CAI Comes of Age

Computer-Aided Instruction comes in many flavors. In its simplest form, CAI can be nothing more than the text and images from a textbook reformatted for viewing on a computer screen — possibly with a few video clips thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, this by itself does nothing to ensure than learning takes place — any more than the fact a student has read a textbook necessarily means he understands its content.

More commonly, CAI works much like the programmed instruction that proceeded it.

• Students read one or more pages of information on a single topic.
• They are then asked to answer one or more questions pertaining to the material just read.
• Depending on how they answer, students may be allowed to proceed to the next topic or directed to review the information and try the question(s) again.

Computer-aided instructional programs can be distributed in a variety of ways, including:

• Local Area Networks (LANs).
• CD-ROMs and other removable media.
• The Internet.

It was with the advent of the Internet that CAI really came of age. Server-based computer-aided instructional programs can do things that CAI distributed on CD-ROMs and other media generally can’t. For example:

• Internet-based CAI programs can track when and for how long individual students tackle various aspects of the curriculum.
• They can draw from a pool of potential assessment questions, rather than presenting students with the same questions again and again.
• Internet-based CAI programs can keep a permanent record of how well students score on various assessment questions, and when they achieve total mastery of all of the required information.

Almost any other type of instructional program — including CAI programs distributed on CD-ROMs — cannot provide instructors with positive proof that students mastered the required cognitive skills. This means that, no matter how seemingly sophisticated the CD-ROM, video or other non-Internet-based learning material is, students who use them will still need to complete the same study and review questions as students who only read the textbook, review these questions with their instructor, and take the same quizzes and final exams.

In contrast, Internet-based CAI programs can help ensure that instructors have documented proof their students have completed all of the necessary academic requirements before they ever meet.

Can it replace classroom training? »

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