Reviews

edited by Philip Barker

Researching into Teaching Methods in Colleges
and Universities by Clinton Bennett, Lorraine
Foreman-Peck and Chris Higgins, London:
Kogan Page, 1996. ISBN: 0-7494-1768-4, 136 (+
vii) pages, paperback. £14.99.

Although the range of research undertaken by
universities and colleges covers a very wide
spectrum, each of the books in this Kogan Page
series is narrowly focused on a particular form
of research, that of small-scale 'insider
research'. This is defined as research into
teaching and learning which is undertaken by
tutors with the specific aim of improving their
teaching practice. The series is intended to be
quick and easy to read, to provide starting
points for research into teaching practice, and
to give pointers to ways in which outcomes may
be recorded and published. It aims to deal with
contemporary issues affecting teachers in
colleges and universities, and to include a range
of research methods with suggestions for how
these might be used or adapted in particular
circumstances. Each book in the series shares a
version of the opening and concluding
paragraphs. The opening paragraph introduces
a concept of insider research based on the
notion of the reflective practitioner of
education: this model takes the view that
teachers should play an active role in
constructing and reconstructing knowledge with
the aim of improving teaching. 'Research' is
related mainly to the rating system defined by
the Higher Education Funding Council for
England (HEFCE).

The text is careful not to offer a blueprint for
research activity. This would be unlikely to be
of practical value, given the very wide range of

/contexts and activities in which readers would
/ be engaged. It seeks instead to provide pointers
/ to how to begin reflective research activity, and
' to the limitations of small-scale research, and

stresses the need for objectivity. The kinds of
group which might be suited to study, and their
particular perspectives, are listed, as are the
differences between the traditions of qualitative
and quantitative research methodologies in
education (there is also a useful appendix which
introduces the use of IT in qualitative analysis).
There is a synopsis of methods for data
collection and analysis.

Chapters 2 and 3 deal mainly with the changing
role of the lecturer, and highlight some
contemporary directions for research into
teaching. This again is mostly concerned with
the situation in the UK, and highlights policy
initiatives such as National Vocational
Qualifications (NVQs), the influence of
teaching-quality assessments, and problems of
semesterization. The move towards a mass
education system is related to problems in
teaching large groups. Aspects of research into
student learning include strategies for learning
and students' perceptions of learning and of
assessment. The extent to which students are
able to take charge of their own learning is
contrasted with views about the extent of
teacher guidance. Open, resource-based, and
distance learning are detailed, and the relative
advantages and disadvantages are discussed.

Chapter 4 deals with approaches and issues
arising from vocationalization of the
curriculum, again specifically related to the UK.
However, the rich literature on students'
learning styles and its relationship to styles of

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Reviews

teaching and to personality is not indicated, and
the referencing might have been enhanced by
the addition of several key texts in this area. The
use of computer technology for the delivery of
educational materials is discussed, though IT is
associated only with models of interaction
classified as 'surface' or 'deep', and little is said
about the evaluation of learning outcomes. The
culture of educational organizations, as a focus
for research, is a useful contribution in Chapter
5. An explanation of the various cultures,
borrowed from Charles Handy's perspective on
institutional cultures, is informative. Linked
with this is discussion of institutional change
and the management of change.

The concluding chapter is a synopsis of the
processes leading to getting research published.
This deals with the process from both the
author's and publisher's points of view, and
offers good advice on the negotiation of
contracts. Finally, there is an annotated list of
publishers. For those new to publishing, this
chapter provides an excellent overview.

The book is well referenced, and reading lists
are helpfully annotated with comments on the
scope and suitability of the texts chosen. Each
chapter also suggests a number of focused
research tasks: these are displayed as separate
tables.

This is a small book of only six comparatively
short chapters. However, as an introduction to
help tutors to begin researching into aspects of
their own work, it is clearly written and
informative at an appropriate level. It provides
sound advice, and good pointers to the kinds of
research which might be undertaken by tutors,
though it does focus on the research-assessment
culture which is current in the UK. It will
perhaps be of particular value to those who are
expert in the practice of their subject but not
necessarily in its pedagogy, and who are
approaching formal, publishable research for
the first time.

