To prepare diverse learners for various roles in life, teachers should develop contextualized learning environments that enable students to develop individual skills while contributing to the knowledge of the classroom community. This is accomplished by integrating various subject matter domains with interdisciplinary themes that incorporate…

This paper focuses on the management and change domains of educational technology (ET), namely the need for ET leadership in higher education. Leadership issues are examined with respect to instructional development, faculty development, and instructional technology/media management in higher education and the roles ET practitioners can play.…

The implementation of Taiwan's nationwide constructivist-approach elementary mathematics curriculum has been ongoing for 5 years. From the perspective of systems thinking, Taiwan elementary educational system's mindset as a whole is troubled, and is unable to coordinate with the surrounding community in order to better educational standards. The…

The design of instructional text is an important consideration when attempting to design a successful learning environment. With the rising involvement in online distance education, it is becoming even more important to adhere to good principles of text design. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework of possible instructional systems…

Companies and universities are increasingly moving to online delivery for much of their training and education needs, and designing and building quality distance education is a challenge facing many organizations. Option Six is an independent company that is building customized e-learning solutions. Over the last 2 years, the instructional…

Current research into educational technology often uses partnerships between teachers, researchers, and technology designers to study the introduction of new technology in the classroom. However, these partnerships involve commitments of time from teachers and technology reform projects. In addition, these partnerships often focus on student…

If learners are to engage in science inquiry, they need significant support, or scaffolding, to help them mindfully do the cognitive science tasks that are just out of their reach. One approach for supporting learners is to design computational tools that incorporate scaffolding features to make new practices accessible and visible so learners can…

A design rationale for introducing electronic equipment (a group response system) for student interaction in lecture theaters is presented, linking the instructional design to theory. The effectiveness of the equipment for learning depends mostly on what pedagogic method is employed. Various alternative types are introduced, including: assessment;…

Classroom second language instruction can be characterized as one of the following: focus-on-formS, focus-on-meaning, or focus-on-form. The book titled "Focus on Form in Classroom Second Language Acquisition" (Doughty & Williams, 1998) argues for the desirability of focus-on-form over focus-on-formS and focus-on-meaning, discussing the efficacy…

This study used the Delphi research method to develop the Online Adult Learning Inventory, an instrument to apply the principles of adult learning to Web-based instruction. Twelve experts in the fields of adult learning and online course development working with the researchers constructed the instrument and validated its content. (Contains 1…

This paper describes a model adapted from Zenger and Zenger's (1992) Ten-Step Curricular Planning Process Model. The adapted version, which was used to revise and update a university-level curriculum in Journalism and Mass Communications, includes the following steps: (1) identify challenges; (2) determine needs; (3) develop role and mission…

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a quasi-experimental study of the effects on student achievement resulting from the redesign of an existing anatomy course for a cohort of Occupational Therapy students. This study was based on a design strategy that combined two different instructional technology approaches to teaching and…

This conference addressed pedagogical, social, and technological issues related to computers in education. The conference theme, "Learning Societies in the New Millennium: Creativity, Caring & Commitments," focused on creative learning, caring for diverse cultures and global issues, and committing oneself to a new way of…

The three guides in the new Information Literacy Toolkit Series can help school library media specialists and teachers to promote and teach information literacy skills to young library users and to: collaborate in curriculum planning so that students will develop a cohesive skill set; teach the critical thinking and problem-solving skills that…

This paper proposes the use of specific coaching strategies to facilitate students' use of expert-like problem-solving strategies while analyzing and solving instructional design case studies. Findings from an exploratory study, designed to examine changes in students' problem-solving skills as they analyzed case studies, suggested that students…