Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are often examined and evaluated in terms of institutional cost, instructor prestige, number of students enrolled, and completion rates. MOOCs, which are connecting thousands of adult learners from diverse backgrounds, have yet to be viewed from a learning culture perspective. This research used virtual…

Implementing online technologies alone cannot ensure learning. A verified approach is needed to optimize the pedagogical effect of online learning. Previous studies have suggested that the application of the modality principle in multimedia design improves the efficiency of learning by reducing cognitive load. Nevertheless, this design approach…

This article presents a quasi-experimental study comparing the impact of two technology-related teacher professional development (TTPD) designs, aimed at helping junior high school science and mathematics teachers design online activities using the rapidly growing set of online learning resources available on the Internet. The first TTPD design…

The purpose of this research is to identify complex cultural dynamics in the instructional design process of a cross-sector, cross-border training environment by applying Young's (2009) Culture-Based Model (CBM) as a theoretical framework and taxonomy for description of the instructional design process under the conditions of one case. This…

When a course designed around cooperative, problem-centered instruction attracts learners with a wide range of experience in the topic, should learners be grouped heterogeneously or homogeneously in terms of their relative expertise? In this study, learners were randomly distributed between the two types of groups; learning gains, satisfaction,…

This paper reports the results of a study to identify the extent to which organizations that develop educational/training products are committed to project management, as measured by their project management implementation maturity, as a methodology that is separate and distinct from the processes of instructional design. A Web survey was…

The Studio curriculum in the Learning, Design, and Technology (formerly Instructional Technology) program at a large research-extensive university in the southeastern U.S. represents a deliberate application of contemporary theory of how adults learn complex information in ill-structured domains. The Studio curriculum, part of a graduate program…

As hypermedia, online teacher professional development (TPD) should ideally support diverse learners to work with online content effectively because it involves multiple representations and a nonlinear format. Differences among participants in motivation and learning provide challenges for design. The present study is a use-inspired, mixed-method…

Effectively presenting complex material is a crucial component of instructional design within simulation-based training (SBT) environments. One approach to facilitate the acquisition of higher-order knowledge is to embed instructional strategies within the systems themselves. Currently, however, there are few established guidelines to inform…

Experienced teachers, tasked with mentoring, often find themselves inundated with large amounts of didactic information as they prepare for guiding new interns. In an effort to develop training that would both prepare new mentors and revitalize experienced mentors, a state Educational Professional Standards Board enlisted the help of instructional…

Expertise in domains ranging from sports to surgery involves a process of recognition-primed decision-making (RPD) in which experts make rapid, intuitive decisions based on recognizing critical features of dynamic performance situations. While the development of expert RPD is assumed to require years of domain experience, the transition from…

The CASCADE-MUCH system was designed to help teacher-designers in Shanghai, China with the development of instructional scenarios for multimedia curricula. After four rounds of prototyping, a summative evaluation was carried out to assess practicality. Results showed that the system was practical for the intended target users in Shanghai and also…

This article describes a blueprint for an online learning environment that is based on prominent instructional design and assessment theories for supporting learning in complex domains. The core of this environment consists of formative assessment tasks (i.e., assessment "for" learning) that center on professional situations. For each professional…

This article describes the design and formative evaluation of a Web-based tool that supports curriculum developers in constructing competence maps. Competence maps describe final attainment levels of educational programs in terms of--interrelated--competencies. Key requirements for the competence-mapping tool were validity and practicality.…