Faculty Authoring Development Program and Courseware Authoring Tools Project

The Faculty Authoring Development Program (FAD) and Courseware Authoring Tools Project (CAT) were courseware development iniatives at Stanford University during the years 1984-1990s. Several dozen teaching applications were created including tutorials in economics, drama simulations, thermodynamics lessons, and historical and anthropological role-playing games.

In 1984 FAD began by asking professors to propose projects for teaching with microcomputers. It then awarded programming support for six months or a year to several faculty. In 1987 in a new project, the Courseware Authoring Tools Project, end-user authoring systems for creating teaching applications were developed. Faculty used these authoring tools to create their own applications with a reduced level of support. A multimedia lab was also started at this time to author videodisc-based applications. The effort was started by Michael Carter, director of Stanford's Instruction and Research Information Systems group, and managed by Barbara Jasinski. Applications were distributed on floppy-discs with assistance from the Apple University Consortium through Kinko's copy centers.

Applications developed as part of the program include:

The "TheaterGame" was a 2.5D Theater staging simulation, running on a 512K Apple Macintosh computer. Using it, students design an Elizabethan stage and then direct a play by moving characters and changing their body positions on the stage. Students record scenes synchronized to their audio recording of the play and then replay their work for the full class audience. The Shakespeare Project was a videodisc-based tutorial that used theater techniques in interactions such as writing the subtext for multiple versions of the same scene as played by different theater companies. It was distributed through Apple Computer as part of its multimedia marketing effort. Authored by Prof. Larry Friedlander, assisted by Charles Kerns, with graphics by Marge Boots.

"The Would-be Gentleman" was a role-playing game, modeling the economic and social life of a French bourgeois during the life of Louis XIV of France (1638-1715). In the game, the player makes decisions about investing income, planning marriages and estates, and seeking influence with powerful figures. The game starts when the player is told that his father died and left him a small amount of cash and land. The student then decides how to invest his resources. Historical and personal events are inter-related in the game. The real challenge is keeping one's social and economic status in balance. If successful the player will archive a high court position and riches. Authored by Prof. Carolyn Lougee and Michael Carter for the 512K Macintosh computer.

"The Rankine Cycle" and "Brayton Cycle", two thermodynamics simulations and tutorials, in which students manipulated variables for steam and jet engines to affect power output. Authored by Prof. Robert Eustis for a 512K Mac. Later released as "ThermoWare" in 1990 by the Stanford Mechanical Engineering Department.

"The Computer-aided Tutorial in Economics" was a set of interactive lessons for an introduction to economics course. Students played the role of consumer, producer, and policy maker to learn about the forces that drive different parts of the economy. During the tutorial, students responded to questions and interpreted graphs. Authored by Prof. Michael Boskin for an IBM PC XT with 320K memory.

"Tarski's World" is a 3-D block world in which students use the symbolic language of first-order logic. "Turing's World" is a simulation of a simple computer, a Turing machine, one of the key abstractions used in modern computability theory to study what computers can and cannot do. Currently published by the Center for the Study of Language and Information and distributed by Cambridge University Press. Authored by Profs. Jon Barwise and John Etchemendy.

"Mogul", a role-playing game for learning the history of cinema in the U.S., in which the player helps Adolph Zukor run nickelodeons and start a movie production company. In one activity the player views and books early movies for theaters and has his position in the company affected by theater profits. Authored by Prof Henry Breitrose

"Alias", a role-playing game authoring tool, written in Hypercard by Brodie Lockard.

"American Sign Language", a tutorial and visual dictionary; Heat Exchange in Animals; "Chemotherapy Simulation" for practicing administration of drugs and monitoring vital signs; "The Drama Image Archive", a large set of still images accessed on a videodisc controlled by a Macintosh computer, "Science for Living", a set of tutorials and simulations teaching about the heart and circulatory system; a SuperCard version of "A La Rencontre de Philippe", a French language exploratory world original developed at MIT's Project Athena for workstations; "Physics Simulations".