David Durling, Edge Ltd, Hartlepool

Designing Electronic Performance Support Tools
— Improving Workplace Performance with
Hypertext, Hypermedia and Multimedia by
G. H. and E. F. Stevens, Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Educational Technology Publications, 1995.
ISBN: 0-87778-283-0. 265 pages, paperback.
$39-95.

Electronic performance-support systems (EPSSs)

are becoming an important mechanism for
providing on-the-job, just-in-time training at
appropriate points of need within both
academic and industrial/commercial organiza-
tions. They are also important as a support
facility within organizations which undergo
dynamic change in order to meet the demands
placed upon them. As the benefits of this
approach become more widely realized, there is
a growing demand for their use. Unfortunately,
in the past there has been a distinct shortage of
appropriate tools and methodologies to enable
the rapid creation and application of
performance-support techniques. This book is
therefore a welcome publication.

The book is organized into ten chapters, a
glossary, a bibliography and a subject index.
The major topics covered include a discussion
of human performance in relation to electronic
performance support; the important constituent
technologies that make up an electronic
performance-support environment; the anatomy
of an application; planning information
structures and file structures; navigation; end-
user interface design; the design and use of
embedded tools; implementation techniques;
hardware and software issues; and a series of
case studies that deal with performance support
and organizational change.

Chapter 1 starts off with a discussion of a range
of background considerations relating to the
need for and use of EPSS tools within
organizations. An important aspect of this
chapter is the mapping of generic performance-
support tools onto organizational functions. In
Chapter 2 the authors provide a description of
various approaches to the design and
development of EPSS facilities. They suggest an
object-oriented approach involving rapid
prototyping, and the chapter provides a useful
checklist for selecting a development tool based
on the characteristics of the application
involved and the environment in which it exists.

Application characteristics are further discussed
in Chapter 3, which goes into hypermedia and
object-orientation in greater depth, while
Chapter 4 deals with the essential planning
issues that need to be considered as part of
hypermedia design. These issues include
analysis of opportunities for performance
support; planning how information in an
application should be organized and labelled;
and selecting file structures which will be
effective for the application.

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ALT-} Volume 4 Number 3

Chapter 5 considers the important topic of
navigation. It outlines some of the common
navigational problems associated with
applications and design tools. Some of the
challenges that designers have to meet are
discussed; they include end-user orientation;
focusing users' attention; and providing
contextual understanding of the information in
an application. Tools available to manage these
challenges are described.

Chapter 6 deals with end-user interface design
for performance-support applications
primarily for screen displays. It provides a set of
guidelines for creating a consistent and effective
user-interface. The authors also present a nine-
step systematic methodology for interface
design, along with checklists for using this
approach. Embedded tools to improve end-user
productivity and performance are important
aspects of all EPSS facilities. This issue is
discussed in Chapter 7. Typical examples of
some of the types of tool considered include
note-taking utilities; calculation and analysis
tools; and auditing tools that can be used to
track users' navigation and use of facilities.

Previous chapters in the book have each
presented essential design strategies for all
application areas. In Chapter 8 the authors
elaborate on selected guidelines for specific
types of application. The three broad types of
application considered are instructional, on-line
reference and job task automation. The issues
considered within the examples presented
include optimizing navigational design;
feedback; information structuring; user access;
identifying what should be automated; and
helping clients to define and communicate their
expectations.

Chapter 9 deals with the hardware and software
tools needed to create hypermedia and
multimedia applications in EPSS environments.
Within the context of selecting hardware and
software resources, the authors consider three
main perspectives: what is needed to create
applications, what is required in order to run
applications, and what is the best way to
disseminate them. The MPC (Multimedia PC)
standard is briefly discussed, and there are also
some useful sections on the design implications
of using digital audio and video.

The final chapter is used to present three case
studies relating to EPSS and organizational
change. They are rooted in the areas of claims
processing in a health/medical insurance

company; company reorganization to achieve
an optimal information environment based on
the use of EPSS; and fleet management within a
large automobile leasing company. These case
studies serve to illustrate the positive benefits of
EPSS facilities, and the importance of
understanding the interaction between EPSS
tool design and organizational structure.

