Certain key parameters emerged. On the key parameters of enjoyment, ease of use, good visuals, and assisting pupil learning , the discs used in the project do reasonably well. On other the key parameters of fit to curriculum, teacher and pupil support, and interactivity, they do much less well.
The strongest reported criticism of the discs is that they are not interactive enough and do not exploit the technology fully. There is consensus that discs need to be comprehensively indexed and made explicitly relevant to National Curriculum requirements .
The NCC Maths discs were appre ciated particularly for their enjoyment value and ease of use, and also for their visual quality and educational value. Teachers were less enthusiastic about their degree of pupil/teacher support, their fit to the National Curriculum and their level of int eractivity. The lack of interactivity in these discs was a particular disappointment.
The educational software design industry will have to take much more seriously the full exploitation of the new technology, and the formative evaluation of its designs, i f it is to make any real impact on the quality of learning, and thereby increase its appeal to teachers.
