A COURSEWARE AUTHORING AND DELIVERING SYSTEM FOR CHINESE LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION

WE PROPOSE TO EXPLORE THE FEASIBILITY OF A USER-FRIENDLY AND COST-EFFECTIVE COURSEWARE AUTHORING AND DELIVERING SYSTEM FOR CHINESE LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION. THE SYSTEM'S INTERFACE WITH COURSEWARE AUTHORS IS SUPPORTED BY POWERFUL YET CONVENIENT FEATURES LIKE WINDOW SCREEN, MOUSE-MOVED CURSOR, AND MENU-DRIVEN COMMANDS. THE AUTHORS CAN USE THE SYSTEM WITHOUT THE NEED TO KNOW OR REMEMBER ANY PROGRAMMING OR COURSEWARE DESIGN LANGUAGES. THE MENU, PROVIDED BY THE SYSTEM, HELPS THE AUTHOR TO RETRIEVE FROM PRE-FABRICATED OBJECT DATABASES TO COMPOSE HIS (HER) OWN COURSEWARE. IT IS EXPECTED THAT THE TIME SPENT TO CREATE THE COURSEWARE CAN BE SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED. WE ALSO OUTLINE A DESIGN APPROACH FOR THE SYSTEM. BY IMPLEMENTING THE SYSTEM SOFTWARE IN A MACHINE-INDEPENDENT FASHION, THE COURSEWARE GENERATED CAN BE EASILY PORTED TO COMPUTERS OF DIFFERENT BRANDS. THE COST OF DEVELOPING THIS SYSTEM CAN THUS BE SHARED BY MANY USERS.