Nowadays, the use of EPSS facilities is starting
to challenge conventional approaches to the use
of computers in education and training. For
those wishing to get involved in this area, this
book contains some very useful tips and
techniques.

Philip Barker, University of Teesside

Educational Telecommunications, 1996: Pro-
ceedings of Ed-Medial Ed-Telecom 96, edited by
Patricia Carlson and Fillia Makedon,
Charlottesville VA: Association for the
Advancement of Computing in Education
(AACE), 1996. ISBN: 1-880094-22-3. 395 pages,
paperback.

It would be impossible, even if the space
available here were much greater, properly to
describe the contents of this weighty volume,
the proceedings of Ed-Telecom 96, an
international conference focusing on educa-
tional telecommunications, held in Boston
Massachusetts in June this year. There are 58
full papers and 46 short papers, covering the
complete range of telematics in education,
everything from evaluating distance-learning
programmes to creating a virtual campus. These
papers were selected from over 300
presentations at this leading conference.

As with all the proceedings I have ever come
across (and this, of course, is inevitable) there is
good and bad. In these proceedings, however,
there is very good and very bad. Many of the
short papers are simply too short to tell us
anything except that someone is working in such
and such an area (though this can be useful in
certain circumstances, I agree); others manage to
put forward innovative ideas about which one
would have liked to hear much more. But the
real interest in this volume lies in the full papers
which make up 337 of the 395 (large-size) pages.
And here, the standard is even more variable. At
one extreme, there are some exceptionally badly
written, badly constructed descriptive-pieces of
the type which now makes me tear my hair out.
They often open with something like: "The use of
the microcomputer to provide an integrated

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learning environment for teaching a variety of
disciplines has received much attention in recent
years.' They then continue on the lines of: "We
did this, then we did that, and the students liked
it [positive feedback is the correct expression],
though there were a few students who had some
reservations (see Figure 29 for a graphical
representation).' At the other extreme, however,
this volume contains some excellent analyses
which reveal the real problems of distance
education, and which suggest interesting
solutions, as well as identifying and warning
against not so obvious traps into which the
novice distance teacher might fall.

The contents are not grouped by theme, and
unfortunately there is no introduction to
explain the thinking behind the order in which
the papers appear (I could not work it out).
This is surprising because the editors mention in
their short preface the 22 major areas
supposedly covered by the conference. But this
criticism is not very significant: a glance at the
list of titles (or at the list of authors at the back
of the book, if one feels that is important) is all
one needs in order to find the material most
appropriate to one's area of activity. And
anyone working in educational telematics will,
for sure, find quite a lot of food for thought
here even if they almost choke on some of it. So,
if you are working in this field, or even just
interested in it, I suggest you get an inter-library
loan form as soon as possible.

Gabriel Jacobs, University of Wales Swansea

The Adventures of KC in London (five CD-
ROMs) by Adrian Brockett, Arabesque
Multimedia, 9 Woodland Road, Darlington,
County Durham DL3 7BJ. Tel. 01325 350700.

Of all multimedia training applications,
language-teaching programs are conspicuously
unsuccessful. This is usually for one of two
reasons. Often, they are designed by
programmers without too much input from
teachers, with the result that, while the
appearance is attractive with a variety of clever
activities, the pedagogical content is low. The
alternative is that they are designed by teachers
with little experience of programming, and the
result is that however worthy the content, the
programming is dull and fails to take advantage
of the opportunities offered by multimedia
format. The Adventures ofKC in London is quite
exceptional in that it appears to be designed by
a writer who is neither programmer nor teacher.

As a result, this program is unfriendly to use,
and the language content (what little there is of
it) lacks accuracy, purpose and direction.

The program is an EFL teaching application
designed for use by native Arabic speakers who
have completed four or five years of language
instruction in schools. The material provided
for evaluation consisted of a CD-ROM with a.
tutorial program and one out of five teaching
programs or 'adventures'. The tutorial program
not only explains the contents of the teaching
programs and how they work, but also sets the
'scenario' which is that the crown jewels have
been stolen from the Tower of London by
thieves who are, for no obvious reason, the final
six letters of the English alphabet. The jewels
have to be rescued by KC, who is a suitcase.
The adventure provided for review was number
3 in the series, Sport in Britain. The other four
adventures are Arriving in London, Shopping in
London, The Houses of Parliament and The
Tower of London.

