This document summarizes a presentation and student responses from a workshop for graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) attended by 84 GTAs. The focus of the presentation and discussions was on the first day of class, setting goals for the course and introducing the subjects and the instructor. Participants entered their comments into an Alpha Smart…

This paper presents a description of the Australian University Teaching Committee (AUTC) funded project titled: "Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Their Role in Flexible Learning" that aims to provide opportunities for university teachers to create high quality flexible learning experiences for students. This is to be…

This paper describes the role of a college instructional designer (ID), asserting that every college needs one. The field of instructional design has become especially important since the introduction of technology into the educational system. These individuals are knowledgeable about using technology to enhance teaching and learning. IDs help…

Implementing exportable instructional systems has always been a problem for instructional developers. Even the best instructional systems lose effectiveness when they are poorly implemented. Researchers have focused their efforts on creating mechanisms to help developers and managers improve and control implementation. However, most of these…

This paper describes the background to the problem and methodology of a study that explored a reflective new media pedagogy through the design and production of a Web-based learning environment. This environment addresses and invites cancer patients and their supporters to question established social and cultural discourses that shape the…

This book addresses questions of multiple representations in human reasoning and learning. Computational approaches to learning with multiple representations are introduced, and the role of multiple representations in teaching is discussed. The following chapters are included in Part I: Multiple Representations in Learning Concepts form Physics…

The Office of Institutional Research (OIR) at Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) analyzed data collected from ads for jobs in the information technology (IT) sector in the Washington, D.C. area. The study acquired its data from employment ads in the Washington Post's Sunday employment sections. The primary purpose of the study was to learn…

This study used Bloom's Taxonomy in conjunction with new and emerging research paradigms, such as discourse analysis, to examine the outcomes of online science instruction in various biomedical science courses (i.e., histology, histopathology, physiology, microbiology, and farm animal anatomy). By combining quantitative and qualitative data, a…

This paper reports on the processes and results of a project on the instruction and practices of mathematics problem solving and strategies. Students in the second, third, and fifth grades were targeted to increase achievement in the area of math problem solving. Problem solving achievement was measured using performance tasks, rubrics, and tests…

Developing standards for e-learning will have important implications for instructional designers. The most obvious change is that designers will not be designing courses any more; they will be designing small, stand-alone units of instruction called learning objects. This will create a learning object economy that will bring new challenges as well…

This digest reviews what instructional designers do, describes knowledge management, and indicates how knowledge management is influencing instructional design. The first section defines instructional design (ID) and briefly describes the ID process. The second section covers knowledge management (KM), including definitions of KM and systems,…

Curiosity is a heightened state of interest resulting in exploration, and its importance in motivating scholarship cannot be ignored. It is also a critical component of creativity, and fostering curiosity and creativity in today's learners is a challenge faced by educators and instructional designers alike. Following a background on the definition…

An earlier review by the author reported an aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) relating instructional feedback and prior knowledge. For low prior knowledge learners, single-try feedback (STF) was slightly superior to multiple-try feedback (MTF), while for high prior knowledge learners, MTF was superior to STF. In the current report, raw score…

This paper reports the findings of an ongoing study of engagement in computer-based learning environments. The purpose of the study was to look at what engages people in computer games and to see how those patterns of engagement might be used within computer-based learning environments. The age of participants ranged from four to adulthood.…

This paper is a report on the findings of an action research project conducted during an undergraduate "Technology in Education" class for preservice teachers at Southern Utah University. The course was structured using a constructivist approach and designed to incorporate principles of brain-based and engaged learning. A five-step…