out at each instant what the student can and cannot do. Then, based on this knowledge, the program can offer individualized assistance. This approach combines learning and assessment into one seamless activity, not separating them as in current courses. Assessment is used to determine what learning material is to be presented next. As stressed, very little software of this type has been produced. We consider briefly later in this paper how it can be generated. Highly Interactive Software The notion of highly interactive software has already been mentioned. Although the term "interaction" is widely used, most existing software, of all types, can at best be described as only very slightly interactive. The widespread use of the word interaction predates the existence of computers. A good model of interaction is a conversation between two people, where each is paying close attention to what the other person is saying. Such an interactive conversation need not be concerned with learning, but it may be. Thus Socrates working with a small group of students, or three or four students working cooperatively, or a student working with an individual tutor, give us non-computer examples of interactive learning situations. Since there is so little experience in creating and using highly interactive software, much further experimentation is needed. Implementation If the script is on paper, coders are required to translate the design into code, or to transfer the script to the computer. With the on-line script editor, however, it partially writes the program itself. Eventually we expect most of coding to be done automatically by the script editor. Visual material must be created by professionals in such material, following the directions in the script. Note that teachers are not asked to function as professional designers. Many years ago, in considering the problems of evaluating learning m...