Much of Sport in Britain is not an adventure at
all. Instead, the teaching program consists of
four short texts in English, under 1,100 words in
total, which appear in writing and which can be
listened to. There are translation and notepad
options. There is also a context icon which,
when you highlight a word in the text, repeats
the word and the text verbatim - quite why I
have not discovered yet. There is also a facility
to allow users to record any part of the text and
compare their speech with that of a native
speaker. The native-speaker recordings have a
marked background hiss and are not performed
by actors. There are questions at the end of each
text, three or four questions of a gap-fill,
multiple-choice or Yes/No type. When you get
enough of these right, you can progress to a
series of crosswords, listening and gap filling
games where KC recovers the jewels if you get
the answers correct. The program runs very,
very slowly and there is no way of bailing out
once it has started.

The real problems, however, lie in the teaching
material. Four short reading texts and a handful
of questions is very little indeed for a whole CD-
ROM. The text itself is dull and artificial. This
sort of exchange, taken from the text called
'conversation', is typical:

Nick: Oh, I think football is much more
exciting than cricket, don't you?

Rob: Yes, I far prefer it. You can't beat a
good game of football.

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ALT-J Volume 4 Number 3

Nobody speaks like this in real life. Further, the
writing - and the thought it represents - are
sloppy. I found myself instinctively reaching for
a red pen to correct it. For example:

Athletics and water sports have traditionally
taken place in summer because of the weather.

Floods may occur in winter because of the rain,
but athletics in summer is not an inevitable
consequence of heat and sunshine. The texts
also include frequent factual inaccuracies. I
shall confine myself to pointing out that the
winners at Wimbledon do not receive large gold
plates, the Charity Shield is not played between
the winners of the FA Cup and the League Cup,
and a member of the royal family does not
always present the FA Cup. The questions on
the text - and there are incredibly few of them -
are ill thought out. Material for the answers is
not always included in the text, and at least two
multiple-choice questions have more than one
possible correct answer with the result that one
is marked wrong. The answers to the games
appear to rely on memorization of the texts
rather than ability in English. Of course, this
may appeal to Arabic learners who will
otherwise find the content and level of this
program a great challenge.

As one of my colleagues commented on trying
the program: 'If they try and learn from this
sort of material in the Middle East, it's no
wonder they're so bad at English.' This program
will not teach anybody English, although you
might enjoy playing with the games if you
happen to know English already.

James Milton, University of Wales Swansea

Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte, London:
Coronet Books (Hodder and Stoughton), 1996.
ISBN: 0-340-64930-5. 249 pages, paperback.
£6.99.

This is quite an intriguing book from which I
have often quoted material. As director of the
Media Lab at MIT, its author Nicholas
Negroponte should be quite well-known to
anyone who has delved into or who is working
in the field of digital multimedia. In this book,
Negroponte attempts to popularize the digital
world of computers by writing an accessible and
readable pocket book that can be read as easily
on. a beach as it could in a library. The
accessibility of the book is reflected in the fact
that it has been translated into over thirty
different languages.

Being Digital is organized into seven basic parts:
an introduction; eighteen chapters arranged into
three basic theme areas; an epilogue; an 'after
words'; and an acknowledgements section.

The introduction is subtitled The Paradox of a
Book'. Here Negroponte explains why he has
committed his thoughts, ideas, comments and
arguments to an 'old-fashioned book' when an
electronic book (of the type described later in
Chapter 5) might have been more appropriate.
One of the three reasons he gives for publishing
on paper rather than electronically is simply
that 'there are just not enough digital media in
the hands of executives, politicians, parents, and
all those who most need to understand this
radically new culture'.

