Discussion of Live Interactive Television (LIT) focuses on a study conducted in Australia that investigated the form and nature of the interactions evident in school, vocational, and university LIT distance education programs. The study sought to establish the impact of the interactivity on the form and scope of the instructional sequences used.…

Reports the results of a comparative study of the 26 open universities in Asia (of 12 Asian countries/regions) conducted by the Center for Research in Distance and Adult Learning, Open University of Hong Kong. Topics explored were: gender/age distribution of the students; leadership styles; teaching and delivery model; methods and forms of student…

Discusses learner-centered active assessment, or interactive assessment, and applies it to an instructional design course that used WebCT (a Web-based authoring/management tool) to support a face-to-face classroom setting. Highlights include a definition of classroom assessment; and results of pretests and posttests, class surveys, and course…

Presents a framework for identifying important issues for instructional design and delivery in global settings. Highlights include cultural factors in global training; an instructional design model; corporate globalization strategy; communication and training norms; language barriers; implicit value differences; and technical and legal…

Explains how student-generated, computer-based multimedia projects can be meaningful learning activities to integrate into the K-12 curriculum. Describes three phases: design, including goals and objectives of the project and use of the finished product; production, including choosing multimedia software, prototyping, and usability testing; and…

Discusses certain transferable skills and a strategy for developing them via an intensive short course on mathematical modeling. Includes student reactions and comments on the course. Suggests that this course developed modeling as well as generic skills through teaching, learning, and assessment style. (Author/KHR)

During three discussion sessions, two groups of five teachers each developed a shared lesson plan, one for each group, for the teaching of a difficult economic concept. Differences in learning outcomes are interpreted in light of observed differences in how the concept was dealt with in the different classrooms. (Author/AEF)

Authorware is Macromedia's powerful feature-rich tool for courseware development. Version 6.5, released in September 2002, introduces new features for usability, extensibility, and accessibility. New usability enhancements include improvements to script functions and liberal use of drag-and-drop operations. First-time users should beware that they…

Discusses how Montessori's Cosmic Education framework addresses issues of unity and diversity in a multicultural world view. Considers five key points of this approach that meet challenges of a multicultural world: the unity of all beings, the role of evolution in life, interdependence in nature, physical and spiritual needs of humans, and the…

Discussion of the effectiveness of distance education presents a framework for understanding three of the primary variables that comprise the design and delivery of distance education: teaching method, media attributes, and delivery mode; and emphasizes the importance of discriminating between them when evaluating instruction. Considers online…

Explores self-reflection skills and views in the context of an introductory physics course for first-year engineering honors students. Measures students' conceptual learning gains using standard survey instruments. Finds that students with high conceptual gains tend to show reflection on learning that is more articulate and epistemologically…

Describes five models for instructional design, including the ASSURE Model (analyze learners, state objectives, select methods, media and materials, utilize media and materials, require learner participation, and evaluate); the Learning Cycle; Instructional Analysis Model; Integrated Model for Teaching Library Skills; and Instructional…

Discussion of distance education research focuses on the results of a case study that identified and documented instructional design interactions used by selected instructors teaching at a distance at Texas A&M University. Topics include instructional design; learner interactions and instructor interactions in distance education; distance…

Describes a toolkit that was developed to help faculty members evaluate learning that uses information and communication technologies. Presents a two-part evaluation of the toolkit's impact which demonstrates that this approach enhances design, supports reflection, and prompts users to consider the most appropriate approach to evaluation.…

Field testing of a series of group-learning units in pharmacology based on a patient-oriented problem-solving approach found that the units were well crafted and that students had higher scores on tests of their knowledge of pharmacology after they had used the units. (Author/DB)