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What is CBIRL?

Established in 1976,  my graduate student group called the Computer-Based Instructional Research Lab (CBIRL) has seen many firsts including the first wide scale use of Computer-Assisted Instruction at McGill University (1970s), the introduction of the Logo language and associated cognitive research along with the first course in Artificial Intelligence in Education at McGill (1980s), and the creation of the world's first course in Consciousness,Virtual Reality, and Cyberspace in Education (1990s).  In the 2000's the emphasis is on new technologies such as Virtual Reality and Presence.

The purpose of the lab is not so much to provide the latest cutting edge hardware as it is to explore new ideas and concepts with wide applicability in the fields of Educational Psychology, and Education. 

I hope this page is helpful in providing some links to the latest (and recommended) software and hardware.  I am grateful to Roy Miller for permitting us to use his useful links and gadgets.

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Sometimes called Memory sticks or flash drives or JumpDrives  - These are recommended to replace ZIP Drives and ZIP Disks.  They are highly portable, reliable, and cost-effective. They are great for traveling and giving presentations at conferences since they plug into the USB port of the host computer and usually configure themselves automatically.  Graduate students should be encouraged to use them but not for permanent storage, advises Jim Harris. While the memory sticks are great for transporting files from one computer to the next they are inherently unreliable as permanent backup media. Many of them lose data and require reformatting. Keep important backups on CD or DVD and just use the memory stick for quick transfers of files from one computer to the next or for presentations.

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Mozilla Firefox (version 3.0) is an open source Web browser that features tabbed browsing. New web pages can be opened in the same window making it easier to switch between different web pages. Each new page is put on a tab, eliminating the need for the Back button.  Also useful is the built-in pop-up blocker and search tool. You can download it free and use it  to replace or supplement  Internet Explorer and/or other browsers.  

Google Scholar is a beta-test version of an academic search engine designed to search scholarly sites and produce hits not normally available with a regular search engine.