Within the main body of the book, Part 1 deals
with the fundamental nature of digital
information, its importance, how it can be
moved from one location to another, and the
implications of shifting from an analogue (or
'atom-based') culture to a digital (*bit-based')
world of information. Part 2 is devoted to end-
user interfaces and human-computer
interaction. It discusses numerous topics, many
of which were extensively researched in the early
days of the Media Lab. Some of the more
important of these are interactivity, sensory
richness and machine intelligence; multimodal
interfaces (such as 'Put-That-There'); interac-
tion devices; video conferencing; use of gestures;
graphical persona; virtual reality; telepresence
and remote manipulators; speech input/output;
and intelligent interface agents. Part 3 deals
with 'Digital Life'; it discusses the various ways
in which 'being digital' is likely to influence our
lives in the years to come. The major issues
considered in this section include the post-
information age; time-shifting and video-on-
demand; wearable media; household robots;
and email and the growing demand for and use
of the Internet as a knowledge resource.
Learning using LEGO/Logo systems is also
discussed, as is the importance of personal
computers as educational tools. According to
Negroponte (p. 220), through computers, 'ten
years from now, teenagers are likely to enjoy a
much richer panorama of options because the
pursuit of intellectual achievement will not be
tilted so much in favour of the book-worm, but
instead cater to a wider range of cognitive
styles, learning patterns, and expressive
behaviors'.

In the epilogue, Negroponte expresses some

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concerns about the negative implications of the
digital age - unemployment, the misuse of
technology, software piracy, and so on - but is
optimistic about what he believes are the four
redeeming qualities of being digital: its ability to
achieve decentralization, globalization, harmon-
ization and empowerment.

Finally, in the acknowledgements section, the
author gives a concise person-oriented summary
of both the history of the Media Lab and of the
production of Being Digital.

Although this book does not say anything
exceptional or revolutionary, it does provide a
helpful synthesis of many useful and powerful
ideas relating to digital media and their use by
current and future societies. Sadly, there is no
bibliography, and not even so much as a URL
link to a further reading list.

However, in his excellent review of the
hardback version of the book (ISBN: 0-340-
64525-3), Joseph (The Computer Jour/ia/, volume
39, number 3, 1996, page 252) suggests that
Being Digital should be 'required reading for
every computing student and professional'. I
concur.

Philip Barker, University ofTeesside

The Java Sourcebook — A Complete Guide to
Creating Java Applets for the Web by E. Arnoff,
New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1996. ISBN: 0-
471-14859-8. 498 pages, paperback. £19.99.

Despite its popularity and pervasiveness, the
World Wide Web (and many applications based
on it) has a number of constraints. Two of the
most significant of these are the limited
interactivity of Web pages, and the often low
responsiveness of many Web sites with respect
to handling multimedia information. These
limitations are inherent in the way in which
client/server applications are implemented using
the HTTP approach. In order to overcome these
(and some of the other) limitations, Sun
Microsystems introduced in 1995 the Java
programming language for Web applications -
and the HotJava browser. According to Sun,
Java is a 'simple, object-oriented, distributed,
interpreted, robust, secure, architecture-neutral,
portable, high performance, multi-threaded and
dynamic language'. This book provides a useful
introduction and guide to the Java language
and its use for the creation of Web applets.

The book is organized into four basic parts.
Part 1 (the first two chapters) is the shortest; it

describes how to get and install the Java
development kit, run the HotJava browser (and
Netscape), and visit Java-enhanced sites on the
Web. Part 2 is the largest section (comprising
Chapters 3 to 12) and covers the nuts and bolts
of Java. Part 3 (Chapters 13 to 17) deals with
building applets using a 'line-by-line' approach.
Finally, Part 4 (three appendices) summarizes
the reference material available in the SDK and
API packages, the standard libraries for
handling I/O and network communication.

Part 2, then, contains the details of the Java
language itself. The early chapters in this section
provide a basic introduction to Java (and object
orientation), a description of how to build Java
applications using an appropriate development
platform (Unix, Mac or PC), and a review of
Java-language basics. Subsequent chapters deal
with more detailed treatments of various
programming topics such as flow of control;
objects and classes; interfaces; packages;
managing data; handling exceptions; and
threads.

