[comp.edu] Authoring tools for X Windows workstations?

Mike_Nowak@itd.umich.edu (Michael Nowak) (05/23/91)

The Office of Instructional Technology at the University of Michigan provides
assistance in instructional design, development, and evaluation for 
instruction using information technology.  Most of our development has been
done on the Macintosh, and some has been done on systems using Microsoft
Windows.  In most cases, we use authoring systems such as HyperCard, SuperCard,
and ToolBook to do our development.  These authoring systems provide a higher
level of tools for software design than most programming languages and are
easy enough that those faculty members who are new to computers can learn how
to use them fairly quickly.

A faculty member in the school of Engineering is interested in developing
some instructionalk software for UNIX-based workstations running X windows.
In particular, he's interested in designing software which includes pages of
text and graphics which are linked together in a hypertext-type system, as
well as simulations, animations, and other interactive modules.  This software
would be used in courses dealing with fluid dynamics.

The only such UNIX-based authoring system I'm aware of is CMU Tutor, which
I used a few years ago.  Is this system still used and is it available for
X windows?  Are there other such systems for putting together instructional
software?  Or, is most work of this type put together with more traditional
programming toolkits?

Any help is appreciated.  I will collect all messages and present a summary
on the net.

Michael Nowak,
University of Michigan Office of Instructional Technology.