final chapter, towards
which the book steadily builds up, is an
attempt to define the kind of infrastructure in
which university teachers can be as efficient
in their teaching as they try to be in their
research. So well executed is this discussion,
and so clear, consistent and convincing the
direction throughout, that I have absolutely
no hesitation in recommending the book.

Space does not allow me to give the details
of all the strands of argument which
Laurillard weaves together with the utmost
clarity and intelligence, and in plain but
literate English.

Briefly, however, Part I consists of a lucid
treatment of what the aim of teaching should
be and of the complexity of the learning
process, a study of student attitudes, and a
clear-headed discussion of ways in which an
effective teaching strategy can be created.

Part II is an evaluation of the educational
tools available to teachers, from print to
interactive media. It is a straightforward but
penetrating evaluation - not surprisingly,

given Laurillard's own respected work on
evaluation - based on key research studies
about how students react to such tools and
how they use them. This is of very great
interest to those of us (which, of course,
should be all of us) who wish to be as sure as
we can be about which tools are best for
which jobs.

Part HI is concerned with design methodol-
ogy in educational technology. There is a
wealth of literature - some good, some
mediocre, some awful - on design issues in
this area. Laurillard talks (her usual) eminent
sense about general design considerations,
about the ways in which design relates to
content, about sensible approaches to
combining different media, and about what it
means in practice to use educational technol-
ogy as an integral part of academic life.

This, then, is a work - the result of many
years of professional experience and active
campaigning for better teaching, and in
particular the effective use of educational
technology - which puts into the clearest
possible perspective the issues involved, and
cogently argues for a rational approach to
them. Few readers of the book could fail to
be convinced that educational technology, if
used wisely, is the right way forward for
academic institutions.

It is therefore a book which all those in-
volved in the use of educational technology,
or those considering its use, should read. In
fact, a copy of it should be sent to the vice-
chancellor of every university with an
exhortation to take some time to read it
carefully. Its ideas might then filter down to
those working at the coalface who are hardly
aware of the technological tools available for
teaching, or who are as yet unconvinced of
their value.

Gabriel Jacobs, University College of
Swansea

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