Having covered the basics, the author uses Part
3 to cover the creation of applets that can be
run within a Java-capable browser such as
HotJava or Netscape 2.0+. The first chapter in
this section provides an applet overview, and
the following chapters deal with applet basics,
user interfaces, graphics and multimedia. The
important issues covered in these five chapters
include in-line applets in HTML (the '<applet>'
tag); parameter passing; alignment; the AWT
display model; layout classes; containers and
components; user-interface components
provided by AWT; event handling; frames,
windows and dialogues; drawing methods; use
of images; using MediaTracker; and sound clips
and animation.

Although this is a technical book, it is extremely
readable, and is relatively free of typographical
errors and coding mistakes. It contains lots of
well-thought out examples to illustrate the
points being made. In fact, anyone wanting to
learn how to create dynamic, interactive Web
pages will find it a useful starting point -
provided they have at least some programming
experience. Unfortunately, however, despite its
usefulness, what this book does not do to any
great extent is to point to any of the significant
weaknesses of this approach to creating applets.
For those wishing to follow up this issue, a
useful diving-in point would be the discussion
presented by Ted Lewis in the June 1996 edition

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ALT-} Volume 4 Number 3

of IEEE Computer (volume 29, number 6, pages
8-9). Worth mentioning too, for those who are
familiar with C programming, is that there is a
companion book entitled Java for C/C++
Programmers (ISBN: 0-471-15324-9; also
published by Wiley).

Philip Barker, University of Teesside

Learners on the Superhighway by Keith
Yeomans, Leicester National Institute of Adult
Continuing Education (NIACE), 1996. ISBN: 1-
872941-96-6. 112 pages, paperback. £6.50.

This is a report of a study-tour in North
America, undertaken in 1994 by Keith
Yeomans, of organizations and individuals
involved in educational communications. The
aim of the research was to identify areas of good
practice and strategy which might be relevant to
future developments in the UK and Europe.

In the opening chapter, Yeomans sets out a
summary of his conclusions. Among the most
important of these are that policy makers and
researchers in the field should raise awareness of
the educational potential of telecom-
munications, arrange for local and regional
demand to be quantified, develop strategies to
minimize costs, set up local learning networks,
ensure that the communications industry make
full use of cross-sectoral partnerships, and so
forth. These and related suggestions are
expanded in the next five short chapters.

It would be hard to find many people who
would disagree with the views expressed. Who,
besides the odd Luddite, would not concede
that the Information Superhighway represents a
new opportunity for teachers, and for students
of all ages and in all locations? Yeomans does
identify certain interesting differences in
attitude between Europe and the USA, such as
the fact that in Europe, with our public-service
culture, we find it hard to understand the
American commercial attitude towards using
the Internet for education. And he does make
some points which still need to be hammered
home even though so many of us have aching
arms, such as the danger that telematic
education, despite its potential for wide
dissemination of learning, may in practice widen
the gap between the haves and have-nots. But
the overall impression one has after reading this
report is that one has been surprised about very
little its author has said.

Although the book is 112 pages long, the body

of it ends on page 55. All the rest is given over
to two appendices: Contributor Profiles, and
Documents. The first is a 40-page descriptive
list of North American companies, educational
establishments and people contacted by
Yeomans. The second is a list of books, reports
and the like which he collected during the
period of his research. Such lists can come in
useful, but there is a great deal in them which -
I am sure - nobody in the UK will ever need,
and, in the case of the documents, would ever be
able to obtain if they did need them, other than
by contacting Yeomans personally.

The reader will have gathered that I have not
been terribly convinced by the usefulness of this
publication for ALT members. But it would be
unfair and misleading to end my review
negatively. For a start, Yeoman's pedigree as a
specialist in the field is not in doubt - indeed, he
is experienced, fairly well known and has done
some excellent work. Certainly, a considerable
amount of effort has gone into writing this
report. Further, despite my reservations, some
people may read it with interest, and may find it
quite useful if writing about telematics in the
USA, and/or to cite in learned articles (for that,
all the right words and phrases are there for the
taking). Finally, £6.50 is hardly expensive when
compared with the price of some commercial
reports which run to hundreds of pounds, which
are written in cliches and platitudes calculated
to provoke intense irritation, and which contain
no new material at all.

