What would it take for instructional design to qualify as a bona fide applied discipline? First and foremost, a fundamental requirement is a testable and tested theoretical base. Untested rationales until verified remain in limbo. Secondly, the discipline's applied prescriptions must be demonstrably traceable to the theoretical base once it is…

The design of online learning environments is a complicated process because it entails the use of technological tools to mediate the various forms of interaction situated in the learning process. One possible way to help reduce such complication inherent in various forms of interaction is to look at design as a problem-solving activity. This means…

Information and communications technology (ICT) is affecting every part of our society. Education is no exception, but here the impact of ICT is fragmented at best. The purpose of this article is to conceptualize and develop the idea of the smart classroom that integrates emerging information technologies with advanced pedagogies. System…

Despite the rhetoric around technology as a transformative force in education, transformation is in the hands of teachers not technology. Yet, teachers cannot capitalize on technology's transformative potentials when teacher education is focused on the technology itself or even on the goal of technology integration. Teachers today are challenged…

The integration of game playing with online education has recently become one of the most discussed issues in the e-learning field for its potentially positive impact on the development of related industries and on the social lives of young people. In this article, the authors propose a set of design considerations to assist game-based learning…

Digital games were reviewed as an emerging tool in educational technology. Factors such as instructional effectiveness, time on task, relationship to curricula, student socio-economic status, violence in games, and game mechanics were considered. Despite considerable variability among studies, larger overall effect sizes for the impact of games on…

Avatars are gaining popularity as an emerging technology to facilitate learning and instruction. Avatars can be used as agents of e-learning applications or as part of immersive learning environments such as Second Life. Research indicates that avatar use has numerous potential benefits, including increased student engagement and opportunities for…

Many studies have been conducted on the topics of tools, computers, and technology designed to promote student learning. However, researchers have rarely raised the critical issue of the lack of consensus on conceptualizing "cognitive tools" or the possible challenges associated with previous definitions. By examining the limitations on research…

Most classrooms in the U.S. are composed of students with different learning styles and experiences as well as different achievement levels (Ferguson, 2001). Personalized learning is a unique way of students' learning determined by their own learning style, pace, and needs. Focusing on individual differences, personalized instruction aims to…

Stavros Demetriadis is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh) in Greece. He also earned his Bachelor's degree in Physics and a Master Diploma in Electronic Physics from AUTh. He became interested in information and communications technologies when he was a high school…

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…

Novice teachers encounter a variety of challenges and uncertainties, not limited to classroom management, cultural diversity, subject matter expertise, integrating technology, and instructional design. The act of planning, both physically and mentally, is a way to diminish these uncertainties. The purpose of this article is to suggest a design…

Discusses the role that technology must play in schools to be effective in changing the nature of students' learning. The relationship between schools, society, and technology is examined; the traditional research approach is described as inappropriate; and new design experiments that use successive refinement to improve innovative instructional…

Discussion of technology integration into the curricula focuses on the needs of teachers who don't want training or are not prepared to learn from it due to lower levels of skill and confidence. Considers how instructional designers can build teachers' self-efficacy and proposes a model that is responsive to teacher's needs. (LRW)

The sixth in a series, this article presents an interview with Dr. Todd Hoover, Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Educational Psychology at Loyola University Chicago, whose work has included designing developing, and assessing major initiatives for the integration of technology into learning and teaching. (AEF)