This article examines the implications of constructivist theory for university-level professional education. Constructivist approaches to instructional design promise desirable outcomes for pre-professional education: professionals who think independently, who can frame and define problems and who can evaluate their own choices. However, the trend…

Technologically enhanced learning environments raise complex challenges for their designers, developers and users. Design patterns and pattern languages have recently emerged as a potential framework for addressing some of these challenges. However, the uptake of design patterns has been slow outside of the computer science community. We argue…

The aim of this series of applications is to enhance students' spatial perception capacity by means of exercises that require the student to concentrate on mentally recreating the figures represented. Each application is designed with an increasing level of difficulty, designed to increase the students' concentration and train their spatial…

A number of available resources offer guidance about hypermedia design strategies, many of which rely on principles of user-centered design. Many recent efforts, however, have focused more on developing "learner-centered" hypermedia. Learner-centered hypermedia is designed to help learners achieve their educational goals, rather than offer mere…

Virtual Reality (VR) is a creation of virtual 3D world in which one can feel and sense the world as if it is real. It is allowing engineers to design machines and Educationists to design AV [audiovisual] equipment in real time but in 3-dimensional hologram as if the actual material is being made and worked upon. VR allows a least-cost (energy…

Many professions, including the field of Sign Language Interpreting, benefit from, and indeed require practitioners to continue to enhance their skills and knowledge throughout their professional lives. Workshops are one way of accomplishing this goal. If one lives in a metropolitan area, workshops are generally plentiful. However, for…

It is necessary that children are taught pedagogy of peace that includes recognition and rejection of violence, understanding of differences through dialogue, critical awareness of injustice, social justice and imaginative understanding of peace. The prime responsibility of a teacher is to help students to become good human beings, motivated to…

Research and theory-building activities in Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University revolve around several thematic threads: message design, instructional design/development, technology integration, systemic change in education, and change management and human performance technology. A dozen or more student-faculty research groups…

For many years there has been a growing concern, particularly among researchers in biology education, about the extent to which research findings from one discipline (most usually physics education) can be applied directly to other disciplines (particularly biology education). This paper explores the issue through the use of one particular…

This article presents two current research trends in e-learning that at first sight appear to compete. Competence-Based Knowledge Space Theory (CBKST) provides a knowledge representation framework which, since its invention by Doignon & Falmagne, has been successfully applied in various e-learning systems (for example, Adaptive Learning with…

This article argues that the stifling of innovation in teacher education has threatened the vitality of the field. Departing from the typical debate over the merits of the traditional versus the alternative route, this article encourages a pluralistic approach to teacher preparation that the author believes holds promise for revitalizing the field…

While the application of geoinformation (GI) in German schools is becoming increasingly important, a systematic integration in school curricula, arranged in a cumulative and competence-oriented manner, is still lacking. Here the authors discuss existing approaches to the problem and propose a learning strategy based on the stepwise gain of GI…

Integrating school counseling standards, models, and initiatives can be overwhelming to all individuals striving to conduct comprehensive developmental guidance programs. The research in this area indicates a gap between the school counseling intern's ability to connect their learning of these initiatives to actual practice. This article focuses…

Like other members of the academy, accounting professors are challenged to improve student learning. We must help students move beyond the "bean counter" role and develop higher-level skills such as analysis, synthesis, and problem-solving. The Significant Learning Taxonomy was used as a template to improve learning in an introductory accounting…

People's attitudes towards ethnicity and culture are formed in their youth. Elementary school students have a great proclivity to develop a positive outlook towards diversity when appropriately guided by teachers and school administrators. As educators aim to create an integrated and harmonious society, they need to recognize that these early…