This text addresses curriculum development for students with mental retardation based on the premise that it is the primary job of educators to teach these individuals independence skills and also based on criticism of the academic focus of most current instructional approaches. Individual chapters consider the following topics: (1) an overview of…

This instructional development project evaluates the effect of a matrix-based strategy to assist multimedia authors in acquiring and applying principles for effective multimedia design. The Multimedia Matrix, based on the Park and Hannafin "Twenty Principles and Implications for Interactive Multimedia" design, displays a condensed…

Discussion of whether and to what extent initial vocational training and adult education in European Community (EC) member countries can assume a modular form hinges on the issue of the module as an organizational principle. In such a context, modules are viewed not as closed teaching and learning units but rather as integral parts of a more…

Instruction should be designed to incorporate learning theories that explain how intellectual skills are developed. Through these appropriate learning theories, students learn to think conceptually, critically, and creatively when analyzing situations, developing solutions to problems, and learning from their experiences. Several critical issues…

Team teaching has recently been introduced to the program in instructional design and technology in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). For the past 3 years, collaboration and cooperation have been undertaken in the teaching of two graduate seminars: Research in Instructional Design and Technology, and…

This paper addresses some design considerations for computer-produced visual displays that are intended for either local or remote audiences of social workers. The project, "Building Family Foundations," expects to design and produce 10 different educational modules, including: child development; family issues--separation and attachment; family…

Although there are efforts to equalize educational methods and materials, some differences between males and females may be better served by emphasizing rather than neutralizing gender. One such point is in the area of visual imagery. Studies have shown that imagery preferred by males and females differs in certain visual characteristics. The…

Some personal reflections on instructional design and its relation to constructivism are explored. Instructional design in its present form is out of sync with the times in that its orientation, methods, and research base are behavioristic, or positivistic. However, a constructivist theory of instructional design is possible, particularly if…

The presence of the computer in the classroom is no longer considered an oddity; it has become an ordinary resource for teachers to use for the enhancement of instruction. This paper presents an examination of software infusion, i.e., the use of computer software to enrich instruction in an academic curriculum. The process occurs when a chosen…

This paper describes the implementation of a graduate preservice teacher education course, entitled "Language and Meaning," offered via an interactive two-way audio and video delivery system in which participants on two campuses of Pace University (Westchester and New York City) were able to view each other. An interactive World Wide Web…

This publication is meant to share ideas about distance education and descriptions of work-in-progress in this area. In the first of three papers, "Computers, Related Devices and Distance Education: How Cinderella Becomes a Princess," George Hampton describes the need for technological literacy and suggests computer-assisted instruction…

The hypothesis that the planning activities of classroom teachers correlate with the practices of instructional design professionals is explored within the context of this study. Classroom teachers participated in a survey which requested information regarding their planning routines. The 35-item two part questionnaire that was used as the data…

This paper discusses the factors involved in making decisions about a multimedia display system. Theoretical factors, including gaining and holding learner attention, specific attention-getting devices, encoding and retrieval of information by learners, and presentation of information are considered. Ways that video is associated with computer…

A discussion of the design of effective instructional materials for English as a Second Language (ESL) focuses on the application of second language learning theories and concepts of instructional design from educational technology to development of interactive video. A number of second language learning models and related research are examined,…

An experiment in problem-solving was conducted in which one group of students used computer conferencing for continual public exchanges of ideas through asynchronous meetings, and another group used class discussion groups, while attempting to solve a legal problem in a course in consumer law. Student success rates for solving the assigned problem…