Enthusiasts and evangelists of open educational resources (OER) see these resources as a panacea for all of the problems of education. However, despite its promises, their adoption in educational institutions is slow. There are many barriers to the adoption of OER, and many are from within the community of OER advocates. This commentary calls for…

The field of learning analytics was founded with the goal to harness vast amounts of data about learning collected by the extensive use of technology. After the early formation, the field has now entered the next phase of maturation with a growing community who has an evident impact on research, practice, policy, and decision-making. Although…

Today's education technology holds immense promise, but what matters more than the tools themselves are how they are used in schools and in classrooms. In "Breakthrough Leadership in the Digital Age," Frederick M. Hess and Bror Saxberg argue that educators have tended to think of adopting technology as a way to "reform" or…

The school library profession has begun to develop a reputation for tech-savviness. Several school librarians are nationally recognized technology leaders and present at conferences where instructional technology is at the forefront. Unfortunately, while school librarians have done a wonderful job of marketing their technological expertise in the…

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are online courses aimed at global unlimited participation, originally conceptualised to carry no fee and offer no formal accreditation to the students (McAuley et al. 2010). Although their pedagogies vary, the most popular MOOC providers (e.g., Coursera, FutureLearn and EdX) are turning towards what Rodriguez…

This commentary reflects on the contributions to learning analytics and theory by a paper that describes how multiple theoretical frameworks were woven together to inform the creation of a new, automated discourse analysis tool. The commentary highlights the contributions of the original paper, provides some alternative approaches, and touches on…

The Internet enables new models. In the commercial world, for example, we have eBay, Amazon.com, and Netflix. These new models operate with a different set of rules than do traditional models. New models are emerging in higher education as well--for example, competency-based programs. In addition, courses that are being provided from outside the…

In this commentary, Rosita Ulate Sanchez states that Venezuela, like other Latin American countries, begins the 21st century by confronting realities that require changes in its learning and education systems. The purpose of Venezuela's education system is to generate social renovation and economic development. It seeks to achieve this through…

The improvement of a professional group is due, in part, to its ability for introspection and self-evaluation. This is essentially the process of "analyzing" the profession as it currently is practiced, identifying necessary changes and improvements, and "synthesizing" or creating a new image or model of the profession to…

This article presents the authors' response to Hisham B. Ghassib's article entitled "Where Does Creativity Fit into a Productivist Industrial Model of Knowledge Production?" The authors focus on one aspect of Ghassib's (2010) analysis of creativity and knowledge production in the sciences--specifically, the influence of technology on changing…

John M. Keller is one of the most recognized and respected scholars in the field of educational technology and instructional design. He has worked at the junction of psychology, education, and technology. Along with many other contributions, he has developed an instructional design theory that can be used successfully both with traditional and…

The current debate over whether to choose just one universal human performance technology (HPT) model, in particular Langdon's language of work (LOW) model, promises a shared understanding among HPT professionals, credibility for the HPT profession, and a return on investment of time and effort in developing performance models over more than 70…

Has the wave of the open web crested? What does "open educational technology" look like, and does it stand for anything? In this article, the authors discuss the rise of open educational technology. The present range of Web 2.0 service providers offers a self-evident strategic technology framework. Without much effort, online teachers and learners…

This is the fourth and final installment in a series of articles presenting a new outlook on the methods of instructional design. These articles examine the nature of the process of instructional design and are meant to stimulate discussion about the roles of designers in the fields of instructional design, the learning sciences, and interaction…

This article is part of the dialogue on human performance technology (HPT) models that began in the October 2011 issue of "Performance Improvement." In 1996, the author shared a new HPT model with "Performance & Instruction" readers. Since then, he has refined the model and added empirical research. In the spirit of continuous improvement, the…