.AP .LIT TITLE: "Automated DECAL Lesson Writer" BY: Dr. John S. Abma, Wittenberg University Springfield, OH 45501 .ELI The DEC Authoring Language for computer assisted instruction has many attractive features. Record keeping of student and lesson performance is outstanding and the lessons can feature great flexibility. One obstacle to wide application, however, is the lesson creation process. The DECAL:CREATE commands are difficult for many potential authors to master. A program is available from the DECUS library to provide for interactive lesson creation outside the DECAL:CREATE program. A significant enhancement to that program has been submitted to DECUS and can now be reported. A DECAL author can use the DECUS program SETDEC and interrupt lesson writing at any point by CTRL/C. SETDEC reports how many items of instruction have been completed, and the lesson can be continued at a later time, again using SETDEC. Two lesson structures are available in SETDEC, a linear, developmental structure, and a random-quiz structure. The author types no DECAL commands for either structure, but enters only the segment texts, answers, and optional comments to follow wrong answers.