Provides insight into the interpretative process between instructional designers' practice and a science educator's requirements. Suggests that grounding multimedia design in constructivist philosophy is problematic for two main reasons: interpretation and shared understanding of terms, and limits with respect to the technology. Reports a…

Describes and discusses how simulation activities can be used in teacher education to augment the traditional field-experience approach, focusing on artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and intelligent tutoring systems. Includes an overview of simulation as a teaching and learning strategy and specific examples of high-technology simulations…

Examines issues related to the role of home computers and how they may contribute to learning at school by students and the role parents can and should play. Recommends further research in this area, particularly in Alberta, where the mandatory implementation of an integrated approach to technology curriculum is beginning. (Author/LRW)

Describes a study of gifted freshmen in a magnet high school that investigated whether learning style would change after a year in a technology-rich educational environment using constructivist learning techniques. Conclusions regarding learning style were inconclusive, but results showing effects on the curriculum and the social context are…

Describes a study of individual differences among high school students that relate to and predict their use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools--e-mail, Usenet news, and a multimedia notebook--to support project-based science learning. Findings indicate that skill and experience with computers, parental education, access to computers,…

The SPECIAL system is a computer application that allows learners to control the speed of video playback. Learners viewed an educational video and used a modified version of the SPECIAL system to search for particular items during playback. Results showed neither question type nor video type had a significant effect. Concludes that multimedia…

Describes an approach to using new technologies in online education that consciously uses the multiplicity of options that these technologies provide. Provides a case study of an online course in a master of education program and examines multiplicity in contexts for learning, instructional media, instructional formats, learning activities, and…

Examines the visions for the redesign of schools and the ways in which computers and communications technology have provided the means for these visions. Highlights include changes in instructional practices, including collaborative learning and interdisciplinary themes; change agents in the redesign of schools; and school organization and…

This study compared preservice teachers' confidence to transfer computer applications into their classroom instruction depending on whether they were taught computer literacy from a theory perspective focusing on skills alone or from a theory and application perspective where their computer skills were learned simultaneously as they completed…

Examines "eWeb," a Web-based educational environment drawing on social, cognitive, and technological resources to improve teaching and learning. Discusses teacher knowledge of technology and pedagogical beliefs, wide-area and teacher collaboration, design principles of "eWeb," and its components (forum, bulletin board, chat,…