Gabriel Jacobs, University of Wales Swansea

Using Activities in Training and Development by
Leslie Rae, London: Kogan Page, 1996. ISBN: 0-
7494-1891-5.214 pages, paperback, £19.99.

This book catalogues and discusses the range of
activities available for use in learning and
training. Although it is not therefore about
computer-based learning directly, I wondered
whether it might act as a source of ideas or a set
of guidelines for activities supported or
promoted by computer-based learning
technology.

There are two main sections. The first six
chapters deal with factors common across all
types of activities, beginning with a brief
theoretical justification based on the ideas of
Kolb, and Honey and Mumford, of why
learning through activity can be effective. This
is followed by a discussion of the practical
decisions required in the planning, selection and

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preparation of activities, such as ways of
constituting groups and the use of instruction
sheets. The rest of the section then concentrates
on techniques for observing, recording and
reviewing the actions of participants. We are
reminded that 'in many cases as much, if not
more learning emerges from a review or
discussion of the activity as from the activity
itself. The section therefore considers strategies
and methods for observing interactions between
pairs and within groups. There is a chapter on
the use of activity analysis for recording the
incidence of agreed kinds of behaviour such as
giving information, summarizing, and so on. All
of this is presented at a firmly practical level
that avoids the complexities usually introduced
by texts on behaviour analysis and research
methods, and is clearly pitched at practitioners
rather than theorists. The last chapter in the
section considers different ways of providing
feedback to participants during debriefing
sessions. The author identifies this as the most
essential stage of all, and this chapter looks the
most useful.

Section 2 consists of seven chapters describing
specific types of activities. Most of these are
concerned with interpersonal activities such as
introductions and energizers, one-to-one
activities such as role-play, group questions and
discussions, and experiential activities such as
T-Groups for raising sensitivity and awareness.
These chapters have a common structure that
includes a description of each activity,
membership and timing requirements, planning
and design, usage, examples and variations.
There is plenty of practical guidance about
different ways in which the activities can be
organized and about the avoidance of possible
problems. Much of this might be useful to
lecturers in higher education considering
alternative ways of running group tutorials,
although there is little about dealing with stale
and weary students, and the touchy-feely kinds
of activities would be of limited use in many
disciplines. There is an amusing section on how
to run a bad discussion (e.g. start by going on at
length with your own opinions and then
interrupt and disagree with others'
contributions), but then it is one thing to know
the right and wrong things to do and another to
apply them in practice.

Those of us interested primarily in computer-
supported activities would probably turn first to

the chapters on structured group activities, and
case studies and simulations. Rae's only
references to computers appear here, with a
brief mention that simulation used to be an
unwieldy matter before computers were
available to present reports, statistics and other
information, or to simulate more dynamic
virtual worlds, or to act as analytical or
communication tools. Given that many
authorities now recognize that the success and
effectiveness of computer-supported activities
depends as much on their social and
organizational context as on their supporting
technology (e.g. Laurillard, 1992; Kaye 1992,
pp. 14-15), Rae's practical emphasis on
effective preparation and organization is
appropriate. It is not a good idea to give
students a computer-based activity and just
leave them to get on with it. The checklists in
the book might help in avoiding otherwise
unforeseen difficulties, and the activity
descriptions might help in the design of new
activities, for example by applying the list of
different kinds of documents that might be used
in an in-tray activity.

Clearly the book is written from a great deal of
personal experience of working with most of the
activities it covers. It provides a gentle
introduction to the wide range of activities
available to lecturers and teachers. But in
attempting to discuss learning activities in a
subject-free way, independent of specific
disciplines, the book tends towards far too
many generalities. At the end is a list of
published activity resources. The topic areas
they cover, such as customer care, assertiveness,
counselling, managing stress, communication
and leadership, reinforced my feeling that the
book is really orientated towards the
development of personal and interpersonal
skills for managers, trainers and the like. It is
difficult to relate this to learning technology in
the computer-based sense.

References

Kaye, A. (1992), Collaborative Learning through
Computer Conferencing, The Najaden Papers,
Berlin: Springer Verlag.

Laurillard, D. (1992), 'Learning through
collaborative computer simulations', British
Journal of Educational Technology, 23, 164-71.

Robert Ward, University of Huddersfield

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