ABSTRACT
To ardent programmers computer-based instruction is the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow. Their hope is to use a computer to generate teaching programs analogous to the teaching sequences generated in a teacher-pupil interaction. There is a high probability that such a teaching system will eventually be developed. However, the present state of the art is one not uncommon in computer technology: the hardware far outstrips the software in level of sophistication and potential for development. In the use of computer technology in teaching, as in other applications, we need to beware of the ‘garbage in, garbage out’ danger. Teaching programs are difficult to construct and, as Stolurow points out, there is as yet no definitive prescription for generating such programs. All the more need, therefore, to be cautious that we do not generate trivial programs for C.A.I.
