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…

This booklet begins by examining the role played by evaluation in course and curriculum development, and then shows how the basic "error elimination" approach advocated by the philosopher Karl Popper can be used as a basis for the on-going evaluation of instructional systems. Next, two contrasting paradigms of evaluation are described,…

This paper compares the content of two types of instruction presented to a student either by an intelligent tutoring system or by some conventional text, such as a textbook or a computer user's manual, when the educational goal is skills learning. Two distinct points of view are presented: (1) that of the "expounders," who believe that…

An adventure game is a role-playing game that usually, but not always, has some fantasy aspect. The role-playing aspect is the key element because players become personally involved when they assume a role, and defeat becomes personal and less acceptable than in other types of games. Computer-based role-playing games are extremely popular because…

The professional instructional designer frequently develops instruction for someone else--an outside client, another department of his or her organization, or colleagues who have content knowledge but lack specific instructional skills. The role of consultant poses unique hazards and opportunities, as it requires the use of relationship and…