DEFENITION-It will be helpful, before discussing the research findings, to offer some definitions of CAI and other kinds of learning activities involving computers. As Kulik, Kulik, and Bangert-Drowns point out in their 1985 research summary, "the terminology in the area is open to dispute" (p. 59). This is putting it mildly. Those seeking to make sense of the array of terms used by educators and researchers--computer-assisted instruction, computer-based education, computer-based instruction, computer-enriched instruction, computermanaged instruction--can easily become confused. The following definitions are a synthesis of those offered by Bangert-Drowns, et al. (1985), Batey (1987), Grimes (1977), Samson et al. (1986), and Stennett (1985), and represent commonly accepted (though certainly not the only) definitions of these terms:
Computer-based education (CBE) and computer-based instruction (CBI) are the broadest terms and can refer to virtually any kind of computer use in educational settings, including drill and practice, tutorials, simulations, instructional management, supplementary exercises, programming, database development, writing using word processors, and other applications. These terms may refer either to stand-alone computer learning activities or to computer activities which reinforce material introduced and taught by teachers.
Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is a narrower term and most often refers to drill-and-practice, tutorial, or simulation activities offered either by themselves or as supplements to traditional, teacherdirected instruction.
Computer-managed instruction (CMI) can refer either to the use of computers by school staff to organize student data and make instructional decisions or to activities in which the computer evaluates students' test performance, guides them to appropriate instructional resources, and keeps records of their progress.
Computer-enriched instruction (CEI) is defined as learning activities in which computers (1) generate data at the students' request to illustrate relationships in models of social or physical reality, (2) execute programs developed by the students, or (3) provide general enrichment in relatively unstructured exercises designed to stimulate and motivate students.