2/82.2.1.1 A Historical Introduction to Authoring Systems
Historically Authoring Systems were programs that were designed to help authors write instruction software which followed Skinner's principles. The first authoring systems were linear programs where authors could present one exercise after the other, and the reaction of the system to the students' answers was just right or wrong. When developers started to add programming languages to authoring systems, the real authoring systems were born. Still, the first versions just tried to simulate the mechanical machines which were used for programmed instruction. More sophisticate ones, which could create exercises ad hoc, were called ``generative'' authoring systems.
The most famous authoring systems in the USA were PLATO and TICCIT. Both systems, which were supported by the National Science Foundation of America (NSF), used a mainframe-terminal architecture and were evaluated by the Educational Testing Service.