Adaptive learning systems need large pools of examples for practice--thousands of items that need to be organized into hundreds of knowledge components within a domain model. Domain modeling and closely related student modeling are intensively studied in research studies. However, there is a gap between research studies and practical issues faced…

A name for the field of instructional technology has long been debated. Terms such as learning design, educational technology, instructional systems design and learning systems have been used to describe the field over the past 100 years. With an exploration of the history of the field, this article rebrands the field as Knowledge Systems Design…

Big data (BD) is the buzz phrase these days. Everyone is talking about its potential, its volume, its variety, and its velocity. Knowledge management (KM) has been around since the mid-1990s. The goals of KM have been to collect, store, categorize, mine, and process data into knowledge. The methods of knowledge acquisition varied from…

Data-driven decision making is central to improving success of children. Actualizing the use of data is challenging when addressing the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of children across different types of early childhood programs (i.e., early childhood special education, early childhood family education, Head Start, and childcare).…

This special issue of the "Australasian Journal of Educational Technology" includes an introductory article by the guest editors and six papers that illustrate the potential of educational design research (EDR) to address important problems in higher education. In this final paper, reflections on the papers are made. Then the rationale…

Learning does not stop when an individual leaves formal education, but becomes increasingly informal, and deeply embedded within other activities such as work. This article describes the challenges of informal learning in knowledge intensive industries, highlighting the important role of personal learning networks. The article argues that…

Detailed succession planning helps libraries pass information from one employee to the next. This is crucial in preparing for hiring, turnover, retirements, training of graduate teaching assistants in academic libraries, and other common situations. The authors of this article discuss succession planning for instruction programs in academic…

Several years ago, the Continuing and Innovative Education (CIE) leadership team at UT-Austin took a hard look at the unit through the lens of customers to reevaluate their programs and services and the role they played in serving the lifelong educational needs of their constituents. Their goal was to provide continuous learning for a productive,…

This FOCUS Technical Brief extends FOCUS No. 26, which considered the processes of knowledge translation (KT) and technology transfer (TT) in technological innovation. Here, we explain that both KT and TT contribute to accomplishing yet a third process--commercial transaction--which is the actual transformation of knowledge embodied in products…

The field of educational technology evolves rapidly, increasing in complexity and sophistication; educators struggle to keep up to date. Current Internet development with Web 2.0 technology marks a paradigm shift in how the Internet is used, away from a depository of content information and toward a means of collaboration for knowledge sharing and…

The key to implementing ubiquitous learning is the construction and organization of learning resources. While current research on ubiquitous learning has primarily focused on concept models, supportive environments and small-scale empirical research, exploring ways to organize learning resources to make them available anywhere on-demand is also…

To assume the role of technology leaders and information literacy specialists in their schools, librarians need access to the most current information. And, they do this by helping each other. There are many definitions, but professional learning networks (PLNs) involve sharing work-related ideas with a network of colleagues via various digital…

As a result of rapid changes in technology, much is discussed about the use of social media in branding, marketing, and in general corporate communications. The intensity with which social media tools--blogs, wikis, Twitter, instant messaging (IM) and Facebook, among others--have proliferated is staggering. Increasingly important is the role of…

Knowledge Management (KM) and Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) have attracted attention over the past two decades and are meanwhile considered as important means to increase individual and organizational performance. There is, however, a wide agreement that traditional KM and TEL models have failed to cope with the fast-paced change and critical…

Recognizing the failures of traditional Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) initiatives to achieve performance improvement, we need to rethink how we design new TEL models that can respond to the learning requirements of the 21st century and mirror the characteristics of knowledge and learning which are fundamentally personal, social, distributed,…