This study examined the effectiveness of spaced practice and spaced review when implemented structurally within a computer assisted instruction (CAI) program. The study viewed the comparison of two levels of CAI as instructional treatments. The instructional treatments were developed as structured, which contained spaced practice and spaced…

While electronic learning environments provide exciting possibilities for supporting learners, the design of the user interface is as yet little understood. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of specific usability attributes for online learning courses. A review of related papers on usability methods and learning theories…

Discusses designers' need to design educational software for subversive use, recognizing that users fit the use of technology-based environments into contextually tuned "situated" learning environments. In this sense, good design is volatile design, or design which changes with contextual use. These ideas are illustrated with reference to a range…

This study compared the effects of computer and print text density on learning using 48 undergraduate teacher education majors as subjects. Three separate studies tested the effects of text density and presentation modes (print or computer), learner control, and screen density. Dependent variables for the first two studies--which were…

Traces the development of an online unit for Indigenous Australian learners, and accounts for cultural issues that impacted on the design of learning tasks and the associated avenues for communication provided to learners. In this context, culturally responsive design was ensured by the adoption of Lave's (1991) community of practice model. (AEF)

This paper describes the design of a Web-based learning environment for leadership facilitators in a United States military organization. The overall aim of this project was to design a prototype of an online learning environment that supports leadership facilitators' knowledge development in the content area of motivation. The learning…

Over the past decade, there have been many changes in the tools used to design, the ways information can be represented and the underpinning theories which drive educational experiences. This paper focuses on several examples of software design that have been pedagogically successful and have demonstrated what is possible in software design and…

In January 1999, an interdisciplinary seminar of doctoral students from cognitive, educational and computational sciences was organized to study theoretical texts that might provide insight into how to support collaborative learning with perspectives-based software. The seminar uses a Web-based tool called WEBGUIDE to mediate and structure…

This paper documents a collaborative effort between faculty members from Pellissippi State Technical Community College (Tennessee) and Northwestern Technical Institute (Georgia) to create and deliver an online class on medical terminology. The following six aspects of the project are described: (1) the collaborative effort, including the viability…

Despite the ever-increasing number of higher education institutions offering online courses, there are still a lot of controversial debates and a strong sense of confusion about how well the concept of Web-based distance learning is being implemented. This paper summarizes the 10 primary steps toward the assessment, planning, design,…

Describes study that examined text density levels as a design variable in print and computer-based instructional presentations. The six treatment groups are explained, including low density, high density, and learner controlled density; attitude surveys and achievement posttests are described; and implications of the findings for instructional…

This paper presents an approach for developing flexible Hypermedia Learning Environments (HMLE) and applies this theoretical framework to the creation of a layered model of a hypermedia system, called HyperDisc, developed at the German Institute for Research on Distance Education. The first section introduces HMLE and suggests that existing…

This paper presents a comprehensive evaluation framework for a variety of organizations that wish to find the perfect fit between the needs of the organization and the online solutions they adopt. The framework described in this paper is an outcome of a collaborative effort between the department of Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation…

A number of university campuses have undertaken the development of digital classrooms that enable presentation of digital media and digital lecture recording. Deploying the infrastructure for a digital classroom is difficult at best even for a technically savvy person. As people from many disciplines become interested in building similar digital…

Virtual reality is an immersive, interactive medium that manipulates the senses in order provide users with simulated experiences in computer-generated worlds. The visual design of virtual reality is an important issue, but literature has tended to stress the medium's instructional potential rather than setting forth a protocol for designing…