INTRODUCTION As an Afrocentric educator, I was initially pleased with the incredible sudden popularity of Malcolm X tee shirts, buttons, coloring books, clothing, caps, medallions, and other Malcolm related paraphernalia. I was hopeful and guardedly optimistic that our young people might finally be waking up and heeding the call. Needless to say, my initial pleasure turned into horror and disgust as I found that the kids were just wearing his likeness for the style of it and have absolutely no idea of Malcolm's life or philosophy. Worse yet, many of the kids who wear Malcolm's likeness had totally taken to heart every slanderous mis- representation of Malcolm that they received from mass (white) media. To the majority of kids Malcolm was a violent, racist, white hating communist who tried to overthrow the American government. This is why many of the kids pretend to look up to him?!! I have designed this program to "humanize" Malcolm X to our young people, to show his connection with the past, present, and future, and to stimulate further study about this very important man. I initially designed the program for High School students but found that elementary students as well as adults enjoyed the program and learned a great deal also. ============================================================== The approach of the program is very simple and unique; answer some multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions about Malcolm X. There is no text to read nor background on Malcolm provided within the program! Put simply, you learn the material by TAKING the test! This is a surprisingly effective and unique feature. Another unique feature of the program is that every question that is answered incorrectly will come back again LATER in the test. This will happen until the question is answered correctly. After the third incorrect attempt the correct answer will flash on the screen so that the user can correctly answer the question when it returns. *The test will NOT end until every question is answered correctly. It is therefore conceivable to have the same question three or four times until it is answered correctly thus forcing the retention of the material! Another important feature is "randomness". Each time the program is run the questions appear in a different order thus foiling student (or adult) attempts at memorizing or copying down the answers. At the end of the test, the user's score is displayed. The score only reflects the percentage correct on the FIRST TRY however. This score is usually quite low on the first test but on subsequent tests will rise dramatically. This stimulates confidence and motivates the user to strive for a perfect score. Studies show that positive feedback is a useful motivational tool. Extensive testing with students at my school as well as extensive research and good old trial and error have shown these techniques to be effective. =============================================================== I have tested the effectiveness of the program in several ways. First, before writing the program I have researched various computerized testing methods (using E.R.I.C.) and have applied techniques found successful. Secondly I have followed up on the initial results by giving students a re-test weeks after their first test and have found consistent positive results. Thirdly I have also given verbal and written tests on the material, carefully wording the questions differently than those in the program and have found that the information is retained very well in all cases. ========================================================== The Program Files Malcolm.exe (program file) Mal1x (test file) Mal2x (test file) Malx (test file) hidem.bat (hides the text files) showem.bat (un-hides the text files) x.exe (part of hidem and showem) readme.txt (you are now reading this file) register.doc (instructions for registering program) go.bat (quick start program) The three tests are contained in three text files called MAL1X, MAL2X, and MALX. WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ALTER ANY OF THE TEST FILES. Any alteration to them will cause the program to crash. This is a proven necessary securtiy feature. Another security feature is the HIDEM.BAT file. It's purpose is to make the test files invisible to DOS thus cutting down on tampering. Hidem will hide the text files from the directory so that kids can't simply type the file and find the answers to the questions. To use HIDEM simply type, at the prompt, HIDEM The program does the rest! The SHOWEM file will UN-hide the files hidden with HIDEM. Simply type SHOWEM at the prompt. That's all to it! To run the program simply type "GO" at the prompt and follow the simple on screen menu. ============================================================ There are three tests in the program. The first 2 tests consist of 20 questions and are typically completed in about 8 - 10 minutes for first timers and 4 - 5 minutes for those taking the same test twice. The advanced test consists of a combination of tests 1 and 2 and takes about 11 - 13 minutes to complete. Although the program was originally written for high school aged students, it has been of great value to all other age groups as well. This program has been written so that it will run on virtually any IBM system from the ancient (yet still quite common in schools) IBM XT variety with only 128K, no hard drive, and monochrome display, all the way through the latest 66mhz pentium based systems. This will ensure that it will be of value in any school's computer lab. I have tested the program on many systems such as the Compaq Contura monochrome laptop, Premier 386sx, Leading Edge 486dx, and several others and have found it to work well on each. Have fun! Michael J. Wallace M.S., B.S., A.A.S December 1993 P.S. For an excellent introduction of Malcolm X, I highly recommend, "Malcolm X For Beginners" by Bernard Aquina Doctor, Writers And Readers Publishing 1992 available at all good bookstores.