This commentary reviews seven papers that study motivation with new media, contained in this special issue of "Educational Technology Research & Development" edited by Ruth Small. For each paper, this commentary summarizes exemplary contributions, offers an assessment of what is exciting, and suggests directions for future research. Some exciting…

Discusses changes needed in the field of educational technology and recommends future directions. Topics discussed include instructional theories; descriptive versus prescriptive theories; analysis versus synthesis; a formative evaluation approach to research; the relationship of research and development; organizational methods for instruction;…