Mathematics teachers are increasingly being called to integrate mathematical modeling into their course sequences and curriculum (NCTM 2018; NGA Center and CCSSO 2010). Mathematical modeling is a dynamic cycle calling teachers to engage in complex instructional work that advances students' mathematical knowledge and reasoning. The modeling cycle…

For several decades there has been a broad consensus on the need to promote scientific literacy and, ultimately, to promote the full development of student competency from an early age. However, many of the results recorded in the educational field are not very encouraging. Although interdisciplinarity has a more extensive trajectory, the…

An increasing number of researchers and educators adopt embodied cognitive frameworks in innovative science learning environments. The embodied cognitive paradigm signals a shift from traditional cognitive accounts of how learning occurs. The purpose of this review was to explore whether the shift to embodied cognition design principles is…

Learning designers became the "first responders" during the great onlining due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this innovative practice article, we share the experiences of a team of digital learning designers created to support the university community's pivot online. This project adopts a case study methodology. The case study of the…

Teachers' decisions for instructional design and technology integration influence their teaching practices and student learning performances. Technology-integrated learning environments have been widely leveraged due to the recent global health crisis and student learning needs (Polly et al., "TechTrends," 65(3), 240-242 2021). Teachers…

At Athens State University, every student is a transfer student. As an institution that enrolls mostly non-traditional students, faculty and instructional designers understand the importance of accommodating the unique instructional needs of each student in order for them to have a seamless transition into the environment of an upper-level…

Although designing and developing courses curricula are often the primary foci for online learning, instructional considerations are just one part of an educational ecosystem contributing to the online educational quality and success for online learners. In this paper, we explore systemic planning for online learning organized around the idea of…

A growing, research-based consensus supports addressing our nation's literacy crisis through instruction aligned with the Science of Reading (SoR). We recognize, however, that the complexity of SoR content, alongside the multiplicity of instructional decisions and practices, and the unique features of each classroom and school, make simple…

At the onset of widespread COVID-19 in early 2020, institutions of higher education were abruptly faced with the need to rely on educational technology as a primary mode of teaching students, referred to as emergency remote teaching (ERT). Almost overnight, there was a corresponding and urgent need for instructional designer support and expertise.…

The pedagogical development (PD) for educators in higher engineering education is indispensable to the promotion of educational changes and high-quality teaching and learning necessary to train twenty-first century engineering talents. With the expansion of various PD activities in engineering education in recent decades, there is a growing need…

This design-based research (DBR) study had both local and general goals. Its local goal was to increase active learning in the online courses offered at a large research university in the midwestern United States. Its larger goal was to define active learning design principles for online courses in general, so that they might be used to improve…

Background: It is crucial to use innovative tools to gain clinical reasoning skills through experiential learning in pharmacy education, and one of the most effective tools used in this is virtual reality. However, the lack of research that empirically demonstrates the instructional principles of virtual environment design, especially in the…

In order to address the rising concerns about undergraduates' plagiarism in academic writing practices, a blended learning scenario (a combination of face-to-face learning with online learning) was designed and the effectiveness of it was tested. Results indicated that the students became more capable of distinguishing plagiarism cases in…

Scholarly efforts to identify core design features for effective teacher professional development have grown rapidly in the last 25 years. Many concise lists of design principles have emerged, most of which converge on a consensus of 5-7 presumably 'effective' features (e.g. collaborative tasks, active learning, focus on content). The…

Virtual reality is a rapidly growing technological innovation that continues to garner attention for use in education. This self-study of two teacher educators spans immersive head-mounted virtual reality implementation from 2014-2023 with middle-grades students, preservice teachers, and adult learners. Empirical data sources include learner…