When instructional designers talk about what they do, they often discuss their outcomes rather than their process. Conjecturing during decision-making requires the instructional designer to build upon their prior knowledge of the situation and experiences and make assumptions based on available information to design an appropriate solution. This…

This qualitative multi-case study explores the exercise and development of the design judgment of eight instructional design (ID) students working on design projects over one semester in graduate programs at four different institutions in the USA. Their design processes were explored through interviews and their design documents using the concepts…

Future success for online teaching can be described in terms of competencies, the knowledge, skills, and affect and motivation that as component parts undergird successful performance, or in terms of competence, the behaviors that demonstrate ability to perform in an online setting. Either framing could aid higher education to consider how to…

Digital learning environments are dynamic systems that require learning designers to leverage environmental conditions and the needs of their learners. While many frameworks and studies have explored pedagogical reasoning, little emphasis has been placed on the dynamic decision-making processes of learning designers. To advance the exploration of…

In this article we report our research into the concerns and other matters of significance for members of instructional design teams. Specifically we studied how members of a design team depicted the quality of their own motives while participating in team pursuits. This is a type of self-evaluation known as drawing distinctions of worth. Our…

Data-based decision-making is a well-established field of research in education. In particular, the potential of data use for addressing heterogeneous learning needs is emphasized. With data collected during the learning process of students, teachers gain insight into the performance, strengths, and weaknesses of their students and are potentially…

This study explored the interaction of multimedia production competencies of expert and novice instructional designers on the design decisions made during the instructional design process/workflow. This multiple measures study used qualitative survey instruments to access and measure the production competencies of participants, then a design aloud…

How can we better design games, such as role-playing video games (RPGs), to support the practice of ethical thinking? Ethical thinking is a critical component of twenty-first century citizenship and we need to design ways to creatively support its practice. This study investigates how male participants, ages 18-34, make ethical decisions in three…

This study examined the effects of a graduate level, professional development (PD) course on teachers' perceptions, attitudes, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions regarding the use of digital games in the classrooms, teacher involvement in educational game design, and constructionist gaming. Twenty-one teachers participated in the study. Both…

Today's complex and fast-evolving world necessitates young students to possess design and problem-solving skills more than ever. One alternative method of teaching children problem-solving or thinking skills has been using computer programming, and more recently, game-design tasks. In this pre-experimental study, a group of middle school…

The goal of this study was to reach a better understanding of the intuitive decisions teachers make when designing a technology-rich learning environment. A multiple case-study design was employed to examine what kinds of factors (external priorities, existing orientations or practical concerns) influence design interactions of teams of…

Solving complex, ill-structured problems may be effectively supported by case-based reasoning through case libraries that provide just-in-time domain-specific principles in the form of stories. The cases not only articulate previous experiences of practitioners, but also serve as problem-solving narratives from which learners can acquire meaning.…

Decision making is the most common kind of problem solving. It is also an important component skill in other more ill-structured and complex kinds of problem solving, including policy problems and design problems. There are different kinds of decisions, including choices, acceptances, evaluations, and constructions. After describing the centrality…

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…

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…