Abingdon, Oxfordshire-based Research Machines Ltd has become the sole UK distributor of the Integrated Learning System SuccessMaker software package from Computer Curriculum Corp in the US. The software has been designed in the US over the past 25 years and is used in schools in North America and New Zealand. The idea is to enable children from the age of five right through to adulthood to learn mathematics, English and the sciences at their own pace without peer pressure not to perform to their maximum abilities or fear that by asking questions they will look stupid. The package contains 3,500 hours of course material. The student is given a series of tutorials in one of the three subject areas and then a series of exercises. If the student’s ability in one aspect of the subject is particulary weak, the program will feed the pupil exercises on it more frequently. There are also options for an area to be explained again if the student has not grasped it the first time. The program keeps a record of the number of times a student asks for help on any given topic so that the teacher can see how the pupil is progressing and it tallies up how good the child is on each area of the subject, allocating a number similar to that of a ‘reading age’ for each topic. The product runs under Windows and on the Macintosh. Research Machines has set up a new ILS Division to manage the product’s introduction into the UK and is working with Apple Computer Inc and other manufacturers to put the product into new sites. However, the company is not working with Acorn Computer Group Plc because Acorn’s machines are proprietary. The package has been piloted in nine UK schools. Research Machines says those that have tried the program are very pleased with it, but the company is still in the early stages of deciding how to convince teachers that the program can be of help in the learning process. The company also sees a market for it in the areas of adult literacy and prison education. It costs UKP2,500 for the stand-alone software version. If a school was to run a networked version on 10 computers, the total software price would be UKP24,500, which is made up of a UKP6,000 management fee plus a UKP1,850 licence fee per station. Schools will be in the position of balancing the benefits of a one-off payment for the software or the equivalent cost of employing a teacher for a year.
