Problems in Implementing Computer-Managed Learning.

The demand for computers to help manage learning comes mostly from those engaged in attempts to individualize education, who have discovered a need for computers to help them make decisions and organize their data. This paper considers the problems that can arise in implementing computer-managed learning by indicating what has happened in existing, operational projects. First, it describes some of the problems in diagnostic assessment of learners--the process of discovering what repertoire of behavior each learner has already acquired and where the gaps are in that repertoire. Second, the paper examines problems in the generation, analysis, and banking of test items. Next, problems in the selection of a particular sequence of objectives for an individual student by the computer are discussed, and finally, some of the problems that teachers and students experience in using the computer system are identified. (Author/SH)