The edition presents 69 successful teaching techniques used by sociologists at the college level (in classes ranging from introductory sociology to the many specialized subareas, such as deviance, stratification, education, and theory) that are designed to stimulate student thinking and improve student learning. Each technique features a different…

This discussion of how technology can and should be incorporated into the design of instructional systems for the use of disabled learners emphasizes the importance of the instructional designer being aware of the characteristics of the target population, including the psychomotor, cognitive, and affective factors involved. A "user-oriented…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of an expert instructional system used to provide timely and quality feedback about the quality of a variety of visual materials production techniques to undergraduate students in a basic instructional materials production class. One group of students generated its own feedback by using the expert system, and…

The main focus of this paper is research on the content dimension of feedback, although the scheduling of feedback in an instructional program is also briefly considered. The two major categories of the content of feedback discussed are motivational, reinforcing feedback and informative, corrective feedback. It is noted that researchers in the…

This chapter describes current research in cognitive psychology and considers how this work may be applied to the design of instructional materials. The nature of knowing--and of meaningful knowing--are examined, and findings from psycholinguistics and pattern recognition are integrated to provide an understanding of concept and memorization…

This chapter summarizes the state of the art of instructional development and characterizes instructional developers in terms of the chapters in both volumes of "Instructional Development: The State of the Art," other literature in the field, and the personal experiences of the authors. A number of conclusions are drawn, and the nature of the…

Learner objectives, text, practice exercises and answer sheets are provided on the history of educational technology, which includes three major periods: Audiovisual Instruction (1920-1945), Audiovisual Communications (1945-date), and Instructional Systems Analysis and Design (1950-date). The terms "educational technology" and "instructional…

Instructional design considerations involved in using level four videodisc systems when designing simulations are explored. Discussion of the hardware and software system characteristics notes that computer based training offers the features of text, graphics, color, animation, and highlighting techniques, while a videodisc player offers all of…

This report provides a brief description of a 1988 conference on distance education together with papers from 31 of the 44 sessions, including keynote addresses and presentations at general and informational sessions and application seminars. These sessions addressed the conference theme from different perspectives, and included consideration of…

This paper first reviews the field of educational technology and teaching from two perspectives, that of the technologist and that of the teacher. It is noted that the activities of educational technologists are now defined largely in terms of instructional design and development and are increasingly distanced from the work of ordinary teachers in…

Two variables that designers should consider when developing computer-based instruction (CBI) text screens are text density, which manipulates the context of the information presented, and screen density, which is a measurement of the amount of information presented at one time on the screen. A study on text density was designed to identify…

This paper considers ways in which the organization of text can be made explicit through verbal cuing and the ways in which this organization can be related to the cognitive processes of the reader. It is noted that the textual factors supplementary to the main content play an important part in the comprehension of text and are, thus, important…

This paper defines the next generation of intelligent computer-assisted instructional systems (ICAI) by depicting the elaborations and extensions offered by educational research and theory perspectives to enhance the ICAI environment. The first section describes conventional ICAI systems, which use expert systems methods and have three modules: a…

Arguing that videodisc technology has major implications for the storage and retrieval of information and that it may meet learners' needs in ways never before possible, this paper highlights key points regarding the history and development of videodisc technology, explores its implications for education, and addresses current and future uses of…

A simulation is described in terms of its three major aspects: the scenario, the underlying model, and the instructional overlay. The major focus of this paper is the instructional overlay as the component that serves to optimize learning and motivation. Functions of simulations are identified as the acquisition of content, the application of the…