Historically, across U.S. education systems, traditional teaching strategies and school curricular practices have been anchored in Western views and Eurocentric frameworks that position whiteness as the center of legitimate knowledge and, as a result, other knowledge as peripheral and insignificant. In this article, we offer practical…

Through this document, Lumina Foundation for Education offers a "Degree Qualifications Profile," a tool that can help transform U.S. higher education. A Degree Profile--or qualifications framework--illustrates clearly what students should be expected to know and be able to do once they earn their degrees--at any level. This Degree…

This assessment of the status of research on instructional development (ID) discusses such conceptual problems as the confusion between ID and instructional design, reviews previous research, and proposes a framework for future ID research. Decision-oriented issues discussed within this framework include: (1) administrative and policy issues of ID…

A study of citations in instructional development (ID) periodical literature identifies invisible colleges--groups linked by common ideas or approaches--in the ID field. Although ID literature as a whole was weakly based on previous work, this study found eight invisible colleges and 10 authors who dominate the literature. (MBR)

This book, written by authors representing 12 countries and five continents, is a collection of international perspectives on distance learning and distance learning implementations in higher education. The perspectives are presented in the form of practical case studies of distance learning implementations, research studies on teaching and…

Presents a model for course development which utilizes a behavioral approach to instruction within the context of instructional systems design (ISD). An overview of the ISD process is given, and an introductory college psychology course is described which was prepared by modifying Keller's Personalized System of Instruction (PSI). (LRW)

A library skills program for freshman composition students was redesigned to correct problems caused by a lack of uniformly accepted methods of implementation. Changes made included a revised workbook, streamlined class sessions, enforcement of due dates for exercises, and improved communication with faculty. Three references are listed. (MES)

The development of computer-based instruction will be greatly facilitated by the use of an effective and efficient design model. Five components of such a model are: (1) the objective; (2) the content; (3) the questions; (4) the boundaries; and (5) the entry skills. A good objective describes either something observable that learners do, the…

This chapter outlines the theory of cost-benefit analysis and discusses its application to determining the cost-benefit of instructional development projects. Three types of applications are discussed: (1) descriptive applications of single projects; (2) predictive studies of proposed projects; and (3) comparative analysis of alternative projects…

Discusses the concepts of instructional theory and their application in the design of instructional and training packages, particularly computer-assisted instruction programs. (12 references) (CLB)

Describes three types of literature searches conducted as part of instructional design process: instructional materials, content research, and instructional theory reviews. Search techniques to complete each type of literature search are reviewed: card catalog, online, materials indexes, and grapevine searches. An example of an instructional…

A survey was conducted of more than 300 instructional developers, asking which books they would recommend for a variety of different uses. To assist them, a listing of 139 instructional development books taken from a recent journal article was included with the survey. Participants, who represented a diverse but highly-experienced group, were…

Arguing that the failure of instructional materials is frequently due to misconceptions held by their developers concerning the nature of comprehension, this chapter examines the factors involved in comprehension and relates them to the design of instructional materials. Three types of errors in comprehension are discussed, and ways to avoid them…

The open-systems model of instructional development (ID) proposed for use in both educational and non-educational organizations is based on an extensive examination of ID, the systems and communication/consulting literature, and the results of a nationwide survey of 750 currently active ID professionals in both higher education and…

Provides an overview of techniques an instructional designer can use to examine printed subject matter materials when conceptualizing unfamiliar content. Highlights include a discussion of conceptualizing versus learning, interactions between designers and subject experts, and interacting with print materials based on content area reading…