There are at least three powerful insights for educational technology researchers and designers from recent neuroscience studies of the brain and from cognitive science research findings: First, our brains learn and process two very different types of knowledge; non-conscious, automated, procedural, or implicit knowledge, and conscious,…

Design, including instructional design, is one of most complex and ill-structured kinds of problem solving. Historically, instructional design has been conceptualized as a linear set of phases (e.g., analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation) that a designer progresses through. Silber (2007) has provided an alternative perspective…

Places a postmodern perspective on the issue of the affective domain by taking text from one line of a Charles Dickens novel, "The Cricket on the Hearth," and reinterpreting it in eight different ways to show different personal relevances, alternative motivations, and a non-linear system. (Author/LRW)

Integrates contemporary theories of learning into a theory of learning as activity. Explains ecological psychology, changes in understanding of learning, activity systems and activity theory (including the integration of consciousness and activity), and activity structure; and discusses learning as a cognitive and social process. (LRW)

The author argues that Instructional Design (ID) is a problem-solving process, not a procedure, made up of a thinking process common to designers in many fields, and a set of well-accepted, underlying ID principles. This article presents a model of those principles. Further, it argues that teaching ID as a well-structured procedure is not helpful…

Proposes a social constructivist adaptation of case-based reasoning (CBR) by incorporating computer-supported collaborative learning tools into the thinking and reasoning process. Explains goal-based scenarios (GBS) as translations of CBR into simulated learning environments and discusses the incorporation of facilitation cues and the inclusion of…

Describes an integrated instructional design approach that addresses cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral aspects of learning and is based on three theoretical frameworks: instructional systems design, social learning theory, and the stages of change framework provided in the Transtheoretical Model of Change. (LRW)

Discusses the affective domain and its relationship to instructional systems design. Topics include social problems rooted in the affective domain of behavior, the cognitive versus the affective domain, emotions, emotions and information processing, specifying learning outcomes in the affective domain, and targets of instructional analysis.…

The method presented provides a systematic approach for communicating information about interrelationships between concepts taught in a psychology course. Students who did not receive the information through traditional instructional methods received enhanced scores on tests of structural understanding. Five references are listed. (MER)

Defines higher order learning and its component parts, and describes how it can be taught. Argues that effective strategy training interventions use multicomponent interventions, embed strategy training interventions, offer practice of higher-order skills within the context of existing curricula, explain the utility of different cognitive and…

Discusses the use of applied cognitive task analysis (ACTA) to interview novices and gain insight into their cognitive skills and processes. Focuses particularly on novice Internet searchers at the University of Staffordshire (United Kingdom) and reviews attempts to modify ACTA, which is intended to gather information from experts as part of…

Discusses emerging trends in education that are related to being digital. Highlights include the mind's processes and structures, including the cognitive spectrum, constructivism, and situated cognition; mass customization, including learning styles; context; our rapidly expanding knowledge base, including lifelong learning and just-in-time…

Updates the Tennyson and Rasch linking theory, which proposes that instructional design can improve learning outcomes if there is an established link between learner mental processes and the means of instruction, delivery, and assessment. Includes behavioral, cognitive, and constructivist theories of learning; explains elaboration theory; and…

Discussion of the growing use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in education focuses on an intrapersonal communication model based on the cognitive experience of the individual. Four types of experiential learning that can be applied to CMC are explained: (1) response learning; (2) situation learning; (3) transsituation learning; and (4)…

Considers the implications that broadening the definition of learning would have for educators and educational technologists. This special issues addresses the task of redefining learning from a variety of perspectives. The authors draw on different frameworks of analysis, exploring what it means to be learning at levels ranging from the…