Assignment 1

The Universal Machine and The Analytical Engine

When trying to run the UMStars interface, I encountered several errors, mostly with loading icons and sound. The UMWords interface worked just fine.

1. The audience of both titles were computer science/engineering students.
2. UM was focused on teaching software development only, while AE taught basic computer tasks, programming, and some of the hardware involved in computing.
3. UM used multimedia to teach all of its lessons, AE used multimedia to support lessons in the textbook, through labs.
4. Because the bottom portion of both interfaces is the same, I'm guessing that the UMStars was too complicated in the way you navigate through the chapters. (I couldn't load the main part of the screen, apparently there are files missing on the LAN computers.) The UMWords interface is certainly simple enough, and it is easy to navigate through the sections.
5. UM uses multimedia to teach all its lessons, which I think is the most effective method for learning at home. AE uses multimedia to support the lessons that are in a textbook, which I think is more effective for learning from a teacher.
6. UM's strength is its step by step approach, using the multimedia to navigate, and lots of interactivity. However, I think it would benefit from a little more text, or a book to go with it. AE seems to have a great deal of content, but almost no interactivity. The labs and multimedia only serve to support a great deal of text. I think this book should use a lot more interaction, especially in the labs. The only labs that really had this were the hardware ones.
7. I think that AE could learn from UM to greatly improve its interactivity, and the overal asthetics and usability of their online content.
8. I would guess that it would take a team two months to come up with a chapter's worth of content.