A STILE Project case study: The evaluation of a computer-based visual key for fossil identification

The STILE Project (Students' and Teachers' Integrated Learning Environment) is one of 76 projects set up under the UK Government's Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP) initiative sponsored by the British Higher Education Funding Councils (HEFCs). The STILE Project uses hypermedia to provide greater opportunities for independent and flexible modes of learning both in a campus situation and for distance learning. The approach is resource-based. STILE provides a mechanism for both tutors and learners to discover and access relevant resources when they need them, together with facilities that enable users readily to use and re-use existing materials, to integrate them together, and to add further materials of their own in a way that seems natural to them (see Ruggles et al, 1995). The result is not a closed and finished product,but a set of tools and services and a continually developing resource base. The effect is to ease the load on academic staff in maintaining and supporting student access to resources, and to enrich the set of resources available to both staff and students. DOI: 10.1080/0968776960040205