Even among persons who controlled HIV replication and normalized CD4 T-cell counts with HAART, pretreatment CD4 T-cell count and numbers of circulating CD4+CD28+ T-cells at immunization, but not current CD4 T-cell count, predict the ability to respond to vaccination. Delaying the initiation of HAART in chronic HIV-1 infection results in impaired functional immune restoration despite normalization of circulating CD4 T-cell numbers.

Instructional multimedia is creating a revolution in universities. Academic staff are being urged to transfer instruction to a format suitable for either CD/ROM and/or the Internet, principally the World Wide Web. Many, it seems, simply take their existing course materials, add image and sound without proper consideration of the nature of the medium in which they are seeking to instruct and present the product to their students. In essence, it appears they ignore the need to motivate their students to work with their instructional multimedia materials. It is a contention of this paper that the user‐interface to instructional multimedia is strategically important: if it is poorly designed students will not be intrinsically motivated to make use of the product or to learn with it. Interfaces that motivate learners are realistic, easy to use, challenging and engaging. Superior interfaces have some of the elements of a game: they provide the user with a functional model of task, content and processes; they encourage exploration and engagement; and they demonstrate cognisance of design considerations such as interactivity, functionality, learner control and cognition.

He has published in diverse fields of information technology research, including, IT use in teacher education; interactive multimedia and learning; instructional design in on-line and multimedia environments; interface design; and human-computer interaction. He is currently developing performance support systems for teaching and learning. AbstractInteractive multimedia provides a useful vehicle to reconsider the place of educational theories in the design of interactive learning environments. This paper serves to address a number of such theories, especially those centred on student learning, and in particular, attempts to draw out the implications they present for designing effective instructional multimedia. It is argued that we need to develop coherency rather than divergency, in our theoretical perspectives so that we might optimise the development of new technologies in teaching and learning. This rationale is then used to advance one such perspective, based on the role of dynamic modelling tools. IntroductionAs technological advances offer new learning opportunities, there must be recourse to educational theory to guide design. Indeed, a number of themes emerge in any discussion about educational theory, learning and instruction, any one of which may be of use in informing our application of these technologies for pedagogical ends. It is growing important, however, to look for a synergy in our educational deliberations, to use a range of coherent theoretical perspectives to optimise the use of new technologies

Martyn Wild has published in various fields of educational computing research, including, effective models of computer use in pre-and in-service teacher education: the use of interactive multimedia to support cognitive performance; and human-computer interaction. His current research includes investigating multimedia performance support systems for complex tasks, the impact of distributed information systems (Internet and World Wide Web) on literacy in young learners and the quality and type of talk generated by young learners using computers. AbstractResearch findings in the area of information technology in teacher education (ITTE) appear to be consistent, suggesting that information technology (IT) is still significantly under-used by pre-service teachers, particularly on teaching practice, and by beginning teachers. Investigations that have attempted to attribute the reasons for this have largely addressed students' development of attitudes to IT and their relative success in acquiring IT skills and knowledge. This paper takes a different approach and attempts to rationalise the apparent failure of IT education in pre-service courses in terms of the individual. More particularly, it offers a conceptual framework for investigating and analysing the failure of IT education, particularly at pre-service level, suggesting that IT outcomes are likely to be diverse and variable for any one student-teacher population: and that these outcomes need to be considered in the context of individual students' constructions of IT meaning.

This paper describes an investigation into the effect of CD-ROM storybooks on primary students' attitudes towards reading. The degree of change in students' attitudes towards reading on exposure to CD-ROM storybooks was assessed using questionnaires in an experimental pretest-posttest design, together with interviews of reluctant readers and unstructured observations of the treatment group. Results showed that while no significant difference in children's attitudes existed between treatment and control groups after the treatment period, both groups demonstrated a similar development in their attitudes towards traditional reading materials. Further results indicated a significant difference between reluctant and willing readers in the treatment group.

The paper reports the results of a randomised control trial investigating the use of computer‐aided instruction (CAI) for practising phonological awareness skills with beginning readers. Two intervention groups followed the same phonological awareness programme: one group undertook practice exercises using a computer and the other group undertook practice exercises using a paper‐based format. A third, control group, experienced a practical maths programme, with no explicit literacy or CAI components. Children in all three groups were pre‐ and post‐tested on phonological skills and their ability to apply those skills. Statistical analysis indicated a significant learning advantage accruing to children in the computer‐based group compared with the other groups, particularly in relation to phonological awareness with a modest but significant effect size detected. The advantage was apparent but less strong for the orthographic application of their phonological skills. Analysis by gender indicated that girls in the computer group made more progress than boys.

This paper provides an account of the design of the Lesson Planning System (LPS), a performance support system (PSS) to support novice teachereducation students in learning and performing the complex cognitive task of lesson planning. It also reports on an initial research study to investigate the effectiveness of this software. The LPS is a hypermedia software system, predicated on task performance rather than learning, which has been developed to better understand the nature and potential role of PSSs in teacher education. The principles applied in the design and development of the LPS are relevant to the design of other PSSs across a wide range of task-based activities in the professional development of teachers. IntroductionThe purpose of the paper is to: (i) provide an account of the design of a Performance Support System (PSS) for novices undertaking a complex cognitive task (lesson planning), within an innovative instructional model for hypermedia development; and (ii) to report the findings of an initial study to investigate the value of this PSS for novices engaged in learning and performing the task of lesson planning.

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