World Wide Web virtual computer: Reaching the active, global student

This paper addresses research using the World Wide Web (WWW) as a platform for the delivery of an interactive hypermedia tutorial and simulation package. Developed for active, global learners, the WWW Virtual Computer allows students to learn about and build a virtual computer. As a tutorial, the WWW Virtual Computer provides hypertext and digital movies on each of the components of a computer system. As a simulation, students can configure seventeen different components of the computer. After configuration, the student can run three benchmarks against the system to measure its performance. Each of the benchmarks provides an animation of which components of the computer are being heavily utilized as well as a description of which component of the computer system is the bottleneck. The student can then redesign the system to address performance bottlenecks and improve performance within student-selected constraints. As part of over 1.5 gigabytes of hypermedia course material developed to support learning in CS383[1-3], Computer Systems, the WWW Virtual Computer is specifically designed to address the educational needs of active and global learners using Felder''s Learning Model[4-6]. Active learners benefit from the system's ability to actively involve the student in making choices and seeing the results of those choices. Global learners benefit from the ability to clearly see the interdependencies between computer components and how each component contributes to the efficient operation of the entire system. As a component of the CS383 hypermedia courseware, the WWW Virtual Computer supplements the other electronic resources available and addresses the educational needs of students.