Scholars representing the field of psychology were asked to identify what they considered to be the most exciting and imaginative work currently being done in their field, as well as how that work might change our understanding. The scholars included Susan Blackmore, Nadya Fouad, Jerome Kagan, Stephen Kosslyn, Michael Posner, and Robert Sternberg.…

This article presents the concept of facilitative theorizing as an alternative to prescriptive and descriptive theory in educational technology. The authors contend that these traditional forms of theory do not offer sufficient assistance to practitioners as they go about everyday design work. Facilitative theorizing, as an alternative, is…

This article is the third in a series of four articles that present a new outlook on the methods of instructional design. The authors examine the nature of the process of instructional design, with the goal of stimulating discussion about designer roles. In this article, the authors consider the realization of scientific and educational theory…

Instructional designers face tremendous pressure to abandon the essential characteristics of educational approaches, and settle instead for routine practices that do not preserve the level of quality those approaches originally expressed. Because this pressure can be strong enough to affect designers almost as gravity affects objects in the…

This is the first in a series of two articles examining the current status of instructional design (ID) scholarship and theory in four different cultures or traditions. In this article, the focus is on, first, ID models based on traditional behavioral theories of learning and, second, on models based on cognitive science and the learning sciences.…

This article is the second in a series (see Willis, 2011) that looks at the current status of instructional design scholarship and theory. In this concluding article, the focus is on two cultures of ID work, one based on constructivist and interpretivist theory and the other based on critical theory and critical pedagogy. There are distinct…

This article describes instructional theory that supports post-industrial education and training systems--ones that are customized and learner-centered, in which student progress is based on learning rather than time. The author discusses the importance of problem-based instruction (PBI), identifies some problems with PBI, overviews an…

Web 2.0 technologies have created a trend of user-generated content by supporting media production, collaboration, communication, and dissemination. User-generated content is translated into student-generated content (SGC) in education. SGC engages learners in an authentic project that fosters students' autonomy, creativity, and real-world…

Research has shown that when Merrill's First Principles of Instruction are used as part of an instructional strategy, student learning increases. Several articles describe these principles of instruction, including specific methods for implementing this theory. However, because teachers and designers often have little time to design instruction,…

A true elaboration of educational goals will include a set of both more and less well-structured aims, corresponding to behavioral objectives and subjectives, which can be tested respectively by direct methods and by less direct methods such as the native speaker or Turing tests. (Author/LS)

A general overview of the scope of evaluation in education. (HB)

Reviews "The Silk Code" (novel by Paul Levinson, Professor of Communications, New York University) that encourages questions about how to choose and use the full range of technology; and compares and applies its ideas to current practices in educational technology. Topics include divergent views in educational theory; and examples of the…

Discusses educational theory development noting that, as theories become too complex, they are replaced by simpler ones. Future educational theories may relate intellectual performance to physical performance, develop student attention, or relate relaxation techniques to self-image. (RAO)

Reviews the Clarifying Environments Program, the goal of which was to develop an empirically grounded theory of human higher-order problem solving. Four problem areas discussed are: communication and educational technology, analysis of human interaction and higher-order problem solving, applications, and heuristic-theory development. (RAO)