The maker education movement is growing in the United States. In order for this movement to gain widespread acceptance it is critical that students' learning goals and progress towards those goals are clearly visible to all stakeholders. Given that traditional assessment methods may not be best suited for measuring some of the higher order skills…

This article uses a variety of principles of cultural-historical activity theory to extend Herbert Simon's (1996) insight into the inherent linkage between the creation of artifacts and design. We argue that design research must grapple with the doubly artificial, as the classrooms in which many educational designs are implemented are themselves…

This paper aims to draw attention to the sustainability of distance learning in terms of the design process based on learner characteristics and technology usage. Distance learning has become a cyberized system owing its presence to developments in digital technologies. Technological developments solve some immediate problems but also have the…

In this paper, it is argued that e-learning environments are currently more like "buildings", i.e., learning spaces, rather than "schools", i.e., places for learning. The concepts originated from architecture and urban design, where they are used both to distinguish static spaces from inhabited places, and more importantly, as design objectives.…