Courseware development by topdown conceptual analysis

Abstract

This paper describes the methods and techniques used to design and develop the courseware called INTRODUCTORY NEW MATHEMATICS FOR PARENTS & CHILDREN, using authoring systems like SCENARIO which has been used by teachers in Quebec and the US to produce courseware with little help from programmers.

The methods and techniques that have been used are called Topdown Conceptual Analysis (TCA) which takes most of the guesswork out of the design of knowledge-based systems. Given a list of specifications of objectives and a description of the target population, different groups of people who are trained in TCA, and working independently, should be able to generate — without involuntary omissions or repetitions — equivalent knowledge bases to build a system.