Communication theory is one of the most challenging courses in the communication curriculum. Students and faculty alike must grapple with more abstract material, in some cases drastically different from the more skill-based courses such as speech, small group, or broadcast courses. In particular, communication theory is usually the starting ground…

Perhaps one of the first concepts to which students in the communication hybrid course are exposed is the perception process. Students often learn that communication involves perception, which is dealing with several different forms of information or stimuli and deciding how to utilize that information to accomplish their goals. Perception…

Recent developments in the standardisation of learning technology have resulted in models of learning activities and resources including descriptive metadata and definitions of conditional flows for multirole activities. Nonetheless, such "learning designs" are actually representations of the "results" of the design process and do not provide…

What should be learned? How should it be organized for teaching? These seemingly simple questions are deceivingly political. Curriculum theorists are preoccupied with the politics of the first question at the expense of the realpolitik of the second. Instructional designers are preoccupied with the realpolitik of the second question at the expense…

Purpose--To suggest to others in the field an approach equally valid for transforming existing courses into online courses and for creating new online courses. Design/methodology/approach--Using the literature for substantiation, this article discusses the current rapid change within organizations, the role of technology in that change, and the…

Administrative approval of his proposed course on political correctness came as a surprise to Heinz Klatt, a veteran of many run-ins with the PC establishment. Professor Klatt describes the genesis and nature of his course and offers tips that may come in handy for those who would replicate such studies elsewhere. (Contains 4 notes.)

Based upon the lessons learned and the educational materials generated from a doctoral course on qualitative data analysis, a group of doctoral students, their professor, and a linguistics consultant launched an on-going project to create a series of reusable learning objects designed to help other groups of students and professors learn how to…

A method of rendering the design of a course visible for the purpose of discussion amongst the members of course development teams is described. The paper begins by examining the way in which design is manifested in the area of course materials development and the approaches that have been used in attempting to document designs. The strengths and…

Instructional design has numerous approaches and theories available for use by designers and instructors. One model was particularly effective in providing developers with a generic, systematic framework that was easy to use and applicable to a variety of settings. The ADDIE model was utilized in two ways in a Master's level instructional design…

We describe the design of a sequence of spreadsheet-based pedagogic tasks for the introduction of algebra in the early years of secondary schooling within the Purposeful Algebraic Activity project. This design combines two relatively novel features to bring a different perspective to research in the use of spreadsheets for the learning and…

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development process and the key components of a computer-assisted histology material. Computer-assisted histology material is designed to supplement traditional histology education in a large Midwestern university. Usability information of the computer-assisted instruction (CAI) material was obtained…

This chapter summarizes the 4-year-long PEP professional development (PD) initiative in terms of current perspectives on teacher learning and PD, shares lessons learned about the design and delivery of high-quality PD, and presents some principles to guide the development of future PD efforts. The first section reviews the definition and…

Describing the state of the science of ABA, this comprehensive handbook provides detailed information about theory, research, and intervention. The contributors are leading ABA authorities who present current best practices in behavioral assessment and demonstrate evidence-based strategies for supporting positive behaviors and reducing problem…

Scholarly analysis in the sociology of education has burgeoned in recent decades. "Frontiers in Sociology of Education" aims to provide a roadmap for sociologists and other social scientists as they set bold new directions for future research on schools. In Part 1 of this forward-looking volume, the authors present cutting-edge research…

This article describes an English language arts teacher preparation perspective that considers middle school students as part of the teacher educator team. Based on a recognized gap in the literature about students as powerful partners, the authors undertook a 3-year study to explore the question, "What do preservice middle school teachers…