Hi,

I am brand new to the forum and still fairly new to TBL and have two
questions. First, my background is that I am doing my dissertation in the
effects of TBL on the learning outcomes of virtually isolated adults. That
is, there are may adults who use the internet for informal learning but the
sites they visit do not offer online collaboration with peers or mentors. I
am trying to bring the benefits of collaboration (specifically TBL) to them
embedded in the instruction I create. So my two questions are these:


   1. My specific content is communication in marriage (listening, receiving
   messages). Does anyone here have experience or insight into application
   problems that would be challenging and helpful for learners in such a
   scenario (social sciences)?

   2. Does anyone know of software that performs the functions of the RAP
   (i.e., iRATs, gRATs, etc.?) I know that Daniel Robinson at the University of
   Texas at Austin is working on some software of this sort that will be beta
   tested soon. Does anyone know of anything else out there, particularly open
   source and that could be used in conjunction with Blackboard?

Thank you!

Matt Barclay
Doctoral candidate
Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences
Utah State University