States that document designers presenting procedural instructions can choose several formats: prose, table, logical tree, or flow chart. Suggests that instructions should allow users to reach the outcome without losing time. Discusses two formal methods that help determine which order is most efficient--that based on the selection principle, or…

Introduces and discusses briefly 10 multimedia products that are fun, useful, and that can teach a lot about communicating technical and business information. Discusses seven things that designers can learn from such examples. (SR)

Presents comparative data on college and university residence hall construction projects, including construction costs, size, numbers of students, and cost per square foot. Also provides comparative housing cost data over the past decade and identifies types of amenities being added to dormitories. (GR)

Describes how college and professional athletes' need for year-round conditioning and teams' need for a leg up in recruiting are driving construction of sumptuous new football facilities. Details what goes into the design of a great football training facility. (EV)

Discusses three key factors that contribute to the creation of school cafeterias as social learning spaces: access, ambience, and function. (EV)

Examines the development and design of the facade at a rural Oregon high school that represents the school's athletic name of "Pirates" by showing a pirate's ship on the roof. This structure protrudes from a corner of the rectangular building, with a bearded buccaneer opening a treasure chest filled with educational materials. (GR)

In this study, the staff development opportunities among early childhood educators in community-based, nonprofit child care centers were investigated. The trends for professional development and implications for future staff development were determined from data gathered from surveys completed by 12 lead teachers, 5 paraprofessionals, and 5…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to call attention to the fact that conferences for professionals rely on massive one-way communication and hence produce little learning for delegates--and to introduce an alternative, the "learning conference", that involves delegates in fun and productive learning processes.…

In the field of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), scripts are designed to support collaboration among distant learners or co-present learners whose interactions are (at least partially) mediated by a computer. The rationale of scripts is to structure collaborative learning processes in order to trigger group interactions that may…

This paper address three questions: (1) What is the nature of design? (2) How do skilled designers function? and (3) Can a theory of design be constructed which will allow novice and expert instructional designers to perform their tasks more efficiently and effectively? It begins by presenting two general theories of design: Simon's conception of…

Article described an especially meaningful way of planning the curriculum in art for high school students: designing and compiling a book. (Author/RK)

Although the seven buildings of Harvard's Canaday Hall dormitories are neither programmatically, technically, nor functionally innovative, they are a thoughtful solution to extremely restrictive circumstances imposed by the client and the site. The exterior design was carefully selected to blend inconspicuously with the neighboring 18th- and…

This paper discusses environmental preference, particularly related to the design of children's museums. It explains that preference for an environment leads to motivation to interact with the environment, which leads to learning. It lays out several design principles: (1) involve children in the process of children's museum design in a way that…

This paper asserts that, despite rhetoric of added value, facilities management suffers a dearth of objectively researched, publicly available information concerning the impact of facilities on businesses at the level of market sectors or individual organizations. The paper aims to correct that situation for United Kingdom higher education…

Asserting that without an adequate acoustical environment, learning activities can be hindered, this paper reviews the literature on classroom acoustics, particularly noise, reverberation, signal-to-noise ratio, task performance, and recommendations for improvement. Through this review, the paper seeks to determine whether portable classrooms…