This design case describes design decisions and their impacts during three redesigns of an educational game called the "Rocks and Minerals Challenge." This game was developed as a laboratory supplement for the rocks and minerals component of a university-based geology course. The game has evolved through three distinct design phases:…

The objective of this design case was to describe the development of an online graph-oriented tool to support the representation of collaborative argumentation for middle school students from a faculty expert's perspective and discuss the processes that were instrumental in developing the tool. Supported by the professional staff in the Digital…

Integrating and documenting formal and informal learning experiences is challenging using the current Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) eLearning standard, which limits the media and data that are obtained from eLearning. In response to SCORM's limitations, corporate, military, and academic institutions have collaborated to develop…

This design case covers a graduate course in educational software design that focuses on semester-long projects in response to client requests. The course was intended to address the need for professionals across disciplines, such as instructional design, computer science, and human-computer interaction design, to usefully collaborate on…

Several usability issues were encountered during the design of a blended e-learning program for a course in evidence-based medicine for general practice trainers. The program was developed in four steps. We focused in this article on step 2 and 3. Step 2 focused on which educational principles to apply, that is, which learning theories,…

The bricks and mortar classroom has a long and storied history. The digital classroom is so new and different it may be wrong to even call it a "classroom". The authors argue that architecture influences behavior. So in constructing our new digital classrooms we must pay attention to the architecture and what job we want that…

Based on a recently completed study of education directors at science museums, this article addresses how design-and-development consultants might use those findings to enhance the way in which they propose and deliver Website services to non-academic organizations with either primary or complementary educational missions. After a very brief…

New approaches to emergent learner-directed learning design can be strengthened with a theoretical framework that considers learning as a dynamic process. We propose an approach that models a learning process using a set of spatial concepts: learning space, position of a learner, niche, perspective, step, path, direction of a step and step…

Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) are often used to support learning in formal and informal educational contexts. A technology-based educational experience consists of several elements: content, syllabus, roles, sequence of activities, assignments, assessment procedures, etc. that must be aligned with the affordances of the technologies to…

In recent years, a number of models concerning question-answering (QA) systems have been put forward. But many of them stress technology and neglect the research of QA itself. In this paper, we analyse the essence of QA and discuss the relationship between technology and QA. On that basis, we propose that when designing web-based QA systems, more…

This paper presents a genre-based conceptual framework for designing content for learning objects. Some content aggregation models are reviewed in order to stress the lack of such an approach. In this framework, learning objects are considered as multimodal macrogenres. These macrogenres are constituted of content objects which in fact are several…

The state of the art of TEL (technology-enhanced learning) is characterised by a technological-driven approach. Learning management systems or learning courses for management systems are mentioned as frequently used basic tools for this purpose. However, these Internet technologies are not suitable for the personalized support of teachers on…

Although inclusion has provided access to the general education classroom for students with disabilities, there are significant questions about whether these students have gained full access to the curriculum. To design curricula for diverse learners, designers must have a clear picture of the obstacles and barriers that some students encounter.…

This paper presents a methodology for the design of intelligent learning environments. We recognise that in the educational technology field, theory development and system-design should be integrated and rely on an iterative process that addresses: (a) the difficulty to elicit precise, concise, and operationalized knowledge from "experts" and (b)…

Recent developments and new directions in education have emphasised learners' needs, profile and pedagogical aspects by focusing on learner-centered approaches in educational settings. e-Learning, on the other hand, guarantees learners the opportunity of learning in their own way, and leads to new considerations in course design. e-Learning is…