Richard N. Van Eck, Ph.D Assistant Professor University of Memphis 300A Ball Hall Memphis, TN 38152 901-678-2869 rvaneck@memphis.edu

Ph.D., (Instructional Design & Development) University of South Alabama, 2000

Current Research and Consulting interests?

• Technology in Education
• Gender and Technology (especially games)
• Advisement
• Online Learning

Program Coordinator, Media Arts and Communication, Cochise College, Douglas AZ

Instructional Designer, Top Drawer Productions, Austin TX

What is the background of your ITFORUM paper?

This article comes from the research I did for my dissertation. I became interested in working with the concept of advisement in computer-based instruction through research I worked on with John V. Dempsey at the University of South Alabama. One of the pieces that I feel is missing from our current fascination with online learning and other forms of CBI is how to provide just-in time help (advisement) which focuses on instructional rather than technical remediation; what forms work best, how to promote
their use, etc.

My interest in instructional computer games began many years ago as a combination of my interests in CBI and as an avid player of computer games. Many commercial computer games require complex problem solving and engage users to the extent that they will work much harder and for far longer at them than they are willing to for problem solving in school settings. I am particularly interested in finding ways to adapt/adopt the strategies these games use to instructional settings in the K-12 setting.

I will submit this article to a refereed journal after the forum discussion--dissection?-- ;)

Any comments, criticisms, and suggestions for improvement are welcome!

Can you Recommend a Couple of Good Books Related to this Topic?

Computers As Theatre by Brenda Laurel

Art of Human-Computer Interface Design by Brenda Laurel (Editor), S. Joy Mountford (Editor)

Not much is avialable for advisement, as it has not really been examined in any length. Tennyson, Butry, and others have looked at advisement which relates the the amount of instruction, examples, and practice items needed for mastery in CBI, which is